Arrg, I was quoting from your datatypes link? ..."the storage class of the text is converted to INTEGER or REAL" If insertions have decisions to make in non-STRICT mode, my natural assumption is those are bypassed in STRICT mode. Why dance around my question with so many words? Fewer decisions = faster. Yes|No? You do mention STRICT insertions have more decisions, but may be faster overall? I guess I have to do tests.