Trolling motor upgrade

[sportglfr07]

Looking to upgrade to a TM with a spot lock function... I mostly crappie fish but have never not had a foot pedal. Do you think I’ll miss losing the foot pedal? Is there a good price reasonable option that has spot lock? Recommendations on where to look for a used one?

[Bill Reynolds]

The least expensive of the motors with spot lock is the Motorguide Xi3. A 24 volt 70 lb thrust with 45 inch shaft is $1500 at BPS.
This is without a foot pedal. There is an optional foot pedal, but It is sluggish in operation and may be frustrating if working around docks or structure. I am not a crappie fisherman but one of my friends is a crappie guide and he never uses a foot pedal.
At one time, he had an Xi5, which is the big brother to the Xi3 and it was the quietest trolling motor I have ever been around. The spot lock was much more accurate than my Ultrex.
There were 2 things he did not like about the Xi5:
1) he had to bend over the bow of the boat to stow it. This has been solved with the redesigned bow mount on the Xi3.
2) the Xi5 has a “ledge” on the bow bracket that has to hang over the gunwale. This causes mounting problems and creates a situation where on some boats, it has to be raised and moved back to clear the trailer bow roller when launching. This too has been solved with the redesigned mounting bracket.
My buddy had this TM for about two years, and he is on the water over 250 days per year. In that time he did not have a single problem with it. He only sold it because of problem #1 above. He bought a Minn Kota Ultera because it has power stow and deploy. As a matter of full disclosure, my buddy is 81, so the problem may not be as concerning for a younger person.
This is a link to the BPS listing of the Xi3:
https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/%E2%...-gps?rrec=true
BTW: I have a Minn Kota Ultrex. I only Bass Fish and can’t get by without cable steer foot pedal.

[ecoast]

you can get 12v terrova for $1100 tyd...

[gbruce]

I have an Ultrex and it was expensive but depending what options you need as far as connecting to your other electronics they can be had for less than $2000.