I got the TALON on the water this weekend and it is sweet!! I have never owned a Power Pole so I cant compare it, but Ive fished with folks that own them and have seen them in action. I went with the Talon for a few reasons. No Hydraulics was the big one, then the fact that the anchor goes straight down vs away from the back of the boat (creating an obstacle when fighting a fish in my opinion), next is the ease of hook up and removal if needed. My TALON is mounted on a bracket off the side of the R&R slide master jack plate. All you do is remove the side bolts and outer black plate then replace with the mount. The mount takes the place of the black plate on the outside. Another mounting option is to go direct to the transom. My recommendation is to get the mount as high as you can on the jackplate or the transom so the Talon is supported as high up as you can get it. Next is to drop the Talon as low as you can get away with, they recommend 4″ above the pad. I set mine up on land a bit higher than that to start. After getting in the water and not seeing any water spraying up from behind I had a friend run the boat about 35 MPH and I crawled back on the deck and looked over the stern to see what type of clearance I had. ( I do not recommend anyone doing this as it is very dangerous and I am not all that smart, then again what I do for a living is nothing compared to that. I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie.) Anyway, I ended up with about 3 more inches I could lower it. Once I got off the water I did measure it and I am now 4″ above the pad….humm guess I should have gone with the directions…like I said Im not that smart..Overall I am very impressed with this unit and would highly recommend it to someone thinking about getting one. Its not just for sitting still to fish. I used it a lot the other day while getting crankbaits that were stuck along rip rap. You can keep your back end anchored away from the rocks and swing your front end in to get unhung. This can save lots of damage to your boat and get back a few baits you might not have risked going in for. Jamey
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