Minn Kota or Motorguide

Motor Guide or Minn Kota, which is better choice for a Ranger?

[ffishman]

Funny thing, it seems up north, most guys run Minnkota's, where as down south, most guys run MG's. Me personnaly, I have used both. As of right now, I run a Motor guide PVS. Great motor. I don't know how all the Minnkotas stow, but I like how the MG's stow/unstow, 1 hand and very easy.

[CLDFRNT]

I am very happy with my Motorguide also, I like the fact that they are still made of steel instead of plastic.
Good luck Mark N

[San Chan]

I will pick the Style that you like the most and the most lbs Trust that you can affort. To me, there are pretty much the same.

[JWinMS]

[quote=ffishman;1047753]Funny thing, it seems up north, most guys run Minnkota's, where as down south, most guys run MG's.quote]


Startin to see a little change though - lots of the guys (incl. me)
have jumped ship to MK. Autopilot is a must have for me,
and though I don't own one, the lift assist on the Maxxums looks nice.
As for the composite shafts, I like them.

But then too, I have a personal grudge against MG for the Lazer52RF
I bought... biggest piece o' junk I've ever owned. Wish I had sent it
back when it was new.

[Richard B]

I don't think you can go wrong with either one. I just purchased a 101 lb thrust Minn Kota maxxum pro for my new Yarcraft 209. I used to have a power drive on my Alumacraft that I absolutely hated!

Had a Minn Crapa once. Never ever again.

I actually have never owned a bow mount trolling motor that worked flawlessly forever. They all seem to get issues, but the Minn Kota I had never ever worked right. Even after 3 trips back to the factory.

[Waxy]

I have a Motorguide Wireless 75, and when combined with the hand held remote (Copilot), it's a great motor. Easy stow/deploy, lots of power, very quick response time, and good battery life.

I've had all MinnKotas before that. Performance and stow/deploy wise, they're pretty much exactly the same, maybe a slight edge to the Motorguide, the single biggest thing I miss about the MinnKota is the AutoPilot feature. Once you've had it, it's REALLY hard to go without it.

If my Motorguide had AutoPilot, I'd take it over the MinnKota, but if I was buying again today, I'd go MinnKota simply for that reason.

Waxy

[@Lunker]

If you do go with MinnKota, do NOT get a model with an electric foot control pedal. I have had nothing but trouble with mine since new. The unit's 6 years old and I'm on my 4th foot pedal because the circuit board keeps crapping out on it.

I will say that, after I take the trouble to send it back to MK and tell them exactly what I think of their product quality, they have been nice enough to replace it free of charge. But it still costs me shipping and the angst of dealing with it, usually while I'm out fishing. And I also had to incur the cost of carrying a spare with me.

[bridgeman]

motorguide for 8 years no problems