electric motors

[barra bandit]

Fingerling Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 19

eletric motors Hi guys thinking of up dateing my electric motor. I currently have a minn koata 55 auto pilot. It struggles at times against wind and tide. Thinking of going motor guide do you think x15-55sw 12v would be alright or should I go into x15-80 sw 24v . I have a 4.5 topender 60 hp 4 stroke yammyQuintrex. the spot lock feature should help me. I want to have enough power to hold position and troll with the electric up the creeks nd off shore

[Douglas]

Hi BB

I'm about to buy an electric for a boat pretty much the same as yours.

Am looking at a Motor Guide 55lb thrust for $1950 with spotlock and remote.

2 things have stood out for me in the research.

Firstly the research practically follows that of 12 volt fridges or generators. In fridges it was the user standard of Engel vs Waeco . With generators it was Honda vs the rest.

With 12v outboards it seems to be Minn Kota vs Motor Guide.

The info I'm getting is that Motor Guide doesn't drift around so much on spotlock. If you ignore owner claims of which is the better which usually revolve around cost and lack of troubles, that seems to be the one consistent comparison to consider.

As the GPS system in recreational boats isn't differential, the accuracy suffers a bit and the boat tends to drift around a little on spotlock. Excessive drift on Spotlock seems to be the most consistent comment by Minn Kota users.

With Motor Guide the processor is claimed to use a bit of extra "smoke and mirrors" in the way of digital compass comparators for increased positional stability.

Its not increased accuracy as you wont get that on Minn Kota or MotorGuide without differential, but its the MotorGuide's claimed ability to keep the boat closer to the "spot" as supposedly locked onto.

I think that Minn Kota keeps referring current GPS (as the boat drifts around) to the "marked" GPS and suffers a bit when navigating back to that chosen "marked" GPS spot.

I think that MotorGuide uses the drift as calculated by the 2 digital compasses and tries to manouvere the boat back to the spot without referring back to the GPS with its inherent inaccuracy.

That "jiggle" in accuracy would be even more noticeable whenever the US switched the GPS system to "selective availability". ( fancy name for reducing the accuracy on domestic GPSs like they tend to do during conflicts).

Bit more research to do yet but I'm keeping an open mind so far.

I'll let u know how I end up.

Douglas

[mangajack]

I was talking to a high up military guy early last year and he said that it would be very very unlikely that SA will ever be used again.
He mentioned some other blocking mechanism being worked on that will block anything within up to 500 mile radius being developed.

As far as which to buy, I do not think you would be disappointed with either the MK or the MG......both do that same job well.

[al49]

If you buy a motaguide be careful with the entry point of the propeller they don't seal the o ring letting water into gear case I think and it can leak , my mate had had his brand new one back to them with this prob ,after one hour on water. they said they new of the prob but for some reason don't reseal all the seals before they go out . Sounds like they wait for the prob to surface before fixing it , very frustrating for owner of that motor.

[Snodger]

All I can say is spot lock is legendary and I doubt that whatever brand you use you will be disappointed. The thing I like the most is that you are not throwing a noisy anchor down which will spook the fish.
I have used it in fast running tide and very windy conditions and love it. Mind you iut does take a while for the MK 80lb to pull the galey to the spot marked initially but once there it is great. Enjoy. I dont think you will be disappointed with either brand.

[Douglas]

Thanks for that fellas (esp Al49 and MJ) for those tips.

To put it in perspective, GPS being used these days has up to 6m (20 ft) jitter and that's where spotlock can be a pain in wandering.

Be interesting to hear from a MG user about spotlock.

Douglas

[Awoonga]

l have the MG 24 volt Had it for about 12 months now no problems love it

[Douglas]

Thanks Awoonga

What's your experience with the MG spotlock facility?

[Awoonga]

Thanks Awoonga

What's your experience with the MG spotlock facility?

Any wind or current flow its great.....Sometimes If there's no wind or flow the motor keeps rotating ,Stays in the one place but its super sensitive Only happens now and then

[Vet]

I thought the main point of the question was whether the 55lb motorguide would be better than the 55lb minn kota in current. in regards to this they will be the same. the 55lb motorguids will have the same trouble as the mk. definitely go to the 24volt 80lb of either brand.