Thread: Trolling motor choices

Johnson Outdoors owns both Minn Kota and Humminbird. Naturally, being under one company, these products work very well together. My understanding is that Lowrance and Motor Guide have a very close relationship as well. In doing your homework for a trolling motor, also consider what fishfinder you will be syncing it up with as well.

I have the Xi5 by motor guide and a lowrance hds carbon linked with NEMA 2000. No complaints at all.

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Thanks everyone, looks like the Minn Kota will be my choice.

I fish saltwater fish and crappie fish. I live in Wilmington and have a Minn Kota. My buddy has a Motorguide XI5. The spot lock on the Motorguide is way better in my opinion. The correction speed on the MK is too great as mentioned above. That being said I like the remote control on the MK much better than the MG but if I were buying today it would be a MG.

The white ones have a few extra layers of paint, and the circut boards are waterproofed in an epoxy, or like silicone so they are sealed to keep the saltwater out. Maybe that's all the difference in Motorguide, but Minnkota ripties are pretty legit.
I have a 2017 Terrova riptide. It is amazing, long as you have a little wind or current, then the spotlock works perfect. Keeps me in about a 2ft circle, if it's almost dead calm, then it will wander a bit, but that's expected. GPS systems have a little lag, so they often react and over react, then have to adjust again to correct and over correct. with a little current it holds steady, because it doesn't have to do much left/right correction, just forwards and backwards. The Bluetooth functions are not really used by us, but they are nice to have, especially the jog feature, moving 5ft with the press of a button. I have fished mine at the beach in ripping currents and in lakes with slow current. I still carry an anchor, but it's only used if the current is pushing more than 3mph. I have the 80lb thrust and about 3mph is all the trolling motor can generate, so it wont hold in current faster than that. Driving from the back is the best thing ever when you fish from the back of the boat.

PPowell, glad you posted that video. We just installed a MK on my pastor's pontoon and placed the gps "puck" right beside the trolling motor up front and was a little worried if it would work like it's supposed to. Looks like it works just fine there.

Several comments about the "lag" and "over correcting" with their MKs, just wondering if these are the newest version of the trolling motor. I had the same problem with the old version, but the new works great whether in current or calm windless water.
Mike

Take a kid outdoors!