Wish them great success....![]()
Phoenix 721 - Yamaha SHO 250 - 8' Blades
War Eagle 961 Tomahawk
Etec 150
Twin 12" birds
80lb Ultrex
I like Lew's and Dobyn's and I cannot lie
I see one on Cory Johnston's boat in the Toyota pics today as well.
2014 Ranger Z520c/Evinrude E-TEC 250HO/Minn Kota Ultrex 112/Lowrance HDS'
I honestly don't think competitive pricing matters for certain niche markets, and bass fishing has proven to be one of them. Look at their battery charger, people buy it enough that it is still a viable product for them and it's what 4X the price of an already high priced Minn Kota? Look at the price of an Ultrex when it came out compared to its competition. People paid that huge premium to get 1 functionality, spot lock. Look at the way people buy up new graphs and slight improvements like the new Livescope vs the old. Look at how many people paid the additional money for a Ghost over an already high priced Ultrex?
There is definitely a market for super high priced items where the law of diminishing returns is not a major driver. Look at how many people buy $1200+ Sitka waders. It's the guys with a passion that are willing to pay whatever price to have the biggest, newest, and best, even if it is marginally better than the competition. The super high price almost helps and gives a false sense of quality assurance.
Is it called the Power Pole “Move”?
War Eagle 961 Tomahawk
Etec 150
Twin 12" birds
80lb Ultrex
I like Lew's and Dobyn's and I cannot lie
Fish have fins, they swim
Phoenix 721 - Yamaha SHO 250 - 8' Blades
I agree to an extent, but each of the examples you gave has one thing in common. The "new" product had advancements that made it better and therefore worth more than the previous product. The Power Pole Charge isn't just a charger since it also allows you to charge your batteries while you run from spot to spot and also has an emergency start capability. The Ultrex brought us the Spotlock feature which was a HUGE advancement. The same could be said for people switching over to Garmin simply due to LiveScope. And even the Ghost offered a brushless motor over the Ultrex, which gave it more power and longer run times.
I have no doubt that people will scramble to buy the PP trolling motor, but only IF it offers advancements that the other trolling motors do not. Simply having a titanium shaft isn't going to push people to pay an extra $500+ for it. I'm curious, like everyone else, just to know what PP is bringing to the table with this trolling motor. What can it do that the others cannot? If the answer is "nothing", I just don't see people migrating away from the tried-and-true and paying a premium for it.
Just went out looked at my Ultrex…it isn’t exactly the most svelte design either. If the PP was significantly lighter than the Ultrex, I might be able to get over it’s aesthetics. Just don’t if I could get over it $4000 worth.
Ranger Z521c
Mercury 250 Pro XS Optimax
It may be a great product, but what will it do that the others don't? The other TM companies all offer electronics too so the PP motor will almost have to offer "universal sonar" capabilities. I think they are too late getting to this party.
That's a good point regarding the power pole charge system. I've always been kind of confused to why its so popular, and a plug in battery charger and a perko switch with battery combiner cover the vast majority of anglers needs, especially with the high dollar lithium batteries that are good for multiple days. Also the minnkota trolling battery on the run charger along with a regular charger are less than half the cost of the charge system. The only reason I could see myself buying the charge system is if I had 24 or 36V batteries to deal with.
2020 Nitro Z20 Pro Package
And this will bring something new to the table too, so is it automatically worth hundreds more than it's competitors? That is for us to decide, but as a group (tournament/serious anglers) have proven people are willing to pay top dollar for marginal improvements, minor convenience, and bragging rights. Weight reduction is a big deal to all those whining that the ultrex's piston isn't strong enough and all those that are willing to drop a couple thousand dollars on motor mods and prop work to gain 5 mph. That combined with their customer service will be enough.
Sure the charge charges trolling motor batteries. How many tournament fisherman have issues with battery longevity, and how much of a charge does a 36V system really gain in the amount of running that people regularly do? The emergency start function could be done with a pair of jumper cables. Spotlock was big, I'll agree with that. I really think brushless is another marginal improvement. Again, how many tournament fisherman have issues with an ultrex's power and how many tournament fisherman are running out of juice in a tournament?
The motor doesn't have to be revolutionary to up charge $500. The market has proven that point time and time again.
I agree with you 100% on the points you made. I guess my point was that you can't just trot out a new trolling motor that is the same as everyone else's and expect to gain significant market share, especially if it's priced $500+ above the competition. The PP trolling motor will need to have improvements over what is currently available if they want to sell many of them. To me, if they shave five pounds of weight over the competition, that isn't worth $500. However, to the older gentleman that is lifting his trolling motor 50 times a day, it very well could be worth it to him.
How the hell can anything of you old geezers tell what that thing looks like from that photo haha
I think this trolling motor would be a bigger deal if Lowrance and garmin had not released theirs and had unreal success with it. Both garmin and Lowrance have broke into the trolling motor market and taken a massive share of the trolling motor market. It will be hard for me to leave the ghost trolling motor right now.
2015 Ford F150 XLT Super Crew 2.7L Ecoboost FX4
2021 Phoenix 721/ Mercury 250 ProXS 4s
HDS16 live- Solix15 : Console
HDS16 live W/AT - Garmin 126 W/ lvs34 - Solix12/ 360 : Bow
Dual 10' Blades/ Lowrance Ghost/ Bobs Hydraulic Plate
225ah cranking / 100ah trolling. Ionic/Relion lithium
This is the most sensible post here. There are plenty of people who will discard good Ultrexs, Ghosts, and Forces just to get the latest and the greatest. They'll sell their old motors at a loss and pay big bucks for the Power Pole, just because.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the pros, who are sponsored by an electronics company and power pole, have to deal with their sponsors about which trolling motor they will run. I have to imagine that the Power Pole motor will have to seamlessly integrate with all electronics for many pros to make the switch. Or Power Pole will have to give make them a really good deal. Only time will tell.