These days the wind never stops blowing, and my boat gets pushed around too much for my happiness. My trolling motor is a near new Minnkota Maxxum 70. To get a spot lock or anchor type trolling motor, can I have the existing trolling motor upgraded or am I going to have to buy a whole new setup.

And, if I have to go to a new setup to get what I want, please tell me what I want. What’s best? What’s most affordable?

Thanks.

I would just google if yours can be u[graded with iPilot

But, I feel your pain. My boat is like a feather in the wind.so annoying

New set up required. If you want to stay with Minnkota go with Ultrex.

I'm waiting on the new Motorguide Tour Pro to come out and get some time on them.

None of them are cheap.

The Minn Kota Terrova has I-Pilot and is some cheaper than the Ultrex, so you might give that a look.

Wayne

It appears that I can’t upgrade my Minn Kota Maxxum. I’ll have a look at the Terrova units.

depends on what graphs you run too, I just upgraded to all garmin with the garmin force tm and am really liking it. get what will link to the graphs you have or plan to get, you will be a lot happier in the end.

not cheap by any means, my 2 93sv plus and the tm were about 6k total with shipping the tm, taxes etc. and I did my own install.

worth it? I think so, at least now I look cool not catching fish. there is that.

The comment made by hopalong is one to really think about. I have used Lowrance from day one. Companies are moving to only allowing their components to talk to one another. I recently upgrade my trolling motor to Minn Kota Ulterra. In order to get the built in transducer to work I had to swap over to Hummingbird. I also encountered another speedbump. The Side/Structure Scan on the Ulterra will only work on the 8 or above. It will not work on the 7. The down scan will work on the 7. In all cases, the adapter has to be MKR-MDI-2. My unit is a GEN 3.

Power drive has co-pilot and cheaper than terrova.

Pay attention to the little details. The terrova or even power drive don't deploy with a traditional rope. There is a piece at the base that you have to depress, grab the head and tilt it over into the water. When you want to stow, you step on button and bend over the front of the boat to grab the head and lift. You will be in a little awkward position leaning over the front of the boat which you might not like especially if the water is rough. You also have to learn to use a remote as the foot control has no feedback and is really hard to use. The Ultrex is pretty much a traditional tm has the same feel and deploys the same way with a rope. You also get a remote with it that can be used. Several other models have just come out or are coming out shortly so you will have several choices. They are expensive but once you get it you will believe that they are worth the money. Probably the best piece of equipment that you can put on your boat.

You can also find reconditioned ones from MK that come with a one year warranty. It's possible to save enough for it to be worthwhile or wait until people start replacing their ultrexes with a newer model and get one used.

I thank ya’ll for the really useful and important info. Without it I might have failed to notice a few of those ‘little things’, which would have quickly become big things.

I was going to upgrade the electronics first, but the wife is strongly in support of “getting one of those trolling motors that hold you in one place”. So, the cost might be painful, but at least I won’t have to sell the idea to the wife.

I will have more questions later.

Thanks.