I have it on good authority, the reason that Monokote is different is that EPA forced Top Flight to pull the last amount of lead from the formulation.
Many years ago they were forced to pull a portion of lead out and some of you old timers remember when Monokote took it's first change of more difficult application, but we ajusted.
Now it is all out and yes it is even more difficult to use but I for one am working towards ajustment, in fact, I just purchased 5 each 25' rolls to cover my latest build project, so I am in too deep to just back out now. Time will tell though...

Bob