Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time reading through the Minion thread and most people seemed to conclude that the deck pad was the best option:

1. Less likelihood of creating depressions from your feet or knees
2. Getting wax on your paddle if you prone paddle out through waves
3. Getting wax on your hairy arms when carrying the board
4. Minor hassle of re-waxing

I will be getting a deck pad for those reasons and because I don't miss having to wax the board (when you really need wax I could never find wax) and to save my knees (when you are forced to jump on your knees for a faster paddle out of the line-up) and save my chest (it is more comfortable on a deck pad than the hard waxed surface for prone paddling).

The pad adds weight, but my vote goes with adding a pad.

I like grip pad from tail block to standup feet position and i wax to the nose or MonsterPaint instead of wax.

That's true - I do miss that smell... (But I don't miss picking it out of my hairy bits.)

Cheers guys!
Looks like I might go with wax fisrt, I found to get the surfboard feel and see how I go. This board will be dedicated to surfing only.
Can always scrape the wax to fit a pad later on if needed!

I reckon deck grip is superior to wax as its always there, no waxing, buying wax, melting wax, ruining the wetties, its gets slippery, is a lot of work to maintain perfectly etc

Been using deck grip on my shortboards for over 20 years as well, would never go back to wax, I am always first out amongst the crew as well so that extra first choice of the best wave works for me