Need a new trolling motor...which one and why?

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.

I had an Ultrex which was just fine but I switched to the Ghost and like it better. It depends on if you want to link the T/M with your electronics.

That's hard to believe that a brushless motor in any brand, is louder than the others. I could hear my Ultrex and the Ghost is way quieter, while running them. I have run both motors out of the water and the Ghost is way more quiet. I didn't do an underwater test but why would it be louder underwater if the other one is louder above the water?

I’ve been running a Garmin Force for a couple years now and I’m impressed with how quiet and durable it’s been. No complaints. It also can be wired 24 or 36 volt , not sure if the rest of them can nowadays or not.

On the Ghost you can select which you are using 36v or 24v.

You can on the Garmin too

Yeah, the video from Bass Resource, which happens to be sponsored by……..Garmin. Give me a sponsorship to your product and I’ll make it look good too.


Buy what you want, that way when it turns out to be a POS, you can only blame yourself and the TM manufacturer.

Wanting one and finding what you want are two very different things these days.

Sure love my Ghost motor.

[spoiler][/spoiler] This is what has got me boat shopping again. I didn't buy a rig with the latest TM and electronics back in November thinking I'd be able to get what I wanted for this rig. With this chip shortage and what ever else is holding things up It's dang near impossible to get any of this stuff unless you buy a new boat or one with it all ready on it. The newest fishfinder on my boat is an old HB 1198 SI unit. About all it is good for is the mapping, the side imaging is OK but light years behind what they are making now. It's good for finding structure and that is about it. The other two are 797's from 2012 and they are useless. The bow unit doesn't like the Fortrex when it is running; goes fuzzy, and the console unit appears to have the tranducer cable cut.

I ordered a Ultrex monday morning from BPS online and it showed up wednesday.

I picked up a Ghost yesterday from Bpro. Excited to get it installed and out on the water. Thanks for the input everyone!

Cant go wrong with any of them. I have had an Ultrex since 2017 on a 21 foot bass boat and have had zero issues so far and I am not one to baby my gear. I have friends with Garmins and Ghosts who like theirs as well.

They all have the same kind of sound with the stepper motor for turning, but the brushless should be quieter. I run the Ultrex, and with the HB unit it is real nice. Just tell it to spot lock on a side scan waypoint, and hold on. They all do the same thing, but I would say go with an ultrex if you want to use the Link, and graph options. But it does appear they are made of unobtanium and hard to come by. But, I keep seeing new bass boats roll out with them. That is the only thing that is odd..

One thing on the Ghost to watch out for, if you turn up the speed to get to a spot you need to turn it back down because if it is pointing sideways and you hit the button it takes off on whatever speed it is set at. It does not have a slow start. It is wide open at your last setting.

Good info. Thank you!

I’m not sure about Garmin or Motorguide. I’ve had both an Ultrex and The Ghost. They’re both great but I prefer the Ghost because it’s faster, quieter, easier to stow and deploy. I’ve had a few problems with The Ghost but I’ve also had problems with the Ultrex.