opinions on trolling motors

[winner 2000]

been out of fishing for ten years and lots of changes in that time. boat i bought had a 70 lb minn kota edge TM foot control. i'm 59 now and standing on one foot with that much umph is more than i want to deal with. looking to buy a tiller style bow mount but in looking at buyer reviews on some of the Motorguide (my favorite in the old days),the are really critical of the vari max. any pros or cons of either brand? willing to switch to Minn Kota if they've stepped up and doing the best now.

[Bumblebee_1]

I am sure that you will get a broad spectrum of responses. I have had at least three trolling motors over the last 25 years. All have been motorguides. The current one is the 12V digital 56 lb. thrust foot control. The motor is fine but the mount supplied leaves much to be desired. This is a 600-700 dollar unit. Why put a poor quality mount with it? Next time if given a choice it will be a Minn-Kota.

Best of luck!
Bumblebee

[winner 2000]

totally out of touch wth new technology. what's digital do for you as far as trolling motors go? notice the 12/24 volt is a dinosaur. i had a 30 something lb. thrust in the old days and that was fine,but now they seem to start at 55 lbs and 12 volt. guess you run them in parallel?

[hairball]

totally out of touch wth new technology. what's digital do for you as far as trolling motors go? notice the 12/24 volt is a dinosaur. i had a 30 something lb. thrust in the old days and that was fine,but now they seem to start at 55 lbs and 12 volt. guess you run them in parallel?

A digital trolling motor has a microprocessor in it that turns the power off and on many times per second. This lightens the load on the batteries, making them last longer. The technical term for this is pulse width modulation.

[Colbyt]

Winner, to get a quality answer we need need to know about the boat; size weight and style.

I believe the general consensus borne out by personal experience is that any TM pulls better than it pushes.

I personally use a 30 pound MK, currently as a transom mount on a 14/48 unmodified tin boat. It is all I need for lake or small stream fishing.

[winner 2000]

here's the info on boat. it's a '86 winner tournament 2000. 20 feet 1200 lbs. i was original onwer for 16 years and sold it when i got burned out on fishing. ( i know,insanity). my wife suprised me by finding it last year and bringing it home.in the years since it was gone it had been abused badly. all the electronics i had on it were gone,the tiller style 40 lb thrust bow mount Motorguide TM replaced with 70lb Minn Kota foot steer. not happy at all with foot control and want to go back to tiller style. i tournament fish team tourneys at club level with my wife for fun not money and have no need for 70 lbs of thrust and putting out a wake. researched a lot this afternoon and have eliminated wireless,varimax,and digital. my biggest question now is i don't see anything in the 55 lb range that's not 12 volt.question is, do they run these with two batteries in parallel? last TM i had used 12/24 so this is all new to me or do i need to get a 70 lb 24 volt model and just run at the lowest speeds?

[R19]

The debate about Minn Kota and Motor Guide is just like the Ford Chevy debate. Both make a good product and each have their pro's and con's. It boils down to which one you like. I have been running a Motor Guide Tour 82 for 6-7 years and I do not see myself running another trolling motor. If I bought a new boat and it came with a with a Minn Kota so be it. If I had the option I would get a Motor Guide.

Now comparing your Minn Kota Edge to my Motor Guide Tour 82 is somewhat like comparing apples to oranges. The Edge has fixed adjustment speeds whereas the MG tour is digital with variable speed and more pounds of thrust. The Minn Kota equivalent of the MG tour model would be the Minn Kota Foretrex.

Whichever brand you go with I would get the variable speed (MG Tour or MK Foretrex). The reason I suggest variable speed is because if you fish current you can dial in the speed to exactly what you need to go the exact speed you want in the current. Plus when fishing in the wind you can dial in to the exact speed you need to keep moving at the pace you want. The last fixed speed trolling motor I had was about 12 years ago. I would find myself needing to be in between speeds. 2 would be too weak and 3 was too fast. Another great thing about variable speed is they are much easier to adjust. I found it much harder to take my foot and click it up or down one speed whereas with the variable speed the dial is very smooth and easy to adjust. If my memory is correct the reason a variable speed trolling motor came out on the market is because of the way it sends power to the trolling motor. As mentioned earlier it converts the signal to digital and somehow in the process that is a more efficient way of delivering power. Hence the reason they claim a battery charge will last longer with a variable speed.

If you do get a variable speed make sure it is not hardwired to your battery power cables. It needs to be where you can unhook power when charging the batteries. If something goes wrong with your battery charger the potential to fry something inside the trolling motor exist. ( I would still suggest a plug in even if I had a fixed speed). I have seen a few that had a disconnect on the power cable but the overwhelming majority come with a male/female plug in.

Variable speed does come with a much greater price tag. An MG Tour 82 lb thrust or a MK Foretrex 80 lb thrust is going to set you back about $11-1200 . The closest thing you will find in a fixed speed is 70 lbs and it will cost around $6-650. Is it worth twice the money for the extra 10 lbs of thrust and variable speed is the question you need to ask yourself. As for me I will buy the variable speed. After owning a variable speed I can not see my self going back to a fixed speed.

Good luck with your decision and new purchase.

[R19]

As I was typing up my opinion you gave information that I was unaware of. About the wiring...a 12V trolling motor only requires one 12V battery. You can wire it to as many batteries as you want as long as you do it parallel. Two 12V batteries wired in parallel will only supply 12 Volts. By adding the extra battery all you are doing is extending the reserve run time. What that means is you can run longer on two 12V batteries longer than you can run on one 12V battery before you lose power.

To obtain 24V you will wire two 12V batteries in series. if you have a 12V trolling motor and wire it too two 12V batteries in series you will burn up your trolling motor because it is not designed to run on 24V.

You said you last trolling motor was a 12/24V. That means the wiring will be different. Wiring a 12/24 and a straight 24 is two totally different things. I have never owned a 12/24V so I am not up to "par" with the exact wiring. I "think" the 12/24V made the jump to 24V in the way it is wired to the plug in. I "think" the trolling motor wire send power in parallel to the plug in and then when you select 24V it somehow makes a 24V series connection inside the plug in. I may or may not be right so I would get another opinion.

No matter which way you go just make sure you have the right gauge wire and the wiring is correct. if something is wired incorrect you can make a several hundred dollar mistake. If your wires are too small it may run for a while but they will overheat and have the potential to melt.. If my memory is correct 6 gauge wire is what you need 12 or 24 V.

Sounds like you are set on a 12V in the 55 pound thrust with a tiller handle. I am not 100% sure but I believe you can find a tiller that goes higher in thrust pounds than 55 but it will be 24V. Finding something 55 lbs or under set up for 12V should not be a problem...A 20 ft boat will be much easier to handle with 70-80 lbs of thrust...its you coin so you get what you want. I will look online and see if I can find something that might appeal to you.

[R19]

I done a quick search and came up with a MK 55lbs 12V tiller handle 5 speed. MK 70lbs 24V tiller handle 5 speed.I could not find MK in variable speed but I did see MG in a 70lb tiller handle variable speed. All I done was a quick search. If you look more in depth you may find exactly what you want.

Here is a couple of links to look around in.

http://mk.factoryoutletstore.com/cat...ta-SPLT-B.html

http://motorguide.factoryoutletstore...FeRj7AodP2kAUA

[winner 2000]

thanks for replies guys. R19 great info. i think i've decided to go with the higher thrust and just keep it turned down,if i need more then i'll have it. getting mixed reviews on the variable speed though. lots of customer reviews on both brands seem to be negative and that concerns me.had my doubts about digital also,but that's just an old guy not grasping new technology. that does seem to be a good thing and will use that. but i've decided now is the find the best price time and will go with who ever has it by this weekend. going with 70-75 lb variable digital. old man headin into the brave new world. LOL i over think a lot and the search for new depth finder was a real trip. last thing i used was X-5 Lowrance !! bought an elite 5 DSI gold and have totally brain locked trying to figure that thing out but willing to learn,it has potential my brain's probably not up to. thanks for the help guys and good fishin to ya.

[toomanycasts]

I've seen a couple used tiller handle Minn Kota maxxums at a2o outdoors before. You might want to check there

[Colbyt]

Winner, I think you need at least 55 for that boat. I would consider that the minimum. The 30 I have is moving about 1000 pounds total boat, people and gear.