Aftermarket (Stant) thermostats

[RETed]

Welp, I finally got tired running the car cold for lots of short trips, so I had to go take care of a thermostat replacement.
My original thermostat died years ago, and as a band-aid fix, I just gutted the center and reused the flange.
With gas a steady $4+ / gallon now, I'm looking to gain back as much gas mileage as possible.
My current gas mileage calculates out to a solid 11.5mpg - nothing to brag about.
I do lots of short trips, as work is under 5 miles one way; the engine barely gets to operating temps.
I had to take care of a radiator fix, so the coolant finally got drained.

Hell, might as well take care of the thermostat at the same time...

I've heard of stories that Mazdatrix (and some Mazda dealers) are now selling Stant thermostats for Mazdas - disappointment. :P
It sounds like the old (Made in Japan) Mazda OEM thermostats are nonexistant and not made anymore?
I do a lot of business with Rock Auto, so I fired up their website to go look for thermostats.
Looking for a "deluxe" replacement part, I noticed both Stant and Gates offered a "premium" labeled thermostat.
Both were priced around $6 each - can't complain.
(There is an eBay seller selling NOS Mazda OEM thermostats for $20 each.)
Both the Stant and Gates thermostats were both rated at 180F and 195F.
Flipped a coin and ordered a couple Stant 180F ones.
They just arrived today, and it's a Stant "Superstat" thermostat.
Disappointment that the units do not have jiggle pins (like the Mazda OEM ones do), so I'll need to drill holes for them.

I did a quick Google search on these things and went through a couple threads about them.
Bad news is that these things fail in the closed position.
Aside from not having a vent hole, they seem to have an okay reputation.

I'll get around to installing it early next week and report back here.
For the price, it's hard to beat.
We'll see if it's more headaches than it's worth for the price discount...


-Ted