Motor Guide vs Minn Kota

[Bass2124]

My Minn Kota edge 70 after 2 years has fried the lower unit......I bought it right after my Minn Kota Powerdrive 55 also fried on me after 4 years.  I don't know what the normal life of trolling motors are but for $700 units that seems a little short.  So do I switch over to Motor Guide???? All the reviews say Minn Kota are the better motors but for me I haven't had much luck with them.  I am looking at the X3 55 and the edge 55.  Customer service has been responsive and helpful at diagnosing issues (alot) at Minn Kota but their product isn't impressing me.  The X3 is $30 cheaper at Cabelas and I have a $250 gift card to put towrds it.  What should I do?  Take another risk with Minn Kota or jump over to Motor Guide???

[Scott F]

If you want an opinion concerning durability, call someone who services both brands. I did that several years a go when I was having my Motor Guide repaired. Taught me quite a bit and was a big influence on my purchase back then. All of the models that were available then are no longer made so the info I got then isn't relevant today. 

[tcbass]

I love my Minn Kota Ulterra I believe it features that the Motor Guide doesn't like auto stow/deploy.

[clh121787]

I'm a motor guide owner for now...

[Way2slow]

That's like the Ford vs Chevy argument.  In bow mounts, I've always preferred MG's, in transom mounts, it never mattered to me.  I have a like new $1,500 MinnKota with I-Pilot sitting in the corner of a storage building I took off my boat and put the 10 year old motor guide back on if that's any indication of which  I prefer.

[Maico1]

Can't speak for Minnkota but just replaced my MotorGuide W75 with a Xi5 80 after 10 years of use. Only problem I had was the circuit board went south about year 5/6 . Since they are plug and play it made real easy to replace myself..... 

[12poundbass]

Chevy vs Ford 

[RUSS9999]

My Minn kota is 15 years old and runs like new. Minn Kota is all I have ever had and will stay with them.

[Al Wolbach]

I've had both and like both. As far as foot controlled motors, I like the MK motor but the MG pedal. If you operate in heavy weeds MK gets the nod, as their props perform better in heavy weeds. But both make good units and should last much longer than yours have lasted. 

[Choporoz]

14 hours ago, Bass2124 said:

My Minn Kota ... after 2 years (died)......I bought it right after my Minn Kota .... also fried on me after 4 years.  I don't know what the normal life of trolling motors are but for $xx units that seems a little short.  So do I switch over to Motor Guide???? All the reviews say Minn Kota are the better motors but for me I haven't had much luck with them.  .....  Customer service has been responsive and helpful at diagnosing issues (alot) at Minn Kota but their product isn't impressing me.  ...... What should I do?  Take another risk with Minn Kota or jump over to Motor Guide???

I could have written this.  My experience is with transom mounts and with MK chargers, but similar experience.  I have one MK TM that is 8-9 years old and going strong.  But more recent products aren't getting it done for me.   I had another MK TM which had a switch crap out after less than 2 yrs, and lower unit AND second switch fail within another year.  I went through a number of bad chargers.  Customer service/warranty service were always top-notch, and I'd always belived MK was the better, longer lasting product.....but I, too, have wondered if QC isn't slipping...and if I should switch.

[Way2slow]

QC???  Are you serious.  Look where this stuff is made.  These companies are at the mercy of what the contractor making them sends them.  That's why they strive to make customer service so good.  They have little control over the quality of the item they ship you so they try to keep you happy by providing excellent service when it does fail.   After all, they are normally making tons of money on the item, so they can afford to swap out several if need be.

 

My son's brother in law is the chief engineer at a Trico Wiper Blade plant in mexico, just across the border from Texas where he lives.  He gave me several sets of their top of the line consumer blades for each of my vehicles that cost approx. $17+ for each, depending on where you buy them.  Those blades are sold by Trico for about $3.50.  The rest of the price you buy them for are the different markups added to them by the time you buy them.  He also said you can't buy their best quality blades, they only sell them to OEM manufactures.

[Clinton john]

I have owned both for several years and several diffrent models from both company's and at the end of the day.

 

My choice is Minnkota, main reason is better features and it cost less in my area to have one repaired and there are more shops around me that repair and sell Minnkota then motorguide.

 

My biggest complaint between the two is gthe dang aluminum shaft the motorguide has that tends to bend if it hits a log head on, my one and only remaining motorguide has had its shaft straightens 4 times since last January.

[tcbass]

15 minutes ago, A5BLASTER said:

I have owned both for several years and several diffrent models from both company's and at the end of the day.

 

My choice is Minnkota, main reason is better features and it cost less in my area to have one repaired and there are more shops around me that repair and sell Minnkota then motorguide.

 

My biggest complaint between the two is gthe dang aluminum shaft the motorguide has that tends to bend if it hits a log head on, my one and only remaining motorguide has had its shaft straightens 4 times since last January.

 

 

When I first got my Minn Kota Terrova I accidently went full speed ahead into a dock attempting to retrieve a stuck lure. The shaft looked it it was at a 65' angle. 

 

It bent right back and never had a problem. Couldn't believe it. I'm a believer in MK products after that. When they say unbreakable they weren't kidding. 

 

 

Also my bro crashed my boat into a dock doing similar thing. The plastic side cap on the motor bent way back and I thought that was gonna break. It didn't. Incredible. 

[tander]

You can get a lemon with any brand, I never had trouble with a Minn Kota.

[Bluebasser86]

I've had both and prefer Minn Kota. Part of that is I like to run my trolling motor into things, and metal shafts don't do well when they run into things. The emergency break-away in my Maxxum has saved my TM more than once. 

[Sam]

May I suggest you invest in a long distance phone call and speak with Robbie Patterson at Propeller Dynamics in Chester, Virginia.

 

Robbie owns the leading trolling motor repair shop on the east coast.  Both Cabela's and BPS send their client's trolling motors to Robbie's company for repairs.

 

804.706.1847

 

Robbie is honest and he will give you his input on the differences between the two brands, and you can get his input about the burned out units.

[WIGuide]

Being around boats a lot, I've seen my share of tm issues. Not saying they all don't have issues at times, but from what I've seen and experienced Minnkota seems to have more issues than Motorguide. They also seem to be more popular, so on a percentage basis they could be very close, that's hard to tell. Just a quick story that sums it up for me, a few years ago I was fishing in a tournament on the Mississippi River. Water was just below flood stage so the current was absolutely ripping on the majority of the river. The club was somewhere in the 17-19 boat range and the field was split pretty close to 50/50 as far as tm brands go. In that one day of fishing 4 trolling motors burnt out....all 4 were Minnkota. I'll stick with Motorguide until they give me a reason not to. 

[clh121787]

On 8/1/2017 at 6:57 AM, 12poundbass said:

Chevy vs Ford 

Chevy vs Cadillac 

[12poundbass]

33 minutes ago, clh121787 said:

Chevy vs Cadillac 

Depends on the model ?

9 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I've had both and prefer Minn Kota. Part of that is I like to run my trolling motor into things, and metal shafts don't do well when they run into things. The emergency break-away in my Maxxum has saved my TM more than once. 

Didn't MG switch over to composite shafts now? I know my W45 is composite and I thought once the Tour model was discontinued they went to composite. 

[J Francho]

Meh, what pedal do you like better?

[38 Super Fan]

On ‎8‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 11:19 AM, Choporoz said:

I could have written this.  My experience is with transom mounts and with MK chargers, but similar experience.  I have one MK TM that is 8-9 years old and going strong.  But more recent products aren't getting it done for me.   I had another MK TM which had a switch crap out after less than 2 yrs, and lower unit AND second switch fail within another year.  I went through a number of bad chargers.  Customer service/warranty service were always top-notch, and I'd always belived MK was the better, longer lasting product.....but I, too, have wondered if QC isn't slipping...and if I should switch.

Minn Kota definitely isn't building them like they used to IMO. I had an old one on my Tracker, that thing was build like a tank compared to the new edge I just bought. Hell, they didn't even tighten half the screws in my new one before they shipped it. I don't know if MG is any better, but I'm very disappointed with the way MK has gone downhill.

[clh121787]

My x5 80 has been pretty good for the most part. The new design eliminates a lot of torque steer compared to my old maxxum.  But I still prefer a fortrex. I logged a few hours on a friend's ultrex it's pretty incredible .  that's gonna be next year's tax return upgrade 

 

[crypt]

flip a coin and close your eyes........

 

[12poundbass]

1 hour ago, clh121787 said:

My x5 80 has been pretty good for the most part. The new design eliminates a lot of torque steer compared to my old maxxum.  But I still prefer a fortrex. I logged a few hours on a friend's ultrex it's pretty incredible .  that's gonna be next year's tax return upgrade 

 

This is what I was talking about. The Xi5 vs the Utrex that's Cadillac vs Chevy like you said. Everything else is the same across the board. 

[clh121787]

2 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

This is what I was talking about. The Xi5 vs the Utrex that's Cadillac vs Chevy like you said. Everything else is the same across the board. 

Ultrex blows the xi5 out of the water. Cable power steer vs electric steer. I'll take a cable steer over any electric steer any day.  I've operated several electric steer motors ulterra, terrors, xi5, and I can't stand them. But it's personal preference. They do have great features. Spotlock lock link etc. But those  don't out way the feel of a cable steer to me.