After spending tens of thousands of dollars on aftermarket shocks in the last 4 years (some of the money was refunded, to be fair), I can say the following:
I tried every brand except Exit, so cannot comment on those.
Almost EVERY brand was not set up correctly and/or even tested before being sold to me.
I spent a TON of money sending shocks back and forth, having them revalved, re-setup, and they were never right.
Raptors were not right, specifically the rear track shock, but it was end of season, I sold the sled and after spending a ton of time testing other brands on the sled, I was DONE, so I did not even talk to Jake about it. I am sure he would have addressed the issue, he is VERY knowledgeable about shocks, his Team rider here in McCall had the same complaint that I did about it, we talked and the guy said that the new valving was dialed. (This was in 2015 when I bought the shocks.) A bud who bought the same Raptors this year had the old valving, it didn't work well for him.
When it comes to aftermarket shocks. (And parts in general.):
90% of guys believe that if they paid for good shocks, they got them. If they look good on the sled, they are happy.
The same 90% have no clue if the shocks are better than stock or not.
The same 90% also have no clue as how to adjust those shocks, or what the adjustments even mean.
Everyone rides different. Different terrain, different styles. For example, I can ride a shXXtty Summit X shock through deep bumps at speed with minimal bottoming, using my legs to suck up the big bumps, and float across the trail.
Somebody riding sit-down style cannot get the same results.
After riding with a lot of folks from around the country over the last few years, I realized that a lot of the guys on here who act like they are experts are NOT.
So when a shock manufacturer tries to sell shocks to someone, they have a tough job. It takes testing and a lot of hard work to get a good setup, then it has to be tailored to the rider.
Personally, I am checking a 175 Summit for deep days where shocks have little matter, and a Freeride 154 for less deep and spring riding where shocks do matter. They are horribly setup from BRP, but they are rebuildable and revalveable. The extra cost of a Freeride over a Summit is better than paying for a Summit and then a ton of cash for aftermarket that will need a ton of tweaking to be right.
Chris