There is no way a hover craft could even come close to carrying the payload I need delivered to and from the blind.

I beg to differ

If that is your hovercraft then I am going with you from now on.

Well c'mon brother! SOB does great in the timber. Just have to hire a logging crew to come pick up the logs when you're done hunting each day.

It would be kewl to drive that big hoss in that video.

Back to the topic. I have owned a go devil surface drive and at the time one friend owned a pro drive, another owned a gator tail, and another had a mud buddy. We took them all out to Caddo Lake one weekend and each motor went where the others went. In the end, I think it all comes down to what conveniences you want at what price. If you want to be able to reverse off of the boat trailer, then you start to narrow it down. If you want to have no frills in case of break downs on the water, you start to narrow it down. There are dealers around for each brand and most of them will take you out on the water and let you drive it. In fact, you might be able to get an owner of each brand from the THF to meet at a lake this spring/summer and you can drive them all in the same day. I would recommend driving them all if you can and see which one you like best given your needs and desires. Good luck.

why would you go to the coast? Mallard numbers are low

I do not hunt the coast, just saying. I would not say Mallard numbers are low south though. My buddy that hunts rice in Southeast LA just up from the coastline shot limits of mallards the first 10 days of season this year from his blind, was a little weird though.
I have not hunted with him there the last two years.

your buddy shot limits of mallards 10 days in a row from the same blind?

FYI - I rarely use reverse to get my Pro-Drive off the trailer. Too much of a pain, and mine is an auto reverse. Reverse, for me, is really used to get me out of a nasty situation. Having the full power reverse allows you to lift the rear of the boat off the surface and pull yourself backwards. Think of it like this....if you are going one direction and get stuck, you can either step out and push (I wouldn't in some areas we go...not enough bottom), or you can reverse out the way you came in.

This is where I find reverse to be particularly useful.

Yes, 4-6 guys each day too, ducks and specs are stupid in fresh flooded rice down there. He lives here but hunts and stays there for usually two weeks at a time, I do not go there anymore, its fun, but nothing to it. Like shooting fish in a barrel, similar to pond hunting here. Usually its geese, teal, pintails, and a little of everything else but this year the first two weeks they were covered with mallards.

Absolutely. My statement was merely to point out the fact that the OP needs to consider what he wants the motor to do, and he can start to narrow it down from there.

I have heard that gear driven ( pro drive ) is better in the grass and belt drives are better in the timber. The reasoning was belt drives can slip when hitting timber and gear drives can break when hitting timber because there is no slippage. I have never owned one but I am wanting one. Those of y'all that have mud motors is this true or just a myth?

Tell it all on the internet

Mohunter are you telling me your friend's blind is killing 20 mallards a day for 10 days straight. How come we don't have a big red BS button on this forum?

I've had some pretty nasty hits in the timber in my PD, no issues......but they all will break if abused. I can't speak for GT.

They did from the start of the first split of the LA opener, call me what you want but it happened.

pass that nonsense off on a newbie

if they killed a 4-6 man limit of mallards out of the same hole that far south for 10 days in a row they were shooting pen raised birds

Not, Garrett, I have no reason to lie about it, not my hunts anyway, but think what you want, its disappointing actually because they killed more than me in 10 days of the first split and they do absolutly no work at all. $8,000 lease for one pit blind on a large rice field in Gueydon, La, look it up, its a great area, I have been done there several times and always limited out, not on mallards though.
They have a large marsh next(1/3 mile) to the rice that holds tons of mallards but not as many as this year, it is a sight to see in the morning when they leave to feed.

I know some boys that lease down around Gueydon, and your right, it's good hunting, but I ain't buying 10 days in a row of limits on any duck, much less mallards

Thanks for all the info guys. Looks like they all have their advantages, just depends on what your looking for. On another note, what kind of draw do these new LED light bars have? Been looking at seelite & southern lights and really don't know much about them. Can you run navigation lights a light bar and start the motor off the same battery? Will the altenator on the motor keep the battery charged? Sorry for all the questions but I have a 16/60 open center jon boat I'm finally able to get set up and I really don't have a lot of experience with running the light bars.

I think a bunch of guys on here, myself included, will tell you that a light bar is nice but a headlight is the way to go. I have both and find myself running the headlight more than the light bar. Light bar is great for setting decoys and stuff, but having the light exactly where you want when running the boat is really nice. It really stands out when running sloughs and tight stretches of river. Go devil and PromDrive both sell headlights. I have heard good things about Seelites though.

I have seelites on front of my rig (one is a spot and one is more open), but I also have my handheld streamlight waypoint spot with me that I use for quick lighting on my side. I've had no issues. In fact, I am probably quite bright going across the water.

I think the bank fishermen thought a train was coming to get them when I was running mine.