I think the ulterra is just as smooth as a cable drive. It's a little slower on reaction time because a motor is doing the turning versus a cable. The spot lock is awesome for changing baits taking fish off and so on. One other good thing is you can give your partner the remote if he is in the back of the boat and he can control the motor while you are busy. It has a lot of nice features but unfortunately they come at a price. Take away the auto stow and deploy and the motor guide xi5 with pin point GPS is a super nice motor it's silky smooth and several $ cheaper.