I got the $100 one. It is a sturdy machine and works rather well. However in talking to Greg Grimes, the Texas Hunter, which is what I lust for, throws food much farther and better. I feed from the bank and it is not satisfactory for that, as too much gets close to shore and thus not consumed unless the wind blows it out. It will be great when I have a dock out in the pond to place this feeder on.
Another thing i wish were different - even at one second feed time it throws a lot of food. The hopper door is about 2" diameter and it opens slowly and stays open for the set feed time. With 30-100 lbs of food pressing down, it unloads a lot of food. The instructions say that at a 4 second feed time it will broadcast 2.9 lbs. This is incorrect. It is my feeling that it does that much on 1 second setting. At 4 I would think it would empty the feeder in 2 days on 2 feedings per day. Currently i have mine on one feeding per day for 1 second and feel I may be overfeeding.
Question for the experts - If feeding once per day in a BG pond, what time of day is best this time of year (its hot!)?
