yella king Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 I am looking at getting a new electric motor with anchor lock. I currently have a motorguide 55lb 12v which I cannot fault but need to update to one with anchor lock. just wondering what your thoughts were on the motorguide and minn kota . which one do you think is the best and why. Any feed back would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
552Evo Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 (edited) I don't know if one brand is any better electro/mechanically than the other but I do know Motorguide interfaces with mercury motors and lowrance,simrad fish finders. So that would be essential for spot lock or anchor lock features I guess minn Kota would interface with a different brand ,,, Edited May 12, 2019 by 552Evo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berleyguts Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 Minn Kota motors interface with Humminbird sounders/GPS units, which is partly why I got a Minn Kota option. However, I’ve never linked it to the Humminbird. Interconnectivity shouldn’t be necessary for spot lock but it would be needed for trolling a set track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ah Me Ting Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 (edited) I stumbled across this video. Interesting comparison? https://youtu.be/p5uYIiTElVg Edited May 12, 2019 by Ah Me Ting Fix broken link 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 That is an interesting video and clearly the Minn Kota is more accurate but you have to ask whether half a boat length difference is significant in practice. I have a Minn Kota with spot lock btw. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 Never used a motor guide but have used a minn kota 55lbs ipilot for three years now. The motor itself as an amazing piece of engineering. The amount of damage I’ve dished out to it and has held up is. Run into rocks/sand, fouled up the prop with braid on multiple occasions, bashed it around in swell, left it outside in the elements and still functions perfectly. The wireless remote is sh!t. Warranty claimed it twice and the latest one has had some issues (but still works). If you have the budget for a foot pedal or to connect it to your sounder as back up control i recommend doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankS Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 Just an observation and probably nit picking but company's use supply little tricks to make you think their product is better than the other. Video presented by Minnkota so naturally the koto will appear to be better. Look closely and you will notice that the person in in Koto boat stays up front while the other stays mid to rear of the boat. This would in fact place the Kota's prop slightly lower in the water which in turn would have more grab than the Other motor. Just a small little trick that could make the Kota APPEAR more accurate. I don't have either and would love to be able to afford either. Frank 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ah Me Ting Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 34 minutes ago, flatheadluke said: Never used a motor guide but have used a minn kota 55lbs ipilot for three years now. The motor itself as an amazing piece of engineering. The amount of damage I’ve dished out to it and has held up is. Run into rocks/sand, fouled up the prop with braid on multiple occasions, bashed it around in swell, left it outside in the elements and still functions perfectly. The wireless remote is sh!t. Warranty claimed it twice and the latest one has had some issues (but still works). If you have the budget for a foot pedal or to connect it to your sounder as back up control i recommend doing it. Can you explain how the ipilot 'follow a track' function works? I understand it is done in the ipilot, so no need to hook up to a sounder/GPS unit, is that correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ah Me Ting Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 36 minutes ago, frankS said: Just an observation and probably nit picking but company's use supply little tricks to make you think their product is better than the other. Video presented by Minnkota so naturally the koto will appear to be better. Look closely and you will notice that the person in in Koto boat stays up front while the other stays mid to rear of the boat. This would in fact place the Kota's prop slightly lower in the water which in turn would have more grab than the Other motor. Just a small little trick that could make the Kota APPEAR more accurate. I don't have either and would love to be able to afford either. Frank Nothing like a bit of smoke n mirrors! They must have had a producer / director from the TV shop direct ads running their filming and editing? 🤔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ah Me Ting Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 20 hours ago, yella king said: I am looking at getting a new electric motor with anchor lock. I currently have a motorguide 55lb 12v which I cannot fault but need to update to one with anchor lock. just wondering what your thoughts were on the motorguide and minn kota . which one do you think is the best and why. Any feed back would be greatly appreciated. Have you looked into an upgrade for your current MG? Does MG do add on upgraded for their motors like MK did, do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 4 hours ago, Ah Me Ting said: Can you explain how the ipilot 'follow a track' function works? I understand it is done in the ipilot, so no need to hook up to a sounder/GPS unit, is that correct? I haven’t used that function yet. @Hill373737 was telling me at fishraider lunch he was using the record/replay function of his electric motor and got a lot of value from it. Something to do with drifts or runs. Maybe he can shed more light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiggy Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 I've had a MotorGuide i5 for the last couple of years and I think it's great, but if I had to buy a new one tomorrow it would be a Minn Kota. Some of the MK models have auto self deploy so you can lower and raise it off the remote control. Very handy when you use it off shore and the boat is pitching around in the swell. I mostly fish offshore but if you fish river and lakes only it may not be such a big deal. Cheers Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berleyguts Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 44 minutes ago, Jiggy said: I've had a MotorGuide i5 for the last couple of years and I think it's great, but if I had to buy a new one tomorrow it would be a Minn Kota. Some of the MK models have auto self deploy so you can lower and raise it off the remote control. Very handy when you use it off shore and the boat is pitching around in the swell. I mostly fish offshore but if you fish river and lakes only it may not be such a big deal. Cheers Rob If I upgrade my MK, I’d get one with the auto self-deploy, too. Not just for lowering and raising offshore but at the ramp when solo launching (nearly all the time). It would be good to send the boat out while I park the car and trailer and bring it back in to go aboard. I’ve seen it done in a video but I’d want to be damn certain the remote has a good range! My current remote only works to about 4 or 5 metres away, max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hill373737 Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 3 hours ago, flatheadluke said: I haven’t used that function yet. @Hill373737 was telling me at fishraider lunch he was using the record/replay function of his electric motor and got a lot of value from it. Something to do with drifts or runs. Maybe he can shed more light. I don't use the record/replay on my MotorGuide but my favourite trick which I use almost every time I fish to is hit the Anchor at the start of a drift, then turn off the Propellor - this allows you to drift and when you want to return to the start of your drift, just turn the Propellor back on and it takes you back to the Anchor position. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mii11x Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 I used to own a 55sw MG which served me well for 8 years. I had to replace the brushes at around 4 years and was only around $30 to do so. The wireless foot pedal was awesome also. I reckon I had well over 500 hours use with it and sold it in perfect working condition late last year when I updated to a xi5 gps 55. What can I say about the new leccy........why didn't I update it sooner hahaha. Spot lock is simply awesome, the jog feature is just as awesome. I havn't yet traced a route and replayed it though because I'm finding the jog feature is good for me at the moment. It has taken some getting used to the remote control over the foot pedal however, but I guess with all the extra features of the xi5 has over my old 55sw, the remote is required. I know that the new foot pedal does not have the complete operation of the remote, so I am holding off on that addition. I have found that the anchor feature to be pretty much spot on and as previously mentioned don't believe the marketing gimmicks of brand A vs brand B. You don't need to connect to a sounder to have the gps feature activated, the xi unit itself has it's own gps. It is NOT essential to have the xi5 connected to a lowrance, or any other brand of sounder, to get the gps function working. I will eventually nmea it to my new 12LIVE, but it is not high on my priority list at the moment. You will hear both good and bad about all brands mate, I stuck with MG cos I had no dramas with my old one. If I had of switched brands and it gave me dramas, I would have thought I should of stuck to what I knew about my first one if that makes sense. My boat is a 2009 4.5m Brooker side console with 50hp 2 stroke Mercury. Against the run out tide (1.7m to 0.4m) in the Georges river on Sunday morning with my mate onboard also, it ran at 2.6 knots full speed into the current and wind and I hadn't charged the battery(120AH) for about 3 weeks. It had been used for about 15 hours total in those three weeks, using speed and direction controls to correct my drifts and also the anchor/spot lock feature countless times. I hope some of this helps mate, good luck with your new purchase. You will be kicking yourself for not updating to a spotlock model of either brand sooner haha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berleyguts Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 2 hours ago, Hill373737 said: I don't use the record/replay on my MotorGuide but my favourite trick which I use almost every time I fish to is hit the Anchor at the start of a drift, then turn off the Propellor - this allows you to drift and when you want to return to the start of your drift, just turn the Propellor back on and it takes you back to the Anchor position. You can do that? That’s pretty 😎. I don’t think I can do that with the Minn Kota. 🤔 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yella king Posted May 23, 2019 Author Share Posted May 23, 2019 Hi guys sorry for not replying earlier but I have been very busy. thank you for your comments I will take them on board before buy a new electric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onearmedfisho Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 you have 8 buttons on the MG XI5 remote which you can save as both waypoints and/or tracks. Problem with the tracks is that you have to record them first before being able to track or follow them. But with the waypoints even if its not connected to your sounder you can record 8 different marks and come back in 3 months ( or 3 years) for example and if your within 6km of that point, you press the certain number and the motor guide will drive you back to that position and literally anchor you there. I have the MG 80lb 24v and my GPS is far more accurate than showed in that video. As for the Minn Kotas the auto deploy (ulterra models) are not available in 55lb thrusts on the 80lb and 112lb thrusts. Also the Motor guide are about $400 - $600 cheaper which will buy you a good quality AGM battery! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCount Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 "Bang for buck" hands down Motorguide every time. I know I've had mine a short time, but it performs brilliantly. As onearmedfisho also said - the GPS is far more accurate that any video, and the price savings are not to be ignored. Good luck! TC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yella king Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 Thanks for the feed back guys I really appreciate it. I`m going to go with the motorguide , just waiting to see what they are coming out with in a few months time. Once again thank you to everyone that gave me some feed abck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca02 Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 I've had an motorguide xi5 55lb for past 3+ years and it hasn't skipped a beat. As with most other owners i did have paint bubbling/rust forming near the prop on the lower unit which got replaced under warranty (Dropped it off one weekend and picked it up the next!), although i believe its simply cosmetic. The auto deploy and adjusting the depth collar would be awesome (though i always worry theres simply more to go wrong there / would hope you could still manually deploy and adjust depth), i hope motorguide end up releasing an equivalent in their range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onearmedfisho Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Have you purchased a motor yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yella king Posted July 14, 2019 Author Share Posted July 14, 2019 Hi Onearmedfisho Sorry for the late reply I haven`t been on here for a while. No I haven`t purchased a new motor yet, I`m looking at getting one between now and the end of next month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mii11x Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 If your in Sydney mate, wait till the boat show.....pretty sure its in August sometime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yella king Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 Thanks for the heads up guys but I`m not in Sydney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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