I have the "heavy" aluminum ones (little lighter than my old SS spreader bars). I added a back plate to prevent clothes/drysuit from bunching up behind it and preventing the ball from going in. I think it sometime takes a second longer to hook in, but the "stay-hooked" feature might make up for that in puffy conditions where you can come in and out and not worry about the ring falling off the hook. The ball also hurts less than the ring when the skipper lets his fly into the crews head. I also added extra balls on snap shackles for both crew; with this setup you have nothing to hook the righting line onto, and getting a H20 up is not a lean out-up she comes 5 second deal; your arms get tired quick :-) The snap shackles hook over the righting line, balls go in, and you can lean back and relax. The crew can pick them off the line after the boat is up (they typically wash to the back); or you can just leave them attached for next time :-)