Sonny.Barile Posted July 6, 2008 Report Share Posted July 6, 2008 I have been obsessing over trolling motors for two weeks. I want to put a bow mount on my boat and I also need to put some decking on the boat to accomidate it as the boat doesnt have any bow decking. I have looked at the Motor Guide Wireless, Minn Kota Powerdrive, and the Minn Kota Edge. The Motor Guide is cool and needs the least space to mount. The Minn Kota P2 looks juat a little bit bigger. The one I really like is the Edge. It is slightly cheaper and has an old fashioned pedal (no electric steer) which to me is the least likely to have problems. Only problem I see is the size of the mounting. Does anyone have one and can tell me the size of the deck I would need to mount it. It is hard to tell from the pictures. I can only get about 24 inches max. of deck on the boat. I cant just go get one cause of where I live...it has to be mail ordered so it wouldnt be easy to return if it didnt fit. Pleas help...............my brain hurts from thinking about it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike-A-Pike Posted July 6, 2008 Report Share Posted July 6, 2008 Sonny, I'm still using the Motor Guide that came on the boat and I am at least the 4th owner of this particular boat. I read the reviews and it doesn't appear that the wireless are living up to user expectations and none of those users that took the time to take the pole do it unless they have an ax to grind. If their was a way to figure out how many are being sold to happy users to busy fishing to write a review, then you'd have some comparative data to analyze, otherwise, its just a W.A.G. (Wild A__ Guess). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Bait Co. Posted July 6, 2008 Report Share Posted July 6, 2008 Email Minn Kota they have emailed me back when I had questions on my trolling motor. I am sure they well give you the spec's for mounting it. You can also get a refurbesed (wacky spelling) trolling motors at half the price. My buddy got one the other day his freind at the boat shop said he hasn't had any trouble with them in ten years. Well their was one he sent back to minn kota and they just gave him a new one to make it right. 90% of the boats I see on the water in Nebraska have Minn Kota's. I found out Bass Pro will swap a Minn Kota for a motor guide on their new boats for no extra charge as long it is the same price or less. My personal opinion is minn kota is the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny.Barile Posted July 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2008 Well....after many hours spent looking at fishing boat modification websites I have narrowed it down to getting one of the electric steer models because it requires the least mounting pad space. However.....after reading the two replys I got, I am still deadlocked between the MotorGuide and the Minnkota................. I am so confused...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted July 7, 2008 Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 (edited) Sonny, It really is a personal choice. I originally had a 30 lb thrust Minn-Kota power drive on my first boat. never had problem. Then I upgraded to a 60 lb power drive, never had a problem with the motor. Now I own a Terrova, so far so good. The only thing I can say negative about the power drives was there foot pedals. After 3 or 4 years the little contacts that turned it left or right would wear out. It seemed like the right all the time. Maybe I should then always go left. Other than that I've been happy with Minn-Kota. My buddy on the other hand always had problems with his Minn-Kota. I don't know if it was him or the actual product. It's a tough call. I think if you buy new, you'll have the peace of mind with a three year warranty. Edited July 7, 2008 by cadman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAddict Posted July 7, 2008 Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 I use a 82 lb motorguide digital with foot control, It uses cable steering and I much prefer that over the power drive systems My boat came with the minkota power drive and it did not turn fast enough for me. One thing I have noticed that people who own the remote control ones dont like it cause they are always playing with the remote with there hands while the are trying to fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankee jigger Posted July 7, 2008 Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 I dont know the types of water you fish but i do a lot of river fishing for walleyes and one thing i know for sure is my next trolling motor will be 24v. I hate running down the battery before the day is over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted July 7, 2008 Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 (edited) I use a 82 lb motorguide digital with foot control, It uses cable steering and I much prefer that over the power drive systems My boat came with the minkota power drive and it did not turn fast enough for me. One thing I have noticed that people who own the remote control ones dont like it cause they are always playing with the remote with there hands while the are trying to fish. You are absolutely right. All the power drives I had were slow in turning. Also the cordless models went through a lot of batteries. I also don't own a remote, too much screwing around. The Terrova took care of the power head turning problem, and is a 24 volt system. So far I love the new Terrova. I dont know the types of water you fish but i do a lot of river fishing for walleyes and one thing i know for sure is my next trolling motor will be 24v.I hate running down the battery before the day is over. I'm with you on that. On my old boat I had two 12 volts wired in parallel. I used to fish the IL and WI river a lot for walleye and sauger, and a single 12 volt won't cut it on a river with the current. Edited July 7, 2008 by cadman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny.Barile Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 Yeah I know the 24v is better. My problem with that is just no room for the second battery. Also.....I like the old school pedals better too. I think you are more in control with it. The left right buttons being on seperate sides will probably take some getting use to.........However, the electric steer motors have much smaller mounting requirements, and having any type of bow mount is going to beat what I have now. Cadman...I checked out the Terrova on-line. I dont know the major diferences in them but the pedal sure looks more old-school. It is a little bit out of my price reach though. I have a budget of $525 and that has to get me a tm, mounting materials, and a circuit breaker. Anyone use the ranger style circuit breaker from Cabelas? It has a switch on it which makes me think it would be usefull. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish devil Posted July 8, 2008 Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 where in NJ do you live that you need to mail order a TM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAVABill Posted July 8, 2008 Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 Some questions do need answered.... 1. What kind of boat are you trying to mount to? (Length? Weight-including you, a fishing partner and all your gear?) 2. What type of waterway do you fish most often? 3. What depths are you fishing in? The are many available modifications to be made to mount/house your trolling motor mount. This is only limited by, space on the bow section of the boat, durability of the boat material you are mounting to and your imganiation. As for waterways, if you mainly fish low current waterways there may be no significant need for you to jump to a larger TM (excluding fishing in windy conditions). Exception to consider is overall weight of occupants, boat and gear. And now the often overlooked aspect...Water depth. If you are fishing in shallow water with rocky or stumpy bottoms you really need to consider a TM with a gator mount or something similar (break-away style). Finding just a replacement mount is costly but in the case of TM with outer tubes, it gets more expensive when you need to replace a mount and outter tube. Also, in my experience, if you fish waters with heavy vegetation be wary of the digital types. There is a tendoncies to "cook" the boards. I personal prefer the reliable pull/pull cable foot control. As decent TM for the money, especially on a small boat, would be the Motor Guide Freshwater Series. That model should fall in your price range with an upgrade gator mount. Just my opinion based on my own personal experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny.Barile Posted July 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 I live in Secaucs. I have a West Marine and a Boaters World both within 30 minutes of my house. .......bt neither displays any of the models I am interested in. If I want to see the whole line-up I would have to drive over 2 hours to Cabelas or Bass Pro........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cthulhu Posted July 11, 2008 Report Share Posted July 11, 2008 (edited) Couple of months ago, I upgraded my old 765 MX Minn Kota to a 70 lbs-thrust Edge. All I can say is that I am 100% satisfied with the new motor. The old one was on my boat ('88 Ranger 680 T) since 1989, and I never ever had a single problem with it. That's nearly 20 years of fairly regular use with not so much as a blown contact. Only reason I upgraded is that I now fish bigger bodies of water that experience stronger winds and currents, so I needed to up the power on the front end of the boat. I'm 100% biased, but I'd say you really can't go wrong with the Minn Kota Edge. Cabela's has some refurbished ones on sale for a couple hundred bucks less than normal, and that's the route I went. Good luck! Edited July 11, 2008 by Cthulhu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
