Originally posted by dirtybay
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Same here . . 13 years no problem . . -
I've seen lots of new boats in the Florida panhandle with Rhodan's.Comment
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I will be as bold to say that the Minn Kota trolling motors are the go to for most bay guys for the last several years. Garmin and other similar companies are fairly new to the space and I still see very few.
I use the Minn Kota Terrova (112lb. / 36V ). It is about 3 years old and has been flawless. I have been shocked by how well the unit works with regard to saving tracks and spot lock. I have a 23' haynie cat with a mid tower. The tower has a full console up top so its basically a big wind sail. We fished Richland Chambers last spring in terrible conditions and the trolling motor was perfect. It was so rough in the main areas of the lake that the prop on the trolling motor would come well out of the water when the bow went over waves...not every time but quite a bit. Keep in mind my boat has basically no bow rise and the shaft on the motor is 6' so it was **** rough! The spot lock still managed to hold us well and we boated over 100 fish. We fished from 9AM to 5-6PM and this is the only time I have run the batteries to zero.Comment
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I've had motor guide and minnkota, my next one will be a Rhodan, have heard nothing but good about them and their customer service if you need it.Originally posted by shark79 View PostComment
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Heard good things on them as well. Built in Sarasota i think.Originally posted by rvd View PostComment
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I have an Ulterra and will be getting another Ulterra or possibly a Terrova on my next boat. Depends on what the availability is when it is ready.
I have been pretty pleased with the Ulterra. Overall. It does have some issues here and there. I'd recommend swapping them out before they go out of warranty. I had the control board go out on mine and have had lots of little issues with mine that are all related to the stow/deploy feature. Now mine gets abused pretty badly. I know everyone says that but honestly if it'll last two years for me it'll probably last your average weekend angler 2-3x longer.
The good- it works. Battery life is excellent, power is good, the spot lock works super good and overall it is pretty trouble free. The other good thing is that it is really pretty simple to work on and the parts are cheap. So when I break stuff I generally just order parts and fix it. Not a big deal. The only time I had to take it in for repair was when the board went bad and I couldn't diagnose the problem.
The bad- the stow and deploy. It uses some really cheap switches to tell the unit when it is fully stowed and fully deployed and those go bad or break often. Also the belt that it runs on will break when you get it in a bind, like when it hits hard on bottom in rough water. I have broken mine maybe 5 times in 3 years. I have replaced half a dozen switches in it and had one main board replaced. I think I am on my third belt.
So you can skip the stow/deploy issues with a Terrova and that seems to be the most popular motor on the water right now in Saltwater. However, that auto stow and deploy is really nice. Especially for someone like me who benefits from running the whole show from behind the console. I could go either way but I think the auto deploy lets me use the motor more than I would if I had to walk to the bow every time I stow or deploy it.
Other than that I don't have any complaints. Rhodan looks interesting, Garmin looks interesting... time will tell. I'll let other folks be the guinea pigs on those. For me right now Minn Kota is still in the driver's seat on trolling motors.Comment
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So what is the new boat going to be Glenn??
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Make sure you look at warranty. Some are not warranted for salt water. MK Riptide is.Comment
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Minn Kota Ultrex
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I've had a MinnKota 36volt Ulterra for 2 years and it's been great.
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His has been stuck in the down position and couldn’t get it back up twice is all he told me. He was able to get it up with an override button or something. But they had to be replaced at the end of the day.Originally posted by GARY View Post
His 3rd one has a manual deploy apparently.
I honestly don’t know too much about any of them. I use my boat in fresh and salt. My current trolling motor is a hand tiller and when ur bass fishing it’s a royal pain to be having to use ur hands. The salt, not so much.Comment
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A tiller is way too much of a pain in saltwater for me. Or maybe it is that the new trolling motors are just too much of a benefit. If I could just stay on the trolling motor and everyone could take care of themselves that would be one thing. But usually I am re-rigging, netting and unhooking fish, untangling rods, etc the majority of the time. The remote steer and spot lock features are a huge benefit. I mean a HUGE benefit. I'd probably go without before I bought another plain tiller steer and I preached the simplicity of a plain jane tiller steer for years. I can't go back now.Originally posted by Ginja Ninja View PostComment
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Are you talking about the one with auto deployment. If so I talked to the guy that repairs them off the beltway he said he wouldn't own one because of the repairs.Originally posted by Mayhem View Post
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