Minnkota vantage trolling motors

[Tony]

I am looking at this trolling motor
in 74lb model.
Has anyone used before ?
pros and cons !
On a 1700 angler tiller.

[stevefellegy]

I used one for two all day trips this fall. Of all the motors I've used within the style the Vantage is, I was most impressed with the Vantage. Of course....it's no secret...I prefer the Maxxum 74. BUT, if I had to choose from the PD types, it would definately be the Vantage. It's response ability was surprisingly fast.

[Orange Whip]

Hello Tony

I'm on my second vantage in two years. The first one broke twice and the second one is in the shop for the third time. The retract and deploy system keeps breaking. It's not like I use it alot either.

I'm very gentle with the unit so it is not abuse on my part.

What really made me curious was that Cabelas was selling these motors at a discount price for refurbished motors. I believe many motors were going back to the Minnkota for one reason or another for Cabelas to sell them like that. When they work their the best. When the break your not too happy. If you do anything make sure you buy the extended warranty. You get two years from the get go. You can buy a longer warranty. The motor is also heavy. Real heavy.

Good luck! It's alot of money.

[lundman]

He's talking the vantage. Not the genesis.

[Orange Whip]

Yes Lundman we are talking about the Vantage. The Vantage is a transom mount trolling motor available in three differant pounds of thrust.

The Genesis is a BOW mounted trolling motor.

Both motors have self deploy.

[Bryan]

I have the 74# Vantage and used it a lot this past season. I like the motor very very much and had no problems with it. I would guess that I probably used it 4 hrs. to 1 over my Genesis.

[Grampa_Joe]

Your motors were probably not broken. You need to run a slightly larger gauge yellow wire than they recommend. I'd have to look at my notes to get the actual wire size. It gives you a little more juice to the up/down part of the motor. What you probably did was just went past the up or down limit and you couldn't get power to run it back. By running the larger wire and hitting the button a couple times in the direction you want it to go (up or down), you're back in business.

-Joe Carlson

[lundman]

I ran 3 boats last year 154 days on the water. Each had a vantage. No problems.

In 2001, similar hours with the genesis. Went thru 5 different models.

I haven't heard that the vantage had trouble with it's service record. Maybe I'm wrong but that kind of trouble runs fast in the fishing world.

[stevefellegy]

Huh!! I went brain dead on this one.....I was thinking of the Genesis bowmount. Sorry! One two many waves over the bow I guess...lol

[Orange Whip]

I really like my Vantage and hope this problem goes away.I hear a of good things about the Vantage from other people but still will always have my suspicions.

My new PRO V is wired for a transom trolling motor. Hopefully this will help as my other boat was a 20 ft Alaskan

[big tiller]

Grandpa Joe is right. Most of the up/down problems of the Vantage motors are voltage related. I put one on in 1999, and had the same problem. The motor would not come up. Put the boat on the trailer and charged the batteries overnite. The next morning, problem solved.

Later that summer I stopped at Minn Kota in Mankato, and they replaced the yellow wire with a heavier gauage wire to help carry more voltage. This is the easiest transom mount motor to use ever. I'll always have one.