Looking for new trolling motor for a 20' Cajun. Anyone have thoughts on which would work better. Mainly fish Amistad and hopefully someday will go back to Choke when it improves. Thanks for any suggestions.

Fishing offshore on amistad, my old maxxum 101 sure is nice. But my new fortrex 80 can hang

Had the fortrex on z 520 & 521 and it is not as good as the maxx which I had on 4 boats - fortrex is noisier and lots develope slack and a popping when turning due to the alum fore arm - the Minni Kota dealer at Toledo bend says he has had more trouble with the fortrex than all the others put together and said the people are going back to the solid metal arm- I had both mine in the shop more than once for the alum arm getting weak and allowing the motor to start popping

Before i ordered my new boat i researched both, most wished they still had their maxxum so i went with that. It has been solid, and pretty quiet.

Agreed. I liked my M axxum better. Too much plastic in the fortrex. The plastic bushings that the unit goes up and down with are junk. Lots of play in mine as well.

I agree with all of the above on the fortrex BUT I still like the Fortrex better when it is in like new condition. Motor and foot pedal is perfect. Mount has to be maintained. Parts are cheap to "rebuild" or maintain mount. You have to use a dab of blue loctite on the screws that go into the cams. They are known to get loose and break which creates slop and wear on you mount.

I bought an extra mount to have one on standby to swap out and just rebuild the one in standby.

I agree you should not have to go through this BUT if I want to keep enjoying the fortrex that's what I chose to do.

My fortrex is a ton quieter than the maxxum i had. Much better tm in my opinion.

I like the maxxum better myself

Funny. I just spent yesterday repairing a fortrex mount. Seemed like an aweful lot if cheap cast aluminum parts to break, and plastic pieces. I'd take a maxxum. How much did you spend on an extra fortrex mount? Couldn't have been cheap. Minnkota quoted me 500.

Ive had a Maxx for 3 yrs no problem at all. Just wish Id got the longer shaft. The spring mount took away from the total length. I fish a lot of timber and have yet to see it break over, so I really don't see the need for it anyway. I did fish in a friends boat and he had the 101 fortex, I was not impressed at all!!!! I have the 80lb 24v maxx. Ill never own a motorguide again that's for sure!

I thought the only difference in a Maxx or Fortrex was the mount itself.

Idk what the overall diff between the two are, but my Maxx is good to go. This coming from a Ex Motorguide owner. I bought same length shaft that I had with my MG but like I said the spring mt takes away from the total length. Do not get the 42 if you own a champ!!!

They pop up used of for sale fishing forums in the $250 to $350 range. You can rebuild yours if you have a little down time. There is not a whole lot of parts really into it. If I got the parts I can tear it down and back together in an two hours. That's just replacing what's wore and got sloppy due to loose screws in the cam area. I just wanted an extra mount.

Thanks for all of the help! I have a Terrova, that I am going to sell because I have never gotten the full benefit of it and was looking at those two.

I just got the New Fortrex 112 and I installed it on my boat yesterday, man what a beast.