First boat purchase ever. Could use some advice

[Ltrain]

Originally Posted by rdiddy

Can anyone explain the difference between these two trolling motors, specifically the US2 (universal sonar 2) designation?


Minn Kota Ulterra 80lbs/60"/24V/MSI iPilot Link - Bow Mount $3,654
Minn Kota Ulterra 80lbs/60"/24V/US2 iPilot - Bow Mount $2,813


Any of the electric trolling motors listed as options on the Lund boat build page either have side imaging/down imaging, or US2... this is confusing to me as I understood MSI or MDI to be fish finder technology. I do understand that your trolling motor can have an onboard transducer, but how is that negated by this US2 feature?


Thanks

The US2 stands for universal sonar. It's a 2d sonar and with the correct adapter cord can be plugged into a Lowrance or Garmin
The MSI is mega side imaging used with Hbird, also IPilot link which means you can cotrol the motor with on screen sonar commands

[therealjoeblow]

Originally Posted by rdiddy

Can anyone explain the difference between these two trolling motors, specifically the US2 (universal sonar 2) designation?


Minn Kota Ulterra 80lbs/60"/24V/MSI iPilot Link - Bow Mount $3,654
Minn Kota Ulterra 80lbs/60"/24V/US2 iPilot - Bow Mount $2,813


Any of the electric trolling motors listed as options on the Lund boat build page either have side imaging/down imaging, or US2... this is confusing to me as I understood MSI or MDI to be fish finder technology. I do understand that your trolling motor can have an onboard transducer, but how is that negated by this US2 feature?


Thanks

The MSI and US2 parts of the model number are referring to the transducer built into the trolling motor.

MSI is a mega-side imaging transducer that you can connect to a Humminbird Helix or Solix unit and will give you Mega Side Imaging, Mega Down Imaging and 2D sonar from that transducer on the unit connected. But it's *only* compatible with Humminbird units, not other brands. Most people will typically connect this to their bow mount graph, and have a separate transducer mounted on the transom which they connect to their console graph.

US2 stands for Universal Sonar, and gives you *only* 2D sonar, but is compatible with any brand, it's a basic 2d transducer that will work with Humminbird, Lowrance, Garmin, etc.

That's part of the cost difference. The MSI transducer is worth around $400 all on its own.

The other part of the difference is the "Link". The US2 model doesn't have Link, and the MSI version does. Link allows the trolling motor to be connected either to a single Humminbird Network capable graph (Helix G2N, G3N, G4N version etc [the # indicating the generation of the unit, and the "N" indicating it is networkable]; or any Solix unit as they are all networkable), and then controlled from that graph; or to a Humminbird ethernet switch that has multiple graphs connected to it, and then controlled from any of those graphs. It allows you to manouver the motor from any of your graphs, and also adds features like "follow the contour" if you have Lakemaster map cards in your graphs, or if you mapped an area yourself with AutoChart live on one of your Humminbird graphs. The Link feature also significantly increases the number of tracks and waypoints you can log, store and follow with the trolling motor, as they will be managed by your HB graphs now which have much larger capacity for storage than the stanadard iPilot (without Link) trolling motors. That's the other part of the cost difference, the Link and networking capabilities are relatively expensive.

Good video here explaining the difference between standard iPilot and Link versions here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQOw6ecldg

Cheers

[FlyNorth]

Originally Posted by rdiddy

Thanks man, that's a huge plus for me

I just checked today, I put a 9 1/2 for rod in the Stow n Go and had an additional 22 inches of room so probably get 4 11 footers in there. This was on an 1875 Impact, I would assume one foot less on a 1775 Impact. Hope that helps!

FN

[rdiddy]

Originally Posted by ltrain

I disagree with everything in that statement, lol


I found my 36v moor invaluable on my 18 ft Lund. With a 36v you can have way more power and hve longer runtimes
Vs the 24v counterpart. I've never been on big water and wished I had less power, never.


A 24v or 36v for that matter can never double as a kicker. A kicker can get you back to port if you are miles out in bad conditions if your main fails. Also a bow mount doesn't have the power to troll against a big chop for any amount of time.



The best system to use is to have a kicker and a bow mount trolling motor. Lock the kicker straight, use it for 75% thrust and use the bow mount to steer , providing the remaining 25% thrust. You'll be able to troll all day at any speed you need.

That's an interesting approach. I assume to lock the kicker straight, it would have to be a tiller drive?


Thanks!

[rdiddy]

Originally Posted by FlyNorth

I just checked today, I put a 9 1/2 for rod in the Stow n Go and had an additional 22 inches of room so probably get 4 11 footers in there. This was on an 1875 Impact, I would assume one foot less on a 1775 Impact. Hope that helps!

FN

Thank you very much, it most definitely helps. I believe the max length of any rod in an 1875 rod locker was 8'6" and that was a bit short for me. I am definitely getting those stow and go tubes.


Appreciate you verifying that FlyNorth

[Ltrain]

Originally Posted by rdiddy

That's an interesting approach. I assume to lock the kicker straight, it would have to be a tiller drive?


Thanks!

I was at the marina yesterday and the non tiller model also had a friction lever to lock the motor straight.

[rdiddy]

Originally Posted by ltrain

I was at the marina yesterday and the non tiller model also had a friction lever to lock the motor straight.

Huh. I didn't know that was even a thing - Thanks Ltrain