I fish from my back deck regularly and have yet to ever feel like my Power Poles are in the way at all. If that were the case your cowling must be pretty intrusive also. I don't think I have ever hit a Power Pole on a cast or have had them in the way when landing a fish. If they were I would simply bump my switch on my helm and lower them a bit. Problem solved.

You will get your feet wet wading out to your boat then. They are not gonna hold you in place on bed fish etc. TMs are useless in 6" of water. No way they are gonna replace shallow water anchors. Might impact the sales numbers a bit but it will not make them obsolete.

Most boats that have talons or poles are useless in 6" of water anyway!

Not really. Depends on how shallow they draft.

Gonna have to disagree with you on this one Mark. I used my trolling motor ( Ultrex ) extensively during the spawn. Never saw a reason to get my boat in 6" of water though especially for bedding fish. Ultrex comes in handy for me when I fish alone. I can spot lock it after I get out at the courtesy dock 3-4 ft. away and then retrieve it after I park the truck. Power poles are pretty much useless in 20-30 ft of water that's where Ultrex shine.

I think I created a monster when I started this thread..

As one of the very first to buy an Ultrex, I'd beg to differ. I think BOTH types have a time and a place.

I was fishing Athens Sunday.....shallow....I only had to float off my spot about 100 times due to the prop fowling with grass. If I had poles, I would have not had the issue. I even had to waste 30 minutes running back to the ramp to remove the prop and clean behind it. (Didn't REALLY have to go back, I gues, but I don't like the thought of losing the shear pin in the lake. So I like to beach the boat and be slow with it. ).

......on second thought.....the way home owners are killing grass lakes, I might NOT have this issue in the future.

My vote? Power Poles. Their customer service alone is worth the price. Seriously.....I would NEVER even make MinnKota/Talon/Humminbird an option. Their customer service pretty much sucks as bad as my boat manufacturers CS. (Skeeter). But, like my Skeeter and my Ultrex, those I must take the bad with the good.

When I had talons twice I had the cable inside backlash leaving me stranded with the pole down having to work on it.

Been in boats with both brands, if I were to purchase shallow water anchors for my boat it would be Talons without a doubt. As close to indestructible as possible and no hydraulic system to install in my boat. I love the power poles when off the bank and on the back deck because the boater can deploy and get them out of the way, I've broken more $$ in crankbaits than I care to recall hitting Talons while casting. Also seen way more Power Poles at tournaments that are zip tied closed, missing parts, or damaged than the other brand.

I dont see the Ultrex type technology ever replacing the shallow water anchors... perhaps the need for 10-12ft anchoring systems will be a thing of the past, but you still cant fish shallow water fighting the wind without prop washing when using trolling motor.