Gents,

Aug 2011, I installed the 8ft Minnkota Talon on my 20ft 2011 200SVT Texas Flats boat.

The primary reason I went this way was it was an easier install and liked the auto down & up features. I've never used the Power Pole for more history.

I fish 100% in the marsh of La and our bottom is pure mud. It's thick, gummy and you can easily hand push a stick it pole 4ft deep.

I must 1st clearly state that I've never tried to use the unit in any other situation and I believe my issues would likelynot be the case where there's a hard, maybe soft or sandy bottom.

Now, here's the problem.... If you press the down button twice, the unit deploys the pole until it feels enough resistance, then it stops, waits 5 sec pulses force (they use the word "drive")and then again 5 sec later. I see this feature designed for hard bottoms. But, in a muddy bottom, the pole goes so deep, it can't retract the pole.

If it tries for too long, the system goes into overload, trips itself off and will NOT DO ANYTHING.

OK, you're now stuck in the mud. It has a 7/16 stainless manual over-ride bolt you can use a ratchet to jack the pole back up.....maybe, not in every case I've tried.

What's left? Now you have to un bolt it from the boat and by hand, do as if you were trying to remove a fence post, wiggle the unit around while pulling up to remove from the mud.

By now you're ready to throw into the marsh.

Now the unit has cooled and will work again but who wants to take the chance of all that over again.
To be fair, the unit does have the option stop the deployment by pressing the up button and it stops. The successful times I've used it, this is what I had to do, but If I EVER forget to stop the rod, I'm stuck.

MinnKota has agreed to take the unit back, I'm in process of that now.

I've tried to be honest and fair to all parties but this was my case.

Good luck and great fishing...

Power Pole user for nearly 3 years now, it's been indestructable and I have made the bonehead mistake of forgetting to take it up before running down the lake more than once luckily, no harm done.

The only gripe is that my switch doesn't work after sitting up for a while right away. The installer warned me it might become a problem the way I wanted it mounted (at the bow) so I may need to get my switch replaced, it still works just have to bang on it a bit.
im sure glad im not the only one who has taken off with it down lol

Otherwise, it's really been a joy to own.