Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

[izoomie]

I suspect this has been posted before but I couldn't find a thread.

I have a 17' aluminum springbok with a 90 Johnson 2 stroke. I get out about every other weekend during our short summer in southern Ontario.

I've been searching for reviews but all I find is the people who are having problems with these trolling motors. I can find 50 posts saying my motor is crap, only lasted 2 months regardless of the manufacturer.

Can I get some comments on durability from owners of Minn Kota, or motor guide or any other bow mounted motor? Who has been running one for a while and likes it.

I'll do the math to get the right thrust and shaft length but I'm also interested in what features are worth the money.

Thanks all.

 

[tpcowfish]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

I owned a motorguide quite a few years back, didnt like the pedal,but i'm sure they improved since then, My last boat had a minnkota PD, had no problems in 8 years. I added a co-pilot, which i really like,can run the motor anywhere in the boat, I did contact Minnkota for help on the co-pilot, and they were extremely helpful, great personal service. My new boat is having a Minnkota installed, I E-mailed them before deciding on motor ,and they e-mailed me back very timely with my questions answered. Hope this helps, Im very happy with them thus far, Tim

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

I have a minkota that is 4 years old now and still runing just like new. I have never had a motor guide, so I don't know anything about them. as far as i am concerned minkota is the only way to go.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

I've used Minn Kota's for years so I'm partial to that brand. Now we have a powerdrive V2 that came on a 2nd boat we bought last year. It's only a few years old but it's been great.

http://www.amazon.com/Minn-Kota-Powerdrive-Pontoon-Trolling/dp/B000MQPABG

I also own a 36 lb thrust transom mount Minn Kota that I've had for about 10 years with no issues.

I agree with the other poster on the Minn Kota tech people, when you call they bend over backwards to solve your issue.

When I was shopping for a bow mounted troller the reviews I read seemed to lean towards MK. There are of course a lot of Motor guide owners, but I think a lot of boat packages came with MG's.

Get a Square Trade warranty (squaretrade.com) they are cheap and they keep sending you 30% off coupons. This way you can get an extra two years over MK's already 3 year warranty, that's 5 years of coverage.

I buy the Square trade for everything electronic like flat screen tv's etc. It's owned by Ebay but you can buy a warranty for any purchase online or any retail store. No rush to add it on as you have up to 90 days to buy the warranty.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

The poll showed "powerguide", the post says "powerglide" and the proper term for the Minnkota's motor is "PowerDrive", PowerDrive V2, or "PowerDrive Pontoon. PowerGlide just happened to be a Chevy automatic transmission that appeared in the 1950 model year. See what you can learn here! -)

All of my boats have been fitted with Minnkota motors except for one (Sears) and all have been flawless. The Minnkota foot pedal can be problematic if it is constantly left in wet conditions. Tuck it into a hatch when done fishing to protect it. A neighbor had an early MotorGuide remote and it was constant trouble so I tended to stay away from them. I suspect however, that it really doesn't matter today as most manufacturers are paying a lot more attention to quality if they want to stay in business.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

The poll showed "powerguide", the post says "powerglide" and the proper term for the Minnkota's motor is "PowerDrive", PowerDrive V2, or "PowerDrive Pontoon. PowerGlide just happened to be a Chevy automatic transmission that appeared in the 1950 model year. See what you can learn here! -)

All of my boats have been fitted with Minnkota motors except for one (Sears) and all have been flawless. The Minnkota foot pedal can be problematic if it is constantly left in wet conditions. Tuck it into a hatch when done fishing to protect it. A neighbor had an early MotorGuide remote and it was constant trouble so I tended to stay away from them. I suspect however, that it really doesn't matter today as most manufacturers are paying a lot more attention to quality if they want to stay in business.

Haha, I meant to change the powerglide thing. The link said powerdrive and I forgot to correct it. It was from my old Chevy days

probably one of the best sites to get honest reviews of stuff is Amazon.com It's pretty close to consumer reports unbiased reviews. Or at least input from actual users. That's whats great about Amazon. You can compare Minn Kota user experience against the same for Motor Guide guide for various models and their were too many issues on the Motor Guide side when I was comparing each. When I bought my current rig the offered me the bow mount foot controlled unit from either manufacturer. I think at the time Minn Kota had a technology that gave them the edge because of resistors or something they were using that allowed the motors to run cooler, so I went with Minn Kota.

 

[nimmor]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

Other than an old Shakespeare Wondertroll, which was a great trolling motor no longer made, I have always owned Minn Kota with no complaints.

 

[JunebugTrickworm]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

Which one...a "Many Choka" or a "Motor Fried" either one does the trick and either one could be a lemon. I like Motor Fried... I have used both but my Motor Fried is what I'm using now...and i have only fried once in 5 years of hard Florida tourney fishing....

 

[rudedawg]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

This is just another opinion but if you are going wireless I like the MinnKota Power Drive V2. A coworker has been thru 2 wireless Motorguides in less than a year, both with fried mother boards. My MinnKota has been used extensively for 3 years without a glitch.
Tightlines,
Rudedawg

 

[rudedawg]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

Correction, used the MK PD V2 for 2 years as this is starting the 3rd year; it's bad getting old. When I was a member of a local bass club 30 years ago a Motorguide was on my bass boat, it never gave any problems but would suck a battery dry in no time. The maximizer on the MinnKota is the real deal. Competition fishing days have long since passed and so has owning bass boats but we still enjoy jumping from bream bed to bed and can slow troll all day "pushing" (that's another story) an 18.5' Bayliner Capri around on a single 12v charge. It's not a wally world sale battery either so whatever motor you get do not skimp on a battery/ies and get a good quality charger that will also maintain it during the down time.
Good luck-

 

[rudedawg]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

BTW, never had really good luck with onboard chargers either.
Again, good luck-

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

Minnkota has some really neat autopilot stuff coming out this year if you troll running electric constantly. Plus, seeing their association with Humminbird, I would reasonably expect a full tie-in with GPS soon. (Although those who have seen my posts know I prefer Lowrance/Eagle) So I would say to go with the Minnkota, ESPECIALLY if you are going with an electric-remote steering model.

After reading a few comments, I thought that I would mention that I have had good experience with the Wallmart Everstart Marine batteries I have purchased. I don't buy their "cheap line" but I buy their top-line performance-equivalent of other similar-sized higher cost brand names. For me it has worked- seem to deliver the amp-hours expected. I have not used an Optima, but I am not comparing walmart to High-end premium batteries- just to other similarly constructed batteries. Worked for me.

While my boat is smaller and I only run a 42# transom Minnkota, my fishing buddy has an older Minnkota 55# bow-mount with foot peddle on his 18' Nitro. 24V and would troll 1.5- 3mph all day long the few times we have actually taken his instead of mine. Plenty of power and nice control. And years ago it had A LOT of bass tourney action. No complaints from him.

Hope this helpds

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

I've had both. The MK I had was an '89 model. It had the large 2 bladed prop (roughly 10" diameter) and had the remote electric controller on electrical wires....you could go anywhere in the boat and run the motor.....like get under the canopy amidship out of the sun. That was great.

I had problems with torque on the big prop at normal trolling rpm's and I had problems with the switches on the remote control; had to replace them a couple of times over the 7 roughly years I had the boat.

I thought a big diameter prop would give me the best torque (having had previous motors with regular sized props) but at the speeds I usually ran (not very fast), it was slow to get started if I didn't max out the rpm's and then cut them back to where I ran...a nuisance, especially when you were bassin in the stumps and needed just a little nudge to miss a stump. Otherwise it was just fine.

Currently running a Motorguide 65 (and had MG prior to MK) on a 17' boat and 24v high is much more than I need. So recently, when I repowered, I only bought a cranking battery and one TM battery, running on 12v only which works just fine for me....but I don't fish open water and if I did, especially here in N. Texas, I would surely have all available power the motor could put out and at 24V.

Mark

 

[blchandler1981]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

Mk all the way, I hv owned both. The powerdrive (auto, co-pilot) is great, had mine for three years and no problems what so ever. I fish at least three times a wk putting about 15hrs+ a wk during fishing season.

 

[Dave Barnett]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

I have 2 Minn Kotas One is 1964 One is a 1980 I believe. The old 64 is a strong old horse of a motor. I use it on the little boat my son and I built. The 80 I use on my 14' lake boat. Both motors have seen some serious running time and still run like they did when new. I baby my outboard and I don't intentionally beat up my trolling motors but when I want to get into some good fishing cover I kick in the trolling motors and go. The 64 I bought used for 15.00 about 5 years ago. The guy that had it took good care of it and even had a title for it. I have run it hard and it keeps putting out the performance. The 80 I got from my father-in-law about a year ago. He ran it on a 18' Shoal runner. He is pretty hard on stuff and has replaced a few props due to rocks and grounding on river bars. Other than some paint scratched off it too just keeps on going strong.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

I've owned a bunch of MinnKotas and will continue to own them until they give me a reason not to. Owners of PowerDrives need to keep the foot pedals dry. That does not mean they can't be used in the rain as that is often the best fishing. What I mean is when finished for the day, don't leave them on deck. Stow them in one of the hatches. They can fail if left constantly wet.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

Check Cabelas, read the reviews for each model.

 

[checkmate150]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

I bought a minnkota this year. Its the 80# 24v terrova with factory installed i-pilot. This thing is awesome. The boat is a 16ft fairly light and the motor pulls the boat with ease. The remote is the best part as it is easy to use and convenient being you dont need to control it with your foot.

My dad has a 19ft four winns he equipped with a minnkota engine mount. His boat is much heavier and he fishes much bigger water so he went with this kind. He put it on last year and had great success until this past weekend. He hit a sand bar at 28 mph with the main engine and the trolling motor mounts were still attached to the lower unit but no trolling motor. He was left with just the cord. He has no complaints with the motor but was not impressed with the housing not handling the jolt of the stop. He is ordering another minnkota same model this week.

I have not used the other brands. I chose minnkota because of all the reviews of my friends and others online.

 

[nightprowler]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

Funny me and my buddy have been arguing this for years now, he even convinced me to buy a minkota i took a dump on me in a wk, funny so i guess fisherman are like any other sportsman.Its like a superstition if you change you think you made the fishing gods mad or something. i love fishing

 

[BobnAbout]

Re: Minn Kota vs Motor Guide vs Others

After reading all the posts, I am unable to draw a conclusion. I read the one review on Cabelas, must be reviews on freshwater trollers, only 1 review for saltwater 45# models. I am buying a FoldCat 11' boat, weights 100#, carries 600# total. Looking at MinnKota Traxxis 45 or MotorGuide Varimax 45 for my use. I am fishing in Mosquito Lagoon, which is brackish. I read the threads on salt water use for freshwater trollers, again no conclusion. Most said this is okay, but the few immediate dies weigh heavily. Think I should get a saltwater model. The comments on Customer Service for MK are favorable, might break the indecision. Any comments on Customer Service for Motor Guide?