Best 12 volt Trolling Motor

[tennwalkinghorse]

Input please looking for the best bang for my buck. In your opinion why you think why your make is the best. All input welcome Thanks

Walking Horse :-/

[Jig Man]

I think you could do fine with a MG or MK.  Choose the one you like the best.  

Buy the most # thrust you can get/afford.   Then match it up with the largest reserve amp battery (185-200) that you can find in a 27 or 29 series.

[jhoffman]

I gotta disagree with buying as much thrust as you can afford. I have a 30lb on my john and 1 is sometimes too much.

Match the boat.

[HPBB]

sorry jhoffman, It always better to buy the biggest you can afford. it way better to have more power than not enough. and alot of time 1 on a 30 or 50 is still about the same power it in the higher power setting where the bigger power is felt.

Put it this way. when I bought my 17'6' boat it had a #36 on it. I put a #55 on it and then moved all the way up to a 36 volt 109# and I would not have it anyother way. I may not use the all 109 pounds of thrust but its always nice to have it

[bowtech_182]

If you are looking for a transom trolling motor, the best bang for the buck definately has to be Minn Kota with their rebate going on.  I also agree with buying the biggest you can afford to some extent.

[sneaker]

Your motor choce will depend a lot on what kind of boat it will go on and what kind of use it will be put to. A heavy boat will need more thrust to motivate and move against the wind. A canoe has little room for extra  batteries and can easily get by with a 30 lb 12vmotor. There are two types of motor speed controls. One is a 5 speed forward, 3 in reverse, the other is a continuously variable (cv) throttle. The 5 speed controls the motor speed by switching in resistors to the power lead to slow the motor. At half speed, the motor gets only half of the battery power, and the rest of the power is wasted in the resistor. On the other hand the cv controller converts the 12 v battery to 6 v and all of the 6v power is applied to the motor, wasting none in resistors. You get at least twice the operating time on the battery when operating at low power settings. At full throttle both motors use the same ammount of power. So if you are going to do a lot of trolling, the motor with the cv speed control is worth the money. The MK motor has almost no metal in the motor hardware and will have less corrosion problems if you are going to be in salt or brackish water. Both MK and MG have salt water versions of their motors, but the additional cost is significant. If I had to choose between a cv speed control, and a salt water rated motor(each have about the same incrimental cost) I would choose the cv motor and make sure I washed the motor off with fresh water after every use.