Summary: Choosing the right decoy anchor system for the situations you hunt through out the duck season can make life a lot easier and picking your decoys up after the hunt a lot easier.
Important factors to consider when choosing a decoy anchor system include versatility, such as will the anchor system you choose work well for setting in very shallow water as well as deeper water if needed. Also, will the anchor attachment method to the decoy cause paint wear after several uses.
Typicaly most duck hunters use either a tarred decoy cord or a plastic Tangle Free cord or copy of to rig their decoys. Next either a mushroom style, strap, J-Style, or Tangle Free style weight can be used.
Decoy rigging methods I have used in the past and would recommend to you include: For hunting shallow marshes I think the Tangle Free setup or Tangle Free cord with a J-Style weight is the way to go. If you hunt areas with depths from just a foot up to 15 feet I would suggest reading Ace Decoy Anchor Rigging With Adjustable Cord. I do not recommend using a copy of Tangle Free cord, get the real stuff.
I usually shy away from mushroom and strap weights as they often come loose from decoy keels and become a tangled mess. However, when placing magnum or super magnum decoys in rivers with a faster flow you pretty much have to use heavy strap weight to hold the decoys in place.
If your looking for a no hassle method of setting out and picking up your duck decoys the Rig'em Right decoy anchor system is definately worth taking a close look at. Using a tangle free decoy cord and sliding weights this system is a great idea. As you can see from the photo to the left there is no need to wind the decoy cord around the keel which saves a lot of time when picking up a decoy spread. The anchors are 4 ounces which is just right marsh and pothole hunting.