Are you happy with your Minn kota trolling motors quality

[FishinChad]

I bought a 40lb thurst motor last year and it quit working on me in the fall, not even one year of use. Something wrong it the motor area at the bottom, seemed like it tightened up and couldnt spin the propeller any more. Couldnt find receipt, didnt even attempt to get it fixed without one, although I did take it appart to see if I could find any obvious problems. I had a hard time getting myself to buy another one, but I needed one and got a new 55lb motor this year. No problems yet but I am worried. I have had problems with other minnkota's in the past, I wish we had more, better quality options so that minnkota would be foreced to look at the quality of their motors and service to compete.

[zepman]

Just a curious question: For those of you looking at going to Motorguide or elsewhere on your next purchase, where would one take this to get it serviced if a problem should arise? Are there localized service centers around these parts?

[weld1]

Just talked to a friend today, there trophy 180 and motor burned up in the garage.... turns out the minnkota started it!! lucky it was cought before it burned the house down, anyone ever heard of this??

[rtwills]

i have been considering putting the powerdrive on my 80# 24v .

Is there a major lag in control with the remote compared to wired?I guess I never thought of that until I read rascals post.It seems like that could be an issue when hitting structure areas.

2nd question... where do you put the tiny remote when your using it? Is it a pain to use while navigating (I mainly use mine trolling lindys)

[311Hemi]

You guys with the foot control problems might pull the large pedal (used to turn left/right) off the control pad and make sure the plastic slide underneath is fully moving to each side. It is only held on with 2 springs. Mine bow mount would not turn right this spring (first time out of storage) and I ended up fixing it by cleaning the plastic slide piece under the large pedal and forcing it back and forth a bunch of times to make sure it moved freely. Once I forced it both ways and saw the motor move both ways I knew that was the problem and it works good now.

Not sure if the new systems have the same pedal but I would guess they may have updated it.

[vikingmeatwad]

Just bought a refurb Power Drive V55 and will have to see how it holds up over the next few years.

I did drive it into shallow water already and it held up great though :-)

My older autopilot 42# died but it was pretty old. I guess I don't expect these things to last forever but if you take care of them I think they will last quite a long time.

I do believe I will get a cable one on my next boat though as I believe they are the most dependable.

[MIDNIGHT777]

I have had 6 (4 bow 2 transom) Minnkota trolling motors. Mostly good experiences. Only on foot pedal went out on one of the bow mounts within 2 months so that was replaced under warranty. 1 transom mount was fine.

MAJOR PROBLEM..........Vantage 80. Absolute piece of junk. It was on my former boat, which I owned for 2 fising seasons. Now I am not a professional fisherman, but I fish every chance I can get. In the 2 years I had this motor in the shop 4-5 different times(I quit keeping track). Guy at the authorized Minnkota repair shop said he sees many, many Vantages every season. The last time they thought they solved the problem for good. I sold the boat to a buddie this year and it is already not working. Really makes me feel like *bleep* if you know what I mean. I have read on this site and several others and the vast majority of people have had the same experience as me with the Vantage.

I do have to admit that when it was working it was sweet.

Matt

[hhguide]

There are a few problems with vantage's but usually if you bring it in they have the new and updated piece to put in so you dont have to worry about it anymore thats waht we did knock on wood haven't had a problem since then.

[eyepatrol]

I've owned 2 boats each with powerdrives. On both boats, the foot pedal for the bow mount lasted 3 years. My opinion is they just don't seal up those foot pedals enough to keep sand and other debris out, thus wearing down the parts inside.

The biggest issue I have though, which has happened on both powerdrive units I've owned, is the darn bracket mounted on the bow which the motor slides into. You know how when you take the motor and slide it into the bracket the flat metal plate on the motor slides into the grooves of the mounting plate? Well, the grooves on the mounting plate must work their way open somehow because on both units, I've had it where when I use a speed setting higher than about 4, the darn thing bounces and bangs in the grooves of the bracket because it's not snug.

I don't know if that's a result of leaving the motor in the bracket while traveling or what. But there's a whole lot of play/gap in the grooves of the bracket that is mounted to the bow. Only way I know to fix it, which is very temporary (works for a couple hours) is to tear up some carboard boxes and use small pieces of carboard as shims.

The foot pedal failing every 3 years I can pretty much deal with and live with. The loose gap in the grooves of the bracket mounted to the bow is extremely frustrating. All that bouncing noise of the motor cannot be good when trying to fish shallow.

So if anyone has suggestions on an easy fix for that, I'm all ears!

[Badger_55]

bought the powerdrive last year. Never had any problems all year long until this year. Since opener I haven't been able to get it working correctly. First it kept blowing the same fuse as soon as I turned it on. It was draining my batteries way too much and I would have to crank up the speed because it was always dogging. Once that problem seemed to be taken care of for about an hour I all of a sudden couldn't turn on the motor. I could turn the head of the motor but I can't turn the prop on? It makes a clicking noise up in the motor but it never turns on, don't know whats up, any help?