Well the drift socks store better on the boat. I use em on the James and have two sizes, one big and one small.  But if your looking to save money and storage area isnt a concern the buckets should work

Drift socks size depends on the wind. I use a bucket for light to med. wind and higher wind I have a large drift sock. Sometimes I use both. I have a 16 ft Lowe Jon boat.

Depends on the water condition alot dave. A bucket will not do what the right size drift sock will. I current use to two 6ft drift socks on my 18 lund and its not enough at times esp. in the winter. Im going to start using 9ft drift socks. I like to drift off the side of my boat with the wind. If you look through the yadkin post you will see a photo of us running two 6 fter and a 9 fter off the front of our boat in a NCCATS tourney and we still couldnt slow it down enough. Anchoring in the area we wanted was not a option on this bad windy day. Big fish can and will be caught drifting at all times of the year but it depends alot on boat speed......got to go slow. Mine are made by a woman at santee....i think here name is esterlines sea anchors....i will get the number tomorrow or you can seacrh the web. she has a site.