Have you tried to enter them a couple at a time and see where they start disappearing? I'm curious if there's a max that's not published.
No, I hadn't tried that yet, will give that a shot - thank you =)
Edit: So, this is weird.
I had two custom search fields, and it was working just fine.
Added a 3rd one, hit the back button, then clicked "Lab", all 3 disappeared.
I added the same 3 again, navigated to a different page, then back to the lab, they stayed.
I'm now over 18 custom search fields with none disappearing....going to keep testing to see if there is in fact a limit
Hmm, I added enough to have the 3 starters from all regions, and then fields disappeared. But I also noticed it seemed to happen if I click the "Remove" button as the last thing I do. That could possibly be the actual trigger