I have read enough reviews online, I figured I would reach to sone local fisherman to get their thoughts. I have a 20' bass boat and my Fortrex has finally gave out. I have been eying one that has a "spot lock" feature, but it seems that multiple brands/models have that feature now. Any suggestions? Good/bad reviews for me?

What graphs are you running? If Bird stay with bird.. If lowrance stay with lowrance.. If Garmin stay with garmin.. I have all garmin graphs and run the force. It is great and has a ton of power. Spot wroks good for me but I don't use it like some people do..

Good question. I am running Hummingbird at the moment.

The brushless motors from Lowrance and Garmin are a bit more powerful and use less battery power but don't dismiss the Ultrex. Its been around long enough to get the bugs out and while it may have a few quirks its easy and cheaper to repair.

I run Lowrance graphs and trolling motor, honestly I can't see me ever buying something else. It's very quite great power and lots of functions ....... but they work with the graphs for most of them. If you are staying with Birds that may be the way to go just sucks they don't have have a brushless motor yet.

Ghost

How is the anchoring feature on the Lowrance?

Ghost!! quiet, powerful(even at 24v), spot lock is perfect, rock solid construction and mount, and it is super efficient. only drew 12 amps after a 10 hour day and using it a decent amount- 15-20mph winds. cant go wrong

No complaints at all from me.

Get you an Ultrex and keep the Fortrex as a back up. You can swap back n forth between the two in about 3 minutes.
Ultrex is easier to work on, when it breaks…which they all will, no matter the brand.

Yea, but where can you find an Ultrex? Been looking for a while!

you may be stuck with what you can find to buy, all are good options

Someone just got a new one a few weeks ago. They were shipping them with a card inside the box saying that the remotes and heading sensors would ship at a later date.

This, running Fortrex myself and want to upgrade. I got to run a ghost at a bass tournament a while back and absolutley love it. Brushless is waaaaay more quieter. My trolling motor sounds like a chainsaw compared to the Ghost, no noise what so ever and spot lock YES!
I figure Minnkota will go brushless before to long. Lowrance and Garmin are probably eating into their market share quiet a bit with their inovations. The only draw back I've run into so far is actually getting the stuff to upgrade a whole boat. I may wind up in a new or newer rig before spring if I can't locate it all.

I saw a youtube video that compared all 4 (Force, Ultrex, MG, and Ghost) and the Ghost was the loudest of them all when a microphone was put under water........... That wasn't what I was expecting.