Garmin Force: About to bite the 3K Bullet!

[jaimeastin]

Well my wife said I could upgrade my trolling motor at the beginning of the year.  I upgraded my edge to a maxxum because I wanted to wait till the beginning of the year for the ultrex, since I then upgraded to livescope and all of that.  When the forced was teased and then announced, I was very interested.  I told my wife about and she said... OKAY, but is it the last thing after the fish finders?  My honest response, "Should be" :).  
 

Anywho, got a raise and bonus last week and knew what I was going to get, but we went to Tahoe and lost, LOL!  Still she says, I can get the force TODAY if I sell my current trolling motor.  I said, I cant do that first... I need to get the new motor first so I can still fish...  She said no because I will end up keeping it or something.  So, I need to sell this 65lb Maxxum that I purchased a little over 6 months ago.  

 

I am setup for 24volt already.  I have a bass tracker heritage and this is a lot of motor for this boat.  I want this motor for the integration with my all garmin electronics.  The anchor lock is the biggest draw as I am tired of using an anchor.  The wireless foot controller is worrisome, but nice to have.  With that and the remote, I can fish from any part of the boat.  I believe the UHD will not work with my Echomap plus, if I read that correctly...  With all that said, I really just want anchor lock if anything.  The newness has my attention and I want to get over it if possible.

 

I have been talking to @Sprocket about how he likes it.  I don't know if I should just get the ultrex or try something new.  Bleeding edge is very dangerous.  I plan to keep my livescope on the shaft.  Sprocket said he has no issues with that, even in anchor lock mode... He makes adjustments as so.  Would you all stay with tried and true or go all in?  Think waiting for black Friday or for the spring fishing classic will net some kind of a deal? … Also, need to sell that motor >_<  

[TheRodFather]

I have a powerdrive with spot lock.  I consider spot lock a must have.  Power poles would be nice as well, but I can get by with spot lock in shallow water just fine.  Well enough to not be able to justify the cost of poles anyway.  So I am covered deep 100%, and shallow 90%, I say 90 because in shallow water, the TM can kick up quite a bit of sediment and swirl the water pretty powerfully, which I think could spook the fish.  But I just float in slow, and be at a dead stop before spot locking, and try to keep a good distance from what I am casting too.

 

The powerdrive is not one of the ones that could have the livescope mounted on, so that's a bummer.  But again, it is cost prohibitive at this point to go to a higher level trolling motor.  Especially since the garmin motor doesn't get me the "ultimate" set of features.

 

For me, with my setup (garmin graphs, minnkota powerdrive TM), It breaks down like this:

 

What I have:

 

24v 70lb powerdrive, plenty of power and life

spot lock

remote operation of TM

stop and deploy is ok, but not great.

 

Dream list:

 

Plenty of power and life

spot lock

ability to use remote AND a foot pedal

integration with garmin graphs, including depth contour following. 

Livescope on the TM, so no secondary poles to stow and deploy.

easy stow and deploy

 

Unfortunately, the garmin TM doesn't have the integration advantage that minnkota/humminbird has, so for me, it isn't ever going to make it worth 3k, when the minnkota is less money and gives me the same features.  

 

If they integrate it, I can check off all things on the dream list, and find a way to justify the cost :). 

 

 

[Stephen B]

I have the Garmin Force and it's awesome! It outclasses the Ultrex IMHO in everyway and I've owned both. Love the trolling motor. Plus, I run the Ultra 126SV and 102SV with Livescope LVS 32 transducer. I highly recommend Garmin

[12poundbass]

[Efishin]

3 hours ago, jaimeastin said:

Well my wife said I could upgrade my trolling motor at the beginning of the year.  I upgraded my edge to a maxxum because I wanted to wait till the beginning of the year for the ultrex, since I then upgraded to livescope and all of that.  When the forced was teased and then announced, I was very interested.  I told my wife about and she said... OKAY, but is it the last thing after the fish finders?  My honest response, "Should be" :).  
 

Anywho, got a raise and bonus last week and knew what I was going to get, but we went to Tahoe and lost, LOL!  Still she says, I can get the force TODAY if I sell my current trolling motor.  I said, I cant do that first... I need to get the new motor first so I can still fish...  She said no because I will end up keeping it or something.  So, I need to sell this 65lb Maxxum that I purchased a little over 6 months ago.  

 

I am setup for 24volt already.  I have a bass tracker heritage and this is a lot of motor for this boat.  I want this motor for the integration with my all garmin electronics.  The anchor lock is the biggest draw as I am tired of using an anchor.  The wireless foot controller is worrisome, but nice to have.  With that and the remote, I can fish from any part of the boat.  I believe the UHD will not work with my Echomap plus, if I read that correctly...  With all that said, I really just want anchor lock if anything.  The newness has my attention and I want to get over it if possible.

 

I have been talking to @Sprocket about how he likes it.  I don't know if I should just get the ultrex or try something new.  Bleeding edge is very dangerous.  I plan to keep my livescope on the shaft.  Sprocket said he has no issues with that, even in anchor lock mode... He makes adjustments as so.  Would you all stay with tried and true or go all in?  Think waiting for black Friday or for the spring fishing classic will net some kind of a deal? … Also, need to sell that motor >_<  

By the way, the Ultrex isn't what I would call tried and true. Minn Kota has had a ton of problems with them. Go with the Garmin