which trolling motor to buy?t

Buying a new boat and wondering which trolling motor to put on it. MinnKota i pilot or ?
Motor guide xi3 or xi5? want wireless remote
thanks,

Motor guide xi5

My personal choice is minnkota but I run birds. If you prefer lowrance go motorguide. From my past experiences I just like the minnkota products better. My 2 cents.

Running an Xi5, other than a super sucky foot control, I have no issues.

I prefer the Minnkota.

I have an Ultrex - it is an awesome tool.

I really want one of the motorguide tour pro's when they come out

Yeah that’s what I’m waiting on too.

What ever you go with make sure you match it up with the brand depth finder so that you are interconnected. So you pull up near your spot with the big motor and you want to fish a spot that has a waypoint on it, you can deploy the trolling motor and hit go to waypoint, the trolling motor takes you to your spot while you are getting your rod out, finishing your coffee, making love to your wife or what ever you want to do as the trolling motor gets you to your spot.

Garmin for Garmin
Lowrance for Lowrance
Hummingbird for Minkota

It will be interesting to see who Motorguide tour pro will be compatible with when they do come out, but I'm pretty sure it will be Lowrance.

My one disappointment in my new boat is that it came with an ultrex without the link feature so I can’t do this.

might want to look at the garmin, have one and am lovin it, switched to all garmin from birds for decades and not sorry one bit.

Then it is not an Ultrex. All Ultrexs have spot lock. Link is also an optional feature that lets you link with your chart plotter to go automatically to set coordinates.

I've had an Xi3 with wireless remote for a couple of years. I'm very happy with it EXCEPT: almost every time I put it in spot lock mode, it rotates 360 deg before locking on. There is plenty of cable to accommodate this behavior, but it annoys the heck out of me. I've seen one other post on TFF with the same issue. If this is common for this motor, I would not recommend it.

It’s definitely an ultrex and we’re not talking about spot lock. He said go to way point which requires linking the graph to the tm to do. I don’t have the link capability on my ultrex.

That can be easily fixed without buying a whole new trolling motor.

LOL go for it.

Motorguide has been lagging behind the others for years and always will.

Xi5 here... I love it, I don’t use the foot pedal, remote only. There are a few quirks with it, the biggest one I’m not a fan of is the deploy and stow method. I put a bike handle on it and that helped but it’s still a pain. If you’re looking at going with a 360 or Livescope you might wanna looked elsewhere.

MotorGuide.

Have had nothing but issues out of 3 Minn Kotas. Clapped out junk

I like the durability the tour models had, the X5 were junk, this new one looks heavier duty again. I've had issues with the durability of MK, the new Garmin trollers are too big, massive reall, the Ghost had my interest until I saw the price

I had a MG Great White 80lb on my center console flats boat and came to the realizaton that in order to fish in Texas, I had to have spot lock. Since I have had good luck with my GW, I went with the Xi5.. 80lb and I have mixed feelings about the Xi5. The anchor function is great. It has held me in place in 20mph wind no problemo! I have had no issues with battery draw being excessive. Anchor seems to use less battery than I thought it would..especially if the wind isn't blowing like a banshee. The big "but" for me is the pedal. The first one that I had had a problem and failed. Since I had the lanyard that works really well, I was ok with that for a while, but went through the process and got the pedal replaced under warranty. The problem with the pedal is the process isn't linear when you press the pedal. Some times the motor will turn slowly and other times with the same pressure on the pedal, it will whip around 270 degrees before I can get my foot off the pedal. Before the first pedal died, it was exactly the same way. Also... the way that the Xi5 is built, there is no rope to raise and lower the motor. I bought my motor from Shut Up and Fish, and he advised me to buy a piece that is made for a bicycle handle to attach to the head of the motor to have something to grab to deploy the motor. It was money well spent. The Xi5 is much cheaper than an Ultrex. Fishing is a total hobby for me, my boat is not my office. The Xi5, with all of the quirks is the best TM that I could afford, and it has been a good investment for me. The anchor works great.. which is why I bought it. I'm not a big bank beater, so sitting on off shore structure is what I like to do.. its great for that!

I have the same deployment issue with my Xi3. I hope you will provide a bit more information about the way you addressed this. Description? Where purchased? Thanks--

Cannondale Steering Stem

Their getting harder to find. I picked up a new one 3 years ago for like $15. Just clamp it on the shaft right below the head. Mine is actually a perfect length to touch the deck and support the shaft while stowed.

I bought my handle on ebay as well. If you are near a bicycle shop they might have one. Its about the best option for deploying for that motor as they didn't provide a handle at all.. kinda surprising actually. Its a really strong TM, very quiet, and other than the quirks.. is great!

BD

I would recommend the ulterra if you want to use remote. My foot control is still wrapped in plastic in a storage box for emergency use. The spotlock is great but I fish a very grassy lake and the ability to raise and lower the tm by remote is fantastic. Also remote stow and deploy is great for my bad back. Just remember to turn on the power before you launch it off the trailer!!. Dont ask how I know this. Ha.

Thanks for the info. Now that I have a description, I can begin looking.

I didn’t think anyone could make a better trolling motor than the MK Ultrex. But Garmin did. Check it out, you will be amazed!

I’m happy with the Ultrex, and I really like the foot pedal. Very smooth and predictable.

Probably gonna get joked about..

Had a Xi5 on my Legend Guide Boat best equipment I have came across made fishing and helping others Fish so easy. Sold that boat now I have a BassCat it got a Xi5 installed a few weeks ago, went out a few days ago a pre-recorded 4 trails abot 300-400 yards a piece. Motor is the quietest trolling motor I have personally ever heard and the spotlock is so accurate. Have yet to use the foot pedal in the 3 years I have had one when guiding.. usually was at the console or in back when operating. Over 250+ trips only problem was a gps module went out Motorguide warranted it and was down 1 day. Cons: adding a external transducer.. 2D was ok with me up front.
Found it online for $1591..
Just my