EDIT: After spending more time using this program, I have to append my comment below.

Yes, it IS much faster (about 2x faster) than any other torrent prog I've tried (eg, Transmission/xTorrent/Acquisition/BitRocket), APART from.....Azureus...

.....I still can only get about 1/2 of the d/l speed of my Azureus install.

Go figure.....it SHOULD be at least comparable, (the authors claim it's faster) but for some reason it simply isn't as good as the standard Azureus on my setup after testing multiple torrent files.

I have since gone back to solely using Az for my downloads :D (with the added hassle of having to change those settings every time I switch between public/private too :D )

Fantastic. Exactly the same as Azureus 2.5 (albeit 1 or 2 extra/different options in settings), but meant to download a lot faster.
My previous Azureus settings are optimised anyway, so I didn't see the claimed 70% increase (with Azureus I get d/l speeds 4x faster than Transmission for instance, anyway)...

...but I use it for a different reason. I can now have 2 copies of Azureus on my mac. Even though they can't be run simultaneously (whichever you launch first takes preference, the other then refuses to launch), it's useful to have 2 as normally your settings should be vastly different depending on whether you are downloading a private torrent or a public one.
For instance, private torrents should really have DHT disabled because DHT allows non-registered users to infiltrate the swarm. This is bad for Private torrents because:
1) The torrent that is being shared by your client with non- users, does not count towards your ratio. You could have uploaded 100gb through DHT, but you get 0 credit even though your client shows you uploaded that amount.
2) Your passkey will be sent to non- users on your peer list. If you want to trust a lot of anonymous users with your user details and ratio, get no benefit at all and open yourself up to a sizable risk, be my guest, (until you get caught)!
3) Do not complain to that your ratio is dropping while you continue to seed, your private tracker admins will not be interested.
4) You should also hope that one or more of the anonymous users you are sharing the torrent with does not have a cracked client, otherwise he will be doing to you, what you are trying to do to other users!

.....and that's just problems with DHT in private torrents.....many other settings have to be altered too. Rather than keep changing multiple Azureus settings every time, this way I can use Azureus with independant settings for my private torrents, and use this BitTyrant with different settings for my public torrents.

Re:Interface.....yes, just as ugly as Azureus, but I'm not there to admire it.......when this and Azureus can d/l stuff much much faster than any other client, I can't complain.

Re:Icon.....ugly. Just use any old nice icon instead (apple-i, click the icon, apple-v to paste what you want instead)

Re:nasty......this prog HAS borrowed from Azureus, but unlike Xtorrent, which stole/profited from Transmission without giving any any credit where it is due, at least in this case the authors (Washington Uni) FULLY credited Azureus and have explained what they've altered and why.

Finally: it's based on Azureus 2.5 (thankfully) rather than the terrible v3, and as it's based on Azureus, you can use the same plugins, I just re-downloaded safepeer and put it into the BitTyrant plugins folder and it works fine.

Not the most os x friendly, and definitely not the prettiest app on the block - but for the occasional torrent I want a little more control over I used to use the original Azureus, and this is much nicer.

Can't say I know about the private tracker question cocoi. You'd need to give some examples so I could check. Certainly I've never had any trouble with it any place I've been but I know that's just one user's experience.

As for bit torrent in good faith, all this mod does is use a different balance in upload chokes. You still share quite fairly. If you want more details you can always read the paper it's an implementation of, over at its site on the University of Washington!

Any word on private trackers' responsing to this supposed speed boost? Does it violate Bram's BT guidelines, like tracker Announce times? All this ratio, ratio, talk is fine enough, but cannot be enforced. I want to know if big private trackers that only allow a handful of clients (and only unmodded) allow this client.

It's far from nasty. It's not a leeching client - just the opposite in fact. You seed at full speed and as fairly as ever, it's just stricter on who to choke so that your seed does not go to waste.

The only thing "nasty" about it is the weight of the Azureus core! Cocoa would be so much better than Java.

what do you mean by "nasty"? please elaborate.

Nasty, nasty. If you use this I can't feel bad for you when you get shot.

This thing is nasty. Stick with xTorrent.

A nice distro of Azureus with a modified core to share your seed for the benefit of those who also share. I also prefer the icon!