Has anyone bought and used one of these new motors from Minn kota? They have a new "digial maximizer" in some models that supposedly increases the life of the battery by 5x.

I'm looking for a motor to throw on my canoe. I used a 55lb Endura last year, which draws too much battery power for what I need it for.

I'm just curious if this new feature really works, or if I should save the $ and just get the Endura.

thanks!

I use a 40 lb MK on my fishing kayak and a series 24 battery for juice. This keeps me going all day if I keep the speed down. The digital speed control really does increase the efficiency of the motor. I have checked mine out and it draws about 1/4 of the power at 3 mph using the digital throttle as compared to the 5/3 speed set up.

Your 50 lb motor is far more than you will ever need on a canoe, but it will not draw anymore current than a 30 or 40 when used on the same boat at the same speed. This is because they are all doing the same amount of work. I have made these measurements on my boat and was surprised at the results. The digital max will significantly extend the life of your battery, and you can always get exactly the speed you need.

Thank you so much for that extremely helpful info sneaker!  That's exactly what I wanted to hear.

Thanks again!

The maximizer is a pulse width modulator.  What this does is it turns on and off constintly to deliver the power to the motor.  The speed you set determines how fast the power is cycled.  The old style motors send full battery power constintly to the motor and regulate the speed with resistors.  So the maximizer is able to save power by cycling it on and off instead of constintly dumping it out.  

Tom D.