As a coyote trap. Why?

Think it has to do with geography. I started off with those and never saw a reason to change. They work great for me. They hold any critter that’s stepped in them, and deer are able to pull free. There’s better probably, but there’s also a lot worse. For the money and basically out of the box ready, they’re all I’ll ever buy.

I like them fine, but in the past two years I have pulled up to several small catch circles with no animals in them. Traps varying from brand new to a couple years old. Had a bobcat pull out of a brand new 550 last year. Caught him 2 miles away in another 550 a couple days later. Ive also had problems with them not wanting to go off even with polyfill under the pan. Seems like someone mentioned the angle of the pan lets dirt get washed up under the back of the pan and prevent it from firing at times.

Only negative I see is the lack of pan tension adjustment with a nut/bolt.

Inside jaw spread is basically that of a 1 1/2. Get too many toe catches with that small of inside jaw spread and big pan. Toe catches are near misses in my book. See plenty of of pics of same thing with 550s here too.

Ditto

IMO, that's a plus. I want to adjust it once and forget it. No tinkering or side to side slop or up and down wiggle due to a pinching pan post.

But I don't care for 550s for other reasons.

I do not use them because the jaw spread is a little small for winter trapping conditions/snow!
Also because they are Not Dogless!
Over all they are still a pretty good trap.

Make sure your pan hasn't gotten bent upward on those traps. I had terrible problems with pull-outs when I first started using them. Discovered the problem when I got popped twice setting one. I had 18vat that time and the pan was bent upwards, to at least some degree, on 13 of them. Now, I check them all when setting. It's an easy fix.

WB
Some brands of #3 coilsprings are legal to set on land in Georgia as they are 5.75" , or less, inside to inside jawspread (measured perpendicular to the levers.)

And just about every #3/650 size that has been inside laminated would be legal as most are about 6" and the inside lams reduce that down so close to 5.75" that they would be legal.

Thanks for the suggestion BandB! Ill keep an eye out. You can see the from the top foot in the pic that it was a pretty good catch. My main problems seem to come from clay ground and wet weather. At least thats the trend I have noticed for which nights I am most likely to experience my issues. Im thinking that the wide surface area is getting slick with mud and allowing them to yank on it with a little more slippage each time. Just a guess. Very well could be user error as well.

Clay is the worst. I've been trying to line the bed with a little peat or real dirt bedding in the clay. Which is most of the time around here. It seems to help.

Same here. When I find good dirt I’ll take time and sift at least half to three quarters of a 50# corn sack full of good dirt to use throughout the year.
I also use polyfil under my pans and even with copious amounts of rain, I’ve yet to have a trap that didn’t fire from dirt under the pan.
The only thing I didn’t like about the 550’s is their offset jaws. I prefer the closed.

I don’t mind them but I can buy a couple #2 bridgers for same price as one 550 in some stores around here and accomplish same target species catches with the bridgers.
Jim

Same inside jaw spread as Bridger 1 1/5. They might be #2 size jaw post to jaw post but inside jaw spread is what matters to me.