You know what's even better though? Gear + Quest! You can always set aside exactly as many cards as you did the previous turn and still guarantee a Gold, plus you can keep those golds shuffling along for Province buys!
Gear is still the best
I played a few solitaire games with Gear + Quest. I had fantastic draws in my first game and got to 5 Provinces by turn 12! The next game, my draws were poor and it took me 16 turns to get the same amount of VP (I'm willing to believe that I played this sub-optimally). I thought the draws on my third game were hit and miss, but I managed to get 5 Provinces by turn 12 again (and an additional 9 VP by turn 14 - though my turn 15 was terrible).
My verdict: Gear + Quest is about as powerful as Courtyard + Quest, but less reliable and less synergistic.
Reliability: With Courtyard, you can always save a card and get a Gold. So, if Courtyards collide, you simply set one aside for the next turn. With Gear, you have to make a choice: set aside cards, or gain a Gold. This is a tough choice. The Gear + Quest strategy becomes really strong when you can set aside two cards and get a Gold or Province each turn. To start that up, though, I found myself needing to be able to buy a Gold outright on a Gear turn (maybe I should have considered buying a Silver). Plus, the moment you miss a Gear, you have a tough dilemma next turn: set aside or discard for Gold.
Synergy: With Courtyard + Quest, I managed to go 18 turns, purchasing 8 Provinces, and only had one non-Province, non-Quest, non-Courtyard purchase (an Estate on turn 17). That's beautiful synergy. With Gear + Quest, I only ended up using Quest 2-3 times per game; I bought at least as many Gold outright. The strategy was effective mostly because Gear BM is effective. The presence of Quest makes Courtyard more better than Gear (even though the two strategies are equally effective), if that makes sense.