I have surfed behind both systems and both seem to work equally well. The main difference in my opinion would be the steering issue. Despite Mr Cornrickeys experience, it has been my experience with my saltare and my santera that having a gate sticking out from the side of your boat makes the handling horrible. When at surf speed they aren't horrible but they always want to turn one derection. When a rider falls you almost have no option but to turn one direction to get back to them or make a huge turn to get back to them. I put the surf tabs on my boat and i would never go back. The room for modification to my tabs is there by being able to adjust the size of the tab as well as the amount of deflection in the fins. I realize that the tabs probably aren't for everyone due to having to drill a couple of hole in your boat but if you want a superior system without having clunking gates hanging off the side and around your boat the tabs are the way to go. And for the record, my system only cost about 450 installed