I have had more that one person tell me that the Trolling Motors that you can order from Walmart.com don't have the same quality that the ones you buy from Basspro, etc. Sort of like they were the blems or quality rejects from the factory.  Has anyone else heard this?  I find it hard to believe and I am getting ready to buy a 40 lb Powerdrive for $350 from Walmart, but I just want to make sure.

Andy

Nonsense.  Minn Kota is the one providing their warranty on any of the units that WalMart sells.  Any trolling motor off an assembly line that didn't meet an inspection test would be taken off and either fixed or dismantled.  A defective returned TM would be taken to a refurb center, repaired to spec and then resold as a refurb unit.   I also believe that there are many states that require that anything sold that's a factory rebuild be labeled or marked as such.  

I have heard that kind of stuff for years.  Just ask yourself if the worlds largest retailer would handle that kind of stuff and even if they did where would a mfg come up with enough rejects to stock as many as Wally World would sell. ;D

The MK motors are the same as everywhere else. I got one from walmart for my small jon boat and it runs great

I have ran into people saying that the guns that walmart sells are lower quality because walmart can sell them for a lower cost than we could buy them with our ffl but the real reason walmart can sell them at a lower price is that they buy more guns at one time than even the distrubitors. Walmart is the only one selling  the beretta 390  because even though beretta replaced it with the 391 walmart wanted to keep selling the 390 to reach a specific price (lower than the 391). because of the number of guns walmart buys beretta made a special run of them. Remington did the same with the sam walton special 1100's.

So the tm could be the same as the one at bps or it may be a different model or just a different model number. The quality will be the same as other minn kotas  Randy

Excuse me but I sell Beretta 390's at Academy & we buy twice as many as Wal-Mart; Academy is the #2 gun retailer in the nation behind Gander Mountain who also sells Beretta 390's.

Why would a manufacturer like Berretta or Minn Kota put their reputation on the line by selling less than quality products on any market?

catt I never said that they sold lower quality to walmart. Do you sell the 390 or the 3901 which is the same gun we could get the 3901 but not the 390 now this was two years ago when I still worked at a skeet range. When the 3901 came out we were told by beretta that it was because gun shops wanted the 390 but they had given exclusive rights to walmart for the 390 of course this was after the 391 replaced the 390 as berettas top autoloader Randy

Catt I checked academy's web site and I can not find a beretta 390 but you do cary the model 3901 see http://www.academy.com/index.php?page=content&target=products/outdoors/hunting/shotguns&start=0&selectedSKU=0350-00336-0635

Randy

Just like all chain stores not all of them carry the same models of a particular product; we don't carry the 3901, we do however carry the 390 and the A391 Xtrema2. I know this for a fact because I sold a 390 & an Xtrema2 last night.

Academy's web site show numerous items our store doesn't carry; it shows Academy sells Mercury outboards we don't because there is a boat dealer in the area which sells Mercury so according to Mercury there can only be one dealer within a certain sales radius. The web site also doesn't show the Marlin 336 in .308 which we have 5 in stock, it doesn't show that we sell Bushmaster A3 Entry Carbine & Camo Varminter.

I have had more that one person tell me that the Trolling Motors that you can order from Walmart.com don't have the same quality that the ones you buy from Basspro, etc. Sort of like they were the blems or quality rejects from the factory. Has anyone else heard this? I find it hard to believe and I am getting ready to buy a 40 lb Powerdrive for $350 from Walmart, but I just want to make sure.

Andy

two things to say...

market control and buying power.

I have also heard that walmart will go to a manufacturer and tell them we want to sell your product, but we won't pay more than x dollars, but we will buy y of them.  Making money on sheer quantity.  I ordered the motor last night.

I have also heard that walmart will go to a manufacturer and tell them we want to sell your product, but we won't pay more than x dollars, but we will buy y of them.  Making money on sheer quantity.  I ordered the motor last night.

Wal-mart isn't the only big box retailer that does that though they were one of the first big enough to have that kind of clout.

Just like all chain stores not all of them carry the same models of a particular product; we don't carry the 3901, we do however carry the 390 and the A391 Xtrema2. I know this for a fact because I sold a 390 & an Xtrema2 last night.

:( :( :(our Walmart got rid of all the Guns :( :( :( :(