I am looking to purchase one or the other for my Triton TR 18se. Noticed the weight of the Talon is about 11 pounds more than P.P. Anyone with my size boat with either suffered any great loss of speed/performance. Don't want to slow that Merc 150 anymore than I have to. Only plan on buying one at the moment, but maybe a 2nd next year. Just curios if anyone had any performance issues. Thanks for any input.

I had two Talons on my Skeeter TZX190 w/ Yamaha 175. You must also consider the weight of Talon's brackets when making your decision. The hole shot was a bit sluggish when loaded down, but top end speed wasn't effected.

I have Talons. The brackets on the Talons cause a lot more drag in the water when taking off than Power Poles do.

I have Talons. The brackets on the Talons cause a lot more drag in the water when taking off than Power Poles do.

++1 to this. I think I lost about 2 or 3 mph.

Get power poles

^^^^ THIS. Too much drag on my TR20X with Talons. Switched to Power Poles.

I have Talons but my boat is larger than yours. I cannot tell any difference in top end speed. Maybe my hole shot is slower but I don't really pay attention to it that much. The brackets do drag in the water slightly.

Thanks for replies and information.

I have one 12' talon on my 17.5' with a 115. Hole shot is effected more than top end. I needed to add a hydrofoil but a prop change would have been good to. I chose talon because of the length and now that they have a 15' coming I just can't see buying a power Pole. Top end, I lost 3 or 4 mph well worth the trade off for the depth.

Any additional weight you put in a boat will have an adverse effect on the performance. You probably won't notice an extra 11 pounds but if the bracket hangs down into the water when you hit the gas it will hurt your holeshot a bunch.

Any chance there is a reduction in weight with the talons that will release this fall?

This was me as well, the drag created was very noticeable and I switched to power poles immediately.

Power pole

I didn't have room in the bilge to add two pumps so my decision was easy. 12' Talon. When you add weight to the back of the boat you may need to move some "storage" weight forward to compensate. I re-propped to a 4 blade prop and jump up just fine and top speed is impacted more by weather temps and alcohol gas than the Talon. Blades -vs- Talons is a monthly thread. Some love one and some love the other.

Power Poles are much more functional... two weeks ago I forgot I had my PP's down and took off... felt really sluggish, looked back and didn't see anything unusual, then just went ahead and punched it. Still felt odd and then it finally dawned on me... duhhhh... raised my poles! Can't do that with Talons... just saying.