Hey Everyone,

First time poster here, I wanted to ask about Motor Guides new digital line. My whole life I've run 12ft jon boats with the 46 # thrust motor in the front. I've built a transom up front and spun the trolling head around, bla, bla, bla.  

My question is upgrading to the FW54 digital worth the money compared to the regular FW54. Is that much more energy efficient. I never throw a gas on the back, just a homemade fin to track straight. So even in a 80 acre pond, it's hike to ur favorite holes.

Any advice is much welcome.

p.s. this a kick@ss site. I'll be posting picks soon!

Motorguides biggest reason for going digital was that there motors were burning up circut boards. In other words they were losing customers at a very fast rate to MinnKota because of poor quality motors. So they went digital and promised they were better motors. MinnKota is still more efficent than the digital Motorguide so if you want a more efficient motor get a MinnKota but neither would be worth paying for a whole new motor in most cases.

As always, depends on who you ask.  I've never run anything but MG's and have run nothing but the variable speed (similar to MK's maximizer) units since they came out.  The only complaint I've ever had with the MG's was the amount of work it took to get the RFI they radiated from screwing up the LCD display.   I'm just before ordering the MG 82# digital and as in the past, MG is the only TM I would even consider hanging on the front of my boat.

A few people can have a problem with a product and with the internet, those few can make it spread like that product is the biggest piece of junk made.   The other 95% that don't have a problem, you never hear anything out of them.

I have run both Minkota and motorguide. like both and hate both The new Mg digital's are great motors. I have a Pro 109# 36 volt and its a great motor. Best TM I have used.  I have an old MG that is not a digital and do not like it. If your going to stick with Mg I would get the digital motor. It is worth it.

I would recomend going to a 24volt motor you will get more power, be  faster and lots more running time. and if your only using a TM on you boat 2 batteries do not take up that much room.

I'm sold on the Pro series digital MG, right now they are the only TM I will buy

There are several people on this site, including Randall and myself, that fish electric only jonboat tournaments. These tournaments are held on lakes as big as 1000 acres. You can run up to 4 miles one direction with your trolling motors wide open. Some of us have up to 5 trolling motors mounted on our boat. So the experience that we draw from is that of dozens of fishermen that run trolling motors to their very limits. If our batteries go dead or our motors burn out we are in trouble. There are no gas motors, so all we have is a paddle to get us back to the ramp so we take our motors very seriously.

With that said. Our experience with MG vs. MK is pretty extensive. The burn-up problems with the MG has mainly been with the 101lb thrust ones and a few of the 80's. This is because we ran them wide open of such long distances. For the most part this problem has been fixed.  In our experience the MK has preformed the best, but not by much. We get better battery life and more speed out of them and they are more reliable. But unless you are running your motor as hard as we are, you don't have much to worry about with either brand.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

At first I thought this post would start another MG / MK feud, lol.

You guys are full of crazy information, I appreciate sharing it. I've only fished 2 tourneys up here, and they were on friends trackers though. I've thought going 24V, but it's not economical for me. I drag my 12ft jon everywhere! I fish the well known lakes, to the back water reservoirs, rivers, streams, I've smashed so many bounders and logs on the rivers its not funny. Launched myself into the water a few times, lol. The longest one way direction is about two hours for me. And I've done my fair share of paddling my way home, even 1 emergency landing and walking back because the hurricane hit faster than I thought. I'm getting a new 54# MG soon, just wonder if it's worth getting the digital version or the other regular version. Sounds like the digie is the way to go for me.

Best Regards everyone!

-Shawn

p.s. No hard feeling but MG for life!

Same here, electric only.

Seems no matter which brand is on my boat, I won't get more than 2 yrs out of it.

variable speed switches are my main issue.  I weent thru 3 of them on 2 different motors this summer (MK endura 55's)  Both are new motors as of this spring but even after 1 season, they won't last all next year.

It's not a brand thing tho, I break everything.  I have also blown apart the MG 47 lbrs I used to have.  It's not them, It's me.