The Armadillo has a puncture resistent sidewall that the Gatorskin does not have. The Armadillo is known to be the most flat resistent tire on the market and one of the longest lasting tread lives. But these Armadillo positive traits have two negative traits that some just cannot get over and one is a bit harsher ride due to the stiffer flat resistent sidewall. Even though the sidewall of the Armadillo says 125psi that is max psi not recommended psi; since I only weigh 162 I only put in 95 in the rear and 85 in the front; this lesser pressure improves the ride a lot. Also the sidewall is so strong that once I rode one flat for 5 miles (slowly as an experiment) and the sidewall never roughed up nor came off the rim nor damaged the rim! The other negative trait is the tire weighs 345grms, but that's not bad considering if you bought a average 220 gram tire, put a thorn resistent tube in at 120 grms and a Mr Tuffy at 90grms your still up to 330grms!

The Armadillo tires are very rugged, I rode over a 10th of a mile section of solid broken pane glass and not only did I not get a flat, I had only one small cut; and I could hear nothing but crunching glass. But that is not near as bad as running over goatheads; where I use to live goatheads ruled and destroyed bicycle tires like crazy intil I started using the Armadillos. I went from an average 3 flats a week and destroyed dozens tires with mileages running from 60 miles minimum to no more then 750 miles; tried Slime tubes and Mr tuffy's and none of that worked, (don't use slime tubes they do not stop leaks above 60psi).

Then one day a LBS told me about the Armadillos, now after 4 years and 16,000 miles I've had 2 flats, one was from a faulty tube, and the other was from a worn out tire. With the Armadillo I use just a 65grm ultralight Specialize turbo tube and no liners-you don't need thorn resistent tubes or liners.