Motor Guide Trolling Motor

Did I read this right? Cable steer with GPS spot lock ability?

Yes sir. Might be the way to go depending on price.

Definitely has my attention.

If these new trolling motors are half what is advertised they are going to put a hurt on MinnKota. It won't happen over night but I could see Ultrex sales drop at a minimum 30% and probably more like 50%-60% over a 2-3yr period. Again, that is assuming that the Lowrance and Garmin units are as advertise. At some point that will effect pricing on the Ultrex. It has to. That is a massive reduction in sales of the flagship unit of MinnKota. Now if these new units come out and are a pile of junk then all bets are off, but I don't see that happening. Especially the Lowrance unit.

Can these new units do something the ultrex can't? Otherwise I don't see a reason why anyone would switch. For the extra coin one would think they'd have some pretty serious new and improved features.

Some may change brands for the following reasons
--better interface/networking/control with their depth finders/graphs
--improved reliability
--quieter/less vibration
--more efficient, less battery drain
--customer service

Lowrance users will be more apt to switch because they can link to the graphs. Garmin will probably be the same.

More competition means prices will be more competitive.

Question is will these new TM's, take a decent bite of the TM market as did Minnkota with the Ultrex, I doubt it. They will get a very small piece of the market, first with their loyal customer base, but it will increase over time ( and I think a long time), not overnight, like what happened with the Ultrex.

All will have there own problems, its what the company does in order to correct them. For example, Minnkota said 3 yr warranty, regardless. While it is always a PITA to take something off to go get it fixed, or drop your boat off and be without it and some more than others, [censored] happens and you should expect it to, because honestly the majority of us run our equipment pretty darn hard and then put it up wet and expect it to work the next time without fault, without doing any preventative maintenance. I get it, but think of how many times you deploy and stow that TM a day, week, month, and year and then we complain when the cord breaks....It happens, if you expect it and be prepared for it, it will be more manageable.

When I got my first ultrex, the cables broke about 9 months later, I bought the cables and replaced them myself, took me 1.5 hours. Probably would have been under warranty, but I did not have the time to take it off and have them do it. Sold that boat and bought another Ultrex on my next boat. They broke and I replaced them as well. I bought a spare set of cables and then another set for my parents....they have had theirs for almost 3 yrs and no issue. I mentioned to them that we need to inspect them to see....sure as hell I inspected it on a Sunday and one cable had a fray....I did not have their spare set with me, but said we need to get that replaced soon...they are not hard on their equipment....that next Saturday we had a club tourney and I will be damned if it did not brake first thing that morning....Luckily they had the remote and were able to salvage the rest of the day....went and fixed it Sunday...took about an hour because I had help.

Some things you cannot have a spare for, but most you should, like a prop for the engine and TM, spare nut, washer and pin for the TM as well as for the engine, prop spare cable for the TM (be sure to have a good pair of wire cutters) the standard fishing long nose pliers are not good enough to cut the cable if you have to do an on the water fix.....ask my how I know, been there done that...lol


Just my .02

Now all the minn Kota haters can have an ultrex too

1. I'm sure they will have something comparable to the I pilot link. Which will allow Lowrance and Garmin users to link their graphs to their trolling motor. That alone will be enough for many to switch. I don't know exact market share in the bass market, but with Garmin and Lowrance both having a live scope type display, they are taking over the electronics market. Trolling motor sales will follow. You will continue to see new features that allow graphs and trolling motors to work together via a link type system.

2. If they could figure out how to build a trolling motor that doesn't require a monthly trip in for warranty work.......that would be a distinct advantage over the Ultrex. Lets face it, the Ultrex has some major design flaws.

My guess is within a year or so the Ultrex, Lowrance, and the Garmin trolling motors of comparable size will all be competitively priced. They will make some good cash off of the "gotta have it first crowd" then pricing will even out.

I noticed that Motorguides TM states a 45 inch shaft.

I do like the fact that the new lowrance is brushless. I was waiting for this to happen and they are claiming it now......supposedly zero interference with electronics, at least it states that.

minnkota has a product on the market that works really good for a couple of years. there is always room for competition at the prices seen so far it wont hurt the sales of minnkota because the folks that have them are not going to fire sale them to get something more expensive.

I don't know about the lowrance but I have to turn the gain waaaaaayyy up to get any kind of interference with the Garmin Force which is brushless as well. Under normal operating conditions I have never noticed any interference.

SE Kansas grass grower