I'll admit I have little tandem experience. Probably 100 miles in three rides as a captain. Two different tandems, one 700c, and one 26". No wheel failures or repairs. More experience to come.

I have a TON of experience building, riding, and maintaining solo bikes. Maybe two or three tons. I'm doing a lot of extrapolation of my experience and what I read to formulate my opinions regarding tandem wheels.

I have ridden (for complete rides or more) Bontis, Rolfs, ACs, Cosmics, Ksyriums, and countless handbuilts. When seated, you can not tell the difference between any of these wheels (unless one of the boutiques happens to break a spoke during the test).

My 32/36h Deep-Vs sit on my solo. I can kick the tar out of anyone who's not as fit as me. The wheels don't slow me down. In the King of Jester hill climb, I was right in the middle of the field of all the high-dollar wheels.

I understand it's tough to be objective about a $850 purchase you've already made. I also understand that the Race Lites work fine. They just don't offer any tangible benefits to justify 2.5x the money.