Well any new and innovative product is somehow over-engineered.
This was the case of the Jets-Munt XBus and all digital link recently. Was it necessary? No. Why do we go ahead and progress? Because we can do it. It is in our essence and our pride.

Now there is a very good reason for using stepped motors in that application: variable detection gain.
The reason behind being that most of the time, the resistance of the gear during motion is not linear. Thus the consumed current.
Factors like struts+ wheel weights, ram effect of the latter, ram effect of possible doors, foreign object/ dust in the screw tend to increase the load applied to the motor during retraction.
With a current triggered retract, there is a possiblility of tripping off the system during motion due to these factors.
With stepped units, the detection gain is reduced during motion to only trip off if one gear gets seriously jammed. The detection becomes more sensitive near the stops to accurately detect when the trunion reaches the end poosition and the current starts to increase.
We have been developping and using the previous generation of electric retracts for the last 4 years with GZ retracts:
http://www.ultimate-jets.net/pages/e...tom-conversion

This new system is very welcome and a big step ahead in this field. A 40% conversion cost is in practice what we charge for previous generation electric systems.