Once I'm finished fixing my boat, I'll be thinking about getting a Spade as a secondary anchor for when I leave the boat. Sorry fellas but I think the Spade has a better design then the Manson supreme or Rocna.
Franklin,
I own all three, actually four, a Spade Aluminum, Spade Steel, Manson Supreme and a Rocna. While the Spade is a great anchor it is not a Manson Suprme or a Rocna. DO NOT buy the aluminum Spade of you plan to set in hard bottoms!!
The Rocna and Manson out set the both Spades. The three dimensional weighed tip profile of the Spade is far thicker in cross secton (triangle shaped) which leads to tougher penetration of hard bottoms when comapred to the Rocna or the Manson Supreme. For the price you really can't beat a Manson.
In that test video I did set both the Spade and the Manson three times and every time the Manson beat the Spade. That mud is so hard there that I can drive my car on it and barely dent the surface of the mud. My CQR dragged nealry 50 feet on about six attempts and barely even scratched the surface in that same location. The fact that the Manson set in about three feet is amazing. The fact that the Spade set at all is a testament to it's good design though after using both extensively I do feel the Spade is not on par with the Manson Supreme or the Rocna. Don't get me wrong the Spade is awsome compared to older designs until you use one of the roll bar anchors. I still keep my steel spade on board as my back up because it stows and breaks down nicely. So far with both the Manson Supreme and the Rocna I am at a 100% first try set ratio with zero drags ever. These are the only anchors I have ever been able to say that about.
Which of these tips will see the least resistance pushing into a hard bottom. (hint it's not the three dimensional CQR or Spade tips

)
More surface area / more holding power
Oh and I'm NOT making this photo up! This Spade was on the bow of a 650k boat assembled incorrectly, UPSIDE DOWN!, and had been used like that for two years according to the owner who was very grateful I pointed out the assembly error..