First, I have been talking to a new friend at Cabela's about a new boat. He said they are 3 to 4 months delivery from when I order. He said the best way to speed it up is get it plain and add what you want either at the store in Allen or DIY. He said electronics and trolling motors are the low hanging fruit in that regard.

As I looked at the Motor Guide offerings, I see a lot of bad reviews. Something I don't see with the Minn Kota. I have a Minn Kota Power Drive that I added a GPS and remote to and the spot lock blows. They should call it an area lock. I think, from what I have read, that through an NMEA network I should be able to use a Minn Kota and Lowrance integrated. I am not 100% on this.

1. Tell me I'm wrong about the Motor Guide being inferior, or tell me I'm right.
2. Will the Minn Kota work with Lowrance to the same level of features that the Motor Guide would?

Tim I have a minnkota Terova with blue tooth and it is great. I do not have it hooked up to my Humminbird. I hear that is a great feature but I am not very tech savvy so I didn’t spend the extra money in the Link feature.

I have never had a motorguide with the spot lock but I know people who have and they said the minnkota has more power. They chase sandbass and hybrids a lot and said the guys with the minnkota will put run their motorguide.

The 2017 model and newer minnkota have Bluetooth and a heading sensor which made them a lot more accurate. I use mine all the time to fish brush piles for crappie and it does great. My best friend has a none Bluetooth version and it is not very accurate

Good stuff Matt! Thanks for the input...

Of course, they didn't tell you they have no Ipilot trolling motors in stock.

I've seen some bass guys that use Lowrance graphs and have a Ghost unit. They seem to like it. It does everything link does, except follow the contour, but you can mark waypoints and have it do that too. Of course, that's with a Lowrance graph. The Garmin guys, I haven't seen one using a Force networked to the graph yet. But it can do all the same stuff too.

One nice thing about the Lowrance unit, you can go from 24 to 36 volts with the same motor, just by switching it. If you ever wanted to change it to a different boat. I think they're the only ones that have that option.

I won’t get into the Ford vs Chevy debate but I will say this, I was a long time lowrance motorguide guy and switched to Humminbird Minn Kota around 11 yrs ago. Now I’m a Humminbird guy for life. You won’t hear many guys who switch from Lowrance to a Bird complain. You will on the other hand hear guys that switch from a bird to a lowrance be unhappy. They all do the same thing but some are just more user friendly than others. I’m very happy with my Terrova 36v with ipilot link. I love having the ability to pin my map on my Helix.

If you buy just the link version you can still use the autopilot feature to keep you pointed in the right direction Tim and use the cruise control to maintain your speed. I use these features just as much as the link.

All Star Marine can get you a trolling motor even if they are on back order in most cases. They are the authorized service tech for Minn Kota

I just wish they'd come up with a way to link ANY brand fish finder to a Minn Kota trolling motor. I love Minn Kota trolling motors, but I'm a fan of Lowrance graphs, over Humminbirds. I get though that the main reason is because Johnson Outdoors owns both Humminbird and Minn Kota, but it sure sems like they'd get a huge swath of the market with an adapter unit of some sort, to run competitor's graphs on their motors. And they'd be able to name their price, since they'd be the only ones with that technology.....at least for a while.

Tim,

Looking to get a new boat myself, and have been looking at all the trolling motor options. I have come to the conclusion that the Minnkota Terrova seems to get the best reviews and provides the functions that I would meet my needs. I also like the lift assist and spot lock.

After seeing the auto deploy Minnkota Ulterra in action, I knew they were more expensive but I thought it would be worth it with the ability to be able to launch the boat then call it back to me like a dog. The thing I discovered was there are/were issues with it. Given that and the $3K price tag, I would be pretty unhappy if I had to swim for my new boat.

Tim,

I have a Motor Guide i5, 36v, 60" spotlock etc. on my tritoon. Had it a couple of years now. I do not have it linked to my Lowrance unit yet, but plan to (I have 9" Ti2). I use the hand remote 100% of the time and love it.

Overall I have been happy with mine. Good power, good battery life. Had a small clip come off on the stowed - lock bracket. I put a small bolt and nut on it, no more issues.

Spotlock has worked well for me with my limited crappie fishing. I put a marker out and then spot lock, holds good in some pretty rough wind. I just bought a livescope setup for myself at Christmas - have not installed yet, but will see how it works better this spring and summer, as I look for some crappie.

Might die tomorrow, but so far so good - I would buy again. I got more motor for the money, and was Lowrance friendly was my reasons for buying.

Good luck
Ken