Any leads?!

Dear all,

I am in some urgent need of advice! As you all know, we moved to the city a while ago and all is going well except for one little problem...Salvador is not at all used to walking on a lead. On the farm he rarely went on a lead since he could run free without me worrying about him running into the street. This has all changed though. Suburban life definitely calls for leads and he is finding it a bit troubling. We've now been living in the city for about 4 months and although his lead walking has improved slightly, it is still a struggle, so I've taken it upon myself to look into some alternative training devices and came up with a multitude of interesting options - the only problem I have now is, Which one do I choose?!

My first find was the Halti, otherwise known as the Gentle Leader. In a nutshell, it was designed by a gentleman, who himself is the owner of a rather large, rather strong dog, and having had some troubles with his back and being afraid that struggling with his massive hound would put his back out, he devised this 'head collar' to see to the problem.
On a recent walk I met an elderly lady with her large Red Setter that confirmed this product actually works and that she too was afraid of hurting herself, as her dog used to be rather excitable and strong. Said dog is now a very calm, well behaved senior that seems to have come off well from his training with the Halti.
BUT, as with all things in life it seems, there are some who think that this collar is ineffective...I'm no expert so I'm not at all sure why, but it sent me forth on my search for some more training contraptions.

Next I stumbled on a slightly similar contraption called the Infinity Lead by Bold Lead Designs. It is similar to the Halti in that the dog is still able to pant, drink etc, yet it provides the handler with more control over the dog's head - as with horse halters, by being in control of the animal's head it is easier to control the rest of the animal's body and the direction you want it to go in. This lead focuses on bringing the dog's head up as soon as it starts pulling so that it's more aware of the owner. What made me like this one was the fabric it's made off - it just seems a bit softer and more flexible than the Halti.

So as you can see I'm in a bit of a bind over my options. Have you used any of the following products, do you have any advice! Please share!!

Licks and Kisses!

xx