I guess this is more a question of Shadow Plus or just plain Shadow, I dont ride off road, but I do simetimes ride on gravel roads, would it be worth droping down to SLX to get the clutch, or getting the old XT M786 derailluer, or just not worry about having the clutch?

Also I am not to concerned about the 43t capacity of two of the derailluers, I will probably go over this, but im experienced enough not go big-big or small-small.

XT T8000 (Trekking model):
- Capacity 47t (WOW now that's capacity)
- weight 253g
- Shadow design
- 10 speed

SLX M7000:
- Capacity 43t
- weight 313g
- Shadow plus design
- 10 speed

XT M786 (Older model):
- Capacity 43t
- weight 262g
- Shadow plus design
- 10 speed

All "shadow" RDs offer no benefit in road and gravel riding.
Compared to the "non-shadow" models these bring lesser reliability due to a more complex system, and higher price.
The clutch is only beneficial on bumpy singletrack MTB course, as chai9n-slap is non-existent on either gravel or paved roads.

Why are you considering "shadow" models at all? All the classic long-cage designs offer 45t capacity...

Thanks for the info, thats what im after.

With regards to why I am choosing Shadow, its simple, pretty much all Shimano's new rear derailluers are shadow style, currently all the way down to Deore, even the new Dura Ace road groupset is now Shadow. So if I want new higher level groupset components I have to get Shadow.

Why don't you post your bike mechanics questions in the proper forum? Four of your last seven threads would have likely been better answered in bike mechanics.

they All shove the chain sideways when the cable force commands It .

I get chain slap on gravel all the time.

Brilliant

Stay away from Shadow unless you're running in friction mode or using mountain shifters.

You've been warned.

Why is that?

Because not everything new from Shimano is better than previous iterations. No matter what the marketing department says.

What specifically with the Shadow/Shadow plus makes it less suitable for touring than previous iterations?

My experience with shadow derailleurs have been weird. I thought the first generation worked great, never actually used them but built a ton of bikes with them, SLX in particular seemed very easy to adjust and not at all sensitive to cable stretch etc.

Tried to convert one bike to 1x10 with various derailleurs, SLX Shadow plus and a Deore without the clutch. I can't for the life of me find a combination of shifter/derailleur/cassette/chain that works. They all seem absurdly sensitive to adjustment and chainline.

On the other hand my everyday commuter-ish bike has a 9spd SLX shadow with 8spd eveything else and it's damn near flawless. The shadow derailleur solved a whole bunch of issues I was having with the cage and B knuckle bonking the bottom of the drop out and loose chain in small/small.