Steve, I was seriously thinking that this was the style track I wanted too, but after an email conversation with Tim @ Adair I have reconsidered..... I'm now leaning towards the "pro series". I made a few assumptions about the "classic" that Tim cleared up for me. Below is a copy of the response Tim sent with a few minor changes by me....call it a paraphrase and not a quote. Hopefully this gets people a little closer to knowing what questions to ask Tim before making their final selection. One more track to consider is the Muddox chevron style
Mudd Ox Accessories | Mudd Ox 6 & 8 Wheeler Land & Water Machines I think they would make a great snow track, with occasional mud/water use.......but hard on the machine on dry hard ground
Classic style Tracks.
Pro’s
They have the unique ability to reduce the final drive gearing by about 25%...actual number depends on the size of the tires being used and the exact belt placement on the grouser assembly. In many cases it is approximately 3” so on a machine with 22” tires, it is like running a track over 16” tires so in that example it is a reduction of final drive gearing of about 27%
They also are a very easy set of tracks to keep guided over the tires and tend to stay on well.
They are an “open block design” so they tend to clean out very well and are much more aggressive in soft terrain than a factory style “solid block design” track.
Generally the contact patch can be made smaller and the tread of the grouser can have more of an arch which tends to slip sideways (turn) easier than a flat profile factory type rubber or plastic track.
They are simpler to machine and generally cost less to build.
Con’s
By design, and without “track Tuners” they cause a significant amount of drive train stress and chain windup issues due to the fact that all center tires are still traveling at full speed but driving on top of a track that is trying to roll approximately 25% slower.
With out “Track Tuners” the tracks tend to be much noisier at mid to high speed because of the “popping” of the center tires and the drive chains as the stress is released.
Because the design places the belting in the sides of the tires the over all construction tends to require a wider footprint ranging from 17 -27” wide.
They tend to disrupt the water more and don’t tend to swim as well as other designs.
Because they are wider they generally require wheel spacers (and “Track Tuners”), which adds width, weight, expense, maintenance, and stress to the machine.
They are not as easy to splice together and generally just use a simple belt overlap method which results in a rough spot (or stiff spot) in the track.
Because the belting generally extends past the edge of the grouser and also generally rubs on the sidewall lugs of the tire a typical mechanical hinge splice creates a risk of tub damage or tire damage and therefore is not generally used like in many other track designs.
The design requires lifting the belting up closer to the belly of the machine which in effect gives up about 3” of ground clearance and flotation in really soft mud or snow. Snow depths of more that a foot generally require modifying the width of this track design from 17-20” to as much as about 27-28” so that it can still give good performance in deeper or softer snow conditions.
Winter kit added to this design becomes pretty wide, heavy, expensive, and hard on the drive axle assembly of a machine.
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Pro-Series Tracks
Pro’s
Highest customer satisfaction, and most “compared to” design in the world…. J
Are shipped full assembled and ready to install.
Design maintains the final drive gearing and speed of a stock machine without tracks.
Creates very little chain windup and is very easy on the machines entire drive train.
Has a uniquely narrow footprint for a very aggressive, open block style track.
Narrow track footprint keeps overall width of the machine very narrow at just an inch or two over a stock width machine, and can be used over the standard 25” tires on a modern 8x8 machine. (All other track options for a modern 8x8 machine with stock 25” tires require the width of the machine to grow by almost a foot or more)
They tend to be much lighter than most other track designs, especially when covered in mud or ice.
They are very easy to convert from a narrow summer track to a superior winter track with the simple addition of a bolt on winter kit which increases track width from 14.5” to 18.5” and adds a 7” wide, very aggressive ice cleat for winter traction.
Can be kept narrow at just 14.5” and still have an effective 3” wide winter ice cleat added to the outside belt for additional traction on frozen surfaces.
Swim better on a modern 8x8 Argo than any other track design.
Proven to be a superior blend of traction and flotation in most mud, water, and swamp like conditions, and the open block design is very self cleaning in sticky types of mud.
Stainless Steel Hinge Splice makes them very simple to install, fully corrosion proof, and they don’t generally require the use of any additional wheel spacers or “Track Tuners” (although ¼” wheel shims are provided to simply take advantage of additional leftover wheel stud length)
Con’s
They are slightly more complicated to manufacture and therefore are not the cheapest design to build.
By design, they are more slippery on hard packed snow and ice than a rubber or steel track if not equipped with either “tire screws, narrow ice cleats, or the wider 7” ice cleat on the optional winter kit.
More sensitive to tire pressure and track length than wider designs.
Sat here for a long time trying to be objective and cant really come up with any other downsides to the design…its not perfect, but in my opinion its as close as you can get in an amphibious track design.
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I agree that if you are running an older style of machine that would benefit from the reduction of gearing than the classic style track is a pretty good option especially if deep snow is not much of a consideration. Yes you can add a winter kit to any of these open block, belted styles of track, however the winter kit is more effective on a machine that keeps the belting closer to the ground, although a machine that lifts the winter kit and ice cleats 3” up off the ground will defiantly turn with less effort.
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Originally Posted by Buzz
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Why is this such a hard choice 
LOL
