# Minn Kota v Motor Guide



## Star1pup (Aug 3, 2004)

I'm not real happy with a couple things about my MK, but is it worth the money to switch to Motor Guide? All I need is 55 lb thrust and foot steering. I don't need GPS, etc. Only want 12V and not 24V. I'd be very interested in hearing opinions.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

I have been using MK for thirty years and will be switching to Motor Guide as soon as I see a sale on the 55# cable driven bow mount. Been fishing with a buddy the past five years and his MG works smooth and trouble free. Much better foot pedal than my MK Maxum and a darn site easier to deploy and retract. The three blade prop on the MG does a much better job on the weeds also. I wish MG made a 55# digital and hope that may come to pass as Spring approaches.

If anyone is interested in the Maxum 55# 12V which had the motor and foot pedal completely rebuilt by Mogadore Bait last year, contact me via PM.


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## Star1pup (Aug 3, 2004)

Shortdrift said:


> I have been using MK for thirty years and will be switching to Motor Guide as soon as I see a sale on the 55# cable driven bow mount. Been fishing with a buddy the past five years and his MG works smooth and trouble free. Much better foot pedal than my MK Maxum and a darn site easier to deploy and retract. The three blade prop on the MG does a much better job on the weeds also. I wish MG made a 55# digital and hope that may come to pass as Spring approaches.
> 
> If anyone is interested in the Maxum 55# 12V which had the motor and foot pedal completely rebuilt by Mogadore Bait last year, contact me via PM.


When you refer to "cable" do you mean a cable that carries an electrical impulse to the motor, or a cable on pullies that physically turns the motor?


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## Bassbme (Mar 11, 2012)

Shortdrift, your wish has been granted https://motorguide.factoryoutletstore.com/cat/24611/MotorGuide-Bow-Mount-Trolling-Motors.html?page=3

As far as the MG v MK comparison. I've never owned a foot controlled Minn Kota, but I have briefly used one while on my buddies boat. The steering on my MG is much smoother and much more precise (I have a 24V 75# thrust Tour Edition) I will say his (a 24V 70# thrust Maxum) deploys easier, but that's because it's quite a bit lighter than my Tour Edition. 

I can't really comment on the weedless properties of the two props. I switched out the 3 blade prop that came with mine, for the 2 blade power prop. For me the 3 blade didn't offer the control in more windy open water conditions. The three blade is fine for calmer water conditions though, and pretty weedless. 

I will say that if you're used to using an MK foot control, you may find an MG awkward at first. The go button is on the right side of the foot pedal on the MGs, and on the left side on the MKs.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

Star1pup said:


> When you refer to "cable" do you mean a cable that carries an electrical impulse to the motor, or a cable on pullies that physically turns the motor?


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## Star1pup (Aug 3, 2004)

I take it that the red means it physically turns the motor?


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## Popspastime (Apr 1, 2014)

You won't go wrong with either being a cable driven unit. I've always used Motorguide and have never ever had a problem with them. The MG Xi3 is a cable unit in 12V, I had one in a 60" Model. Easy to deploy, smooth, and quiet, also a powerful motor. I'll never change from the MG, they've been that good and the customer support is 2nd to none.


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## Star1pup (Aug 3, 2004)

Just to clarify. My boat is a 16' Lund with tiller steering. My super comfortable seat is in the stern. At my age standing to fish is not an option. Hence the foot pedal steering.


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## JCFring (Aug 16, 2010)

Don't do it to yourself.... buy a Minn Kota and be happy. MG is terrible in thre aspects 1) Customer Service is terrible. 2) Construction and quality control is also terrible. I switched and wish I'd saved my self the money. Sold the MG a year later and went back to a MK. 3) MG's are louder than a Minn Kota.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

JCFring said:


> Don't do it to yourself.... buy a Minn Kota and be happy. MG is terrible in thre aspects 1) Customer Service is terrible. 2) Construction and quality control is also terrible. I switched and wish I'd saved my self the money. Sold the MG a year later and went back to a MK. 3) MG's are louder than a Minn Kota.


Motorguide is quite possibly the best customer service I have dealt with not just fishing wise either. I bought a new xi5 the spring that they 1st came out,. It came I installed it on my boat took it out and on the 2nd trip I left my wife in boat while I went to get the truck, backed in she was driving on lost control, drove bow of boat straight into dock, completely destroying the shaft and power head. I called them, told them the truth of what happened, the guy says send me some pics to this email and make sure to include your #. Twenty minutes later he called back says I'll send you the parts you need no problem. 3 days later giant box comes, I opened it. They sent me a complete brand new unit, complete with another remote and foot pedal, the whole $1800 enchilada! I will always use them just because of that one experience! Plus I now link the ,2nd xi5 I have purchased to my lowrance hds and use the auto pilot straight from my touch screen, it's way better technology than minnkota, plus battery life is awesome!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


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## cincinnati (May 24, 2004)

Star1pup said:


> Just to clarify. My boat is a 16' Lund with tiller steering. My super comfortable seat is in the stern. At my age standing to fish is not an option. Hence the foot pedal steering.


I have one of those! Put a deck in the front of your boat & fish (standing or sitting) up there. Your weight holds the bow deeper & helps resist crosswinds. Some of the best money I ever spent!


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

I have had both and much prefer MG.
I had MK in both cable steer and power drive and MG cable steer.
Both MG and MK has their following so really it's a personal choice and both are fairly easy to get parts for so that's not an issue.

If I had to buy another trolling motor tomorrow it would be a MG. I just think the cable steer is much smoother in the MG


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## Popspastime (Apr 1, 2014)

miked913.. just to help support the CS comment, I run a Xi5 as well all tied into my units and wonder how I did without it all this time but... while getting it all set up I called support and they had me on the phone for an hour and twenty minutes walking me thru all the settings in both of my Carbons.. who does that? 3rd season with this unit and it's fished a lot..not even a burp.


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## Star1pup (Aug 3, 2004)

It seems like this discussion is fairly evenly divided, but slightly in favor of MG.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

i have a #55 Motorguide on my 16’ aluminum boat and hate it... It’s remote controlled foot pedal ...every time it turns it is noisy as hell...I literally cannot sneak into a good crappie spot in the spring in shallow water...
I’m just waiting for a Minnkota to go on sale so I can buy that…


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## JCFring (Aug 16, 2010)

miked913 said:


> Motorguide is quite possibly the best customer service I have dealt with not just fishing wise either. I bought a new xi5 the spring that they 1st came out,. It came I installed it on my boat took it out and on the 2nd trip I left my wife in boat while I went to get the truck, backed in she was driving on lost control, drove bow of boat straight into dock, completely destroying the shaft and power head. I called them, told them the truth of what happened, the guy says send me some pics to this email and make sure to include your #. Twenty minutes later he called back says I'll send you the parts you need no problem. 3 days later giant box comes, I opened it. They sent me a complete brand new unit, complete with another remote and foot pedal, the whole $1800 enchilada! I will always use them just because of that one experience! Plus I now link the ,2nd xi5 I have purchased to my lowrance hds and use the auto pilot straight from my touch screen, it's way better technology than minnkota, plus battery life is awesome!
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk



Well, for your one amazing enchilada I can cite many bad taco experiences that left the owners shitting themselves for weeks because MotorGuide blows harder than gale force winds on Lake Erie. MotorGuide... junk with a fancy name and even worse service.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

JCFring said:


> Well, for your one amazing enchilada I can cite many bad taco experiences that left the owners shitting themselves for weeks because MotorGuide blows harder than gale force winds on Lake Erie. MotorGuide... junk with a fancy name and even worse service.


So your the guy when I read reviews on an item that has 1000    and one guy who gives it a  and I think to myself "this guy is the reason they have to have a warning label telling people not to eat Tide pods". There's always one

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## Popspastime (Apr 1, 2014)

JCFring said:


> Well, for your one amazing enchilada I can cite many bad taco experiences that left the owners shitting themselves for weeks because MotorGuide blows harder than gale force winds on Lake Erie. MotorGuide... junk with a fancy name and even worse service.


Another "No Experience" post.. but I saw it on the internet!


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## cincinnati (May 24, 2004)

Have an early '90's Power Drive. Has always steered poorly/slowly to 1 side, which I have partially attributed to the fact that it is fighting the rotation of the prop. Original foot pad but the unit is so worn that the chrome is wearing off the shaft. 

I wish the thing would die, so I could justify a new one. Sort of a testimonial for Minn Kota, I suppose.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

Both of these brands have been around a long time and both have good and bad points. Likewise both have their own followers. There is no perfect TM for everyone. If there was...the other guy would be out of business.



cincinnati said:


> Have an early '90's Power Drive.


I had one of those and I had so many problems with it I threw it away and went back to MG. Life's too short to put up with stuff you hate...go get a new one (either brand) and don't look back. 
I had a MG unit on my boat that I absolutely hated. 70# 24v motor was just too strong for my alum boat, I knew eventually it would throw me out of the boat. It lasted about a year and I never could get used to it. I took a bath when I sold it but I've been happy with the 55# 12v replacement ever since.
I put up with a lot of crap while I was working...that's not going to happen on my boat.


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## JCFring (Aug 16, 2010)

Popspastime said:


> Another "No Experience" post.. but I saw it on the internet!


Another "my brand is best" counter post without any facts or real knowledge of why I've written what I've written. How cute. Have you owned both trolling motors on the same boat like I have? 

I had a Minn Kota and replaced it with a Motor Guide when I decided to upgrade from 55 to 80 lbs thrust. I went to MG because it was roughly 20% cheaper. HUGE regret on my part after installing and using it because the MG was a total piece of crap from the day I received it. I had it serviced after three outings at a local MG Service Center because one of the two steering cables snapped due to "over-tightening at the factory." Thankfully I wasn't fishing a tourney when this happened. Note MG customer service said "we had a batch that went out with the cables over-tightened that weekended them and are replacing those cables for free." Their words, not mine. 

In addition to the over tightening, the unit was built backwards. Meaning... it operated in the opposite manner you would expect. The local service shop took forever to replace the cables and when I got it back, they rebuilt the unit the way they found it.. backwards. Now imagine riding a bike backwards. It's tough. But after a year I figured it out and just assumed Motor Guide's foot controls were the opposite of Minn Kota's. Frustrating for sure but I wasn't about to replace a $1K trolling motor. After another half season, I was tired of fighting it. I sold it to a buddy at a cheap price and warned him of the challenges with the MG. He installed it on his boat was shocked at how this unit was functioning. He had a MG on his other boat and figured my complaints were just that... my complaints. It wasn't, it was the motor itself. He disassembled the MG and rebuilt it so it would function / steer correctly. Turns out, it wasn't that bad of a motor after it was reassembled to factory spec but he never should have had to do that. MG's factory build should have been right. The Service Center Tech should have realized and fixed it. Or the MG Service Center should have caught the issue when I first called them about it after the first outing with the unit. 

Summary: 1) Built incorrectly at the factory 2) Assembly ruined the cables causing failure after 12 hours of fishing 3) Unit never steered properly, tension adjustment was always difficult to manage, and I had to drive my boat 3 hours round trip to have it incorrectly serviced by a really poor service shop 4) MG customer service department offered nothing in the way of any real support on this issue outside of shipping new cables to the service shop. 5) MG is crap compared to MinnKota.

So as a MG fanboy, now you can say "I don't have any experience with MinnKota, but I saw it on the internet and MG's really do suck!"

PS: When my buddy called MG for a new plastic replacement part he needed, they wouldn't send it to him for free even though it was within warranty and a result of the rebuild. They were less than friendly about it too and totally wasted his time in the process.


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## JCFring (Aug 16, 2010)

miked913 said:


> So your the guy when I read reviews on an item that has 1000    and one guy who gives it a  and I think to myself "this guy is the reason they have to have a warning label telling people not to eat Tide pods". There's always one
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


Nah... I'm the guy that had one really bad experience with MG that I documented above. In the end, it doesn't matter I guess. You like MG. I hate MG and will never own another one. The scales at the weigh-in is really all that matters.


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## kdn (Apr 27, 2015)

We have always had MK. Stern mount 36 to the latest and greatest. A couple of PowerDrives on our 16' Lunds needed service so I ran them to Bass Pro Toledo. Best service, fixed right and six years later they still perform well. We added copilot along with the auto pilot and they are a dream to use. But with our newest MK Terrova on our larger boats we love the auto deploy, spot lock, and 24 volt. 24 volt allows us to run all day fishing. I wouldn't trade mine for anything else. I'm 63 and my wife is 57. I fish with our uncles and aunts and they are in their 80's. Auto deploy is the greatest feature for our age bracket. I can't say enough about the Terrova as it allows me to fish more instead of running a motor. I don't think you could ever get me to switch. 
but we all have our own preference and affordability. Ken


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

I had the MK bow power drive 55 12 volt. Never had a problem , 15 years old. Sold it and got the MK terrova 55lb bow 12 volt, love it. So far no problems. Had three other MK transom mounts, no problems.


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

After using motor guide my entire life I decided to try out a minn kota. I hate that thing. Constantly having to work on it. Cables bind randomly. Brushes stick locking pin when deployed will randomly release itself. Never had any issue with my old motor guide other than it just getting old and was starting to nickle and dime me a bit. This was a 20+ year old motor and never had any issues until the last year I had it then I had to replace the foot pedal switch and a few other consumable parts. 

This minnkota I got is only 4 years old and I have already had to replace brushes, speed switch and foot pedal switch. The power is also inconsistent as all get out. One day at speed 2 it will pull the boat just fine other times it will hardly move it. Move it up one speed and it will fly. No happy medium at all. I will be going back to MG on my bass boat and putting this MK on my Jon boat as it doesn't get used much


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## man164 (Sep 21, 2014)

this is just like Ford or Chevy….

all personal preference….

one thing to add though is this…. I think whatever you choose match all your electronics and link them all together…. If you run Humminbird buy a Minn Kota I Pilot with Link…. If you run Lowrance buy either a Motor Guide or Lowrance…. If you run Garmin go all in with them…

Minn Kota is behind on the brushless motors though…..


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## Lewis (Apr 5, 2004)

All I've ran for over 30 years are Minn Kota motors and they have all given me trouble free service. I recently bought a boat with a new Motorguide X series on it. It sure seems like a flimsy piece of junk to me. I've already had to replace the top cover because the directional arrow has a mind of it's own. Cheap foot pedal, very thin cables and cheap, ill fitting plastic gears.


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## Popspastime (Apr 1, 2014)

Always ran MG (last 3 boats) and only had 1 self inflicted problem. Batteries in remote trashed board in it and made the motor seem like it was the problem..my bad. replaced the remote and problem solved. I run mine a LOT.. always great. To each his own. This post is resurrected from 2018, wonder how that MK 's held up?


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Sounding like the same old barbs as Garmin vs. Hummingbird! IMO, Garmin has had it all over their competition for over a decade. Shoot at that!


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