8 simple 301 redirects not working

[eluser]WanWizard[/eluser]
@charlie spider: as I mentioned, when you use the router solution you will lose the 301. So if that's what you're after, the router isn't a good idea.

Still the redirect controller is a valid option. What is the difference between a 301 issued by a redirect and a 301 issued by a CI controller? Apart from the extra overhead because an apache/php/ci thread has to be started?
This is already becoming complicated (with 8 redirects), what if you have 10 times more? Who will be able to maintain the rewrite rules? In a controller, you can use the power of PHP to determine your new URI's...