Well at the risk of this whole topic getting in to another motorguide minnkota argument, I want to start off saying Im not looking for a right answer here.  

If you read the "When Deer Fly" thread I posted today you'll see that I am going to have to buy a new trolling motor, and there are several applications when having a digital motor with remote are very necessary for me.  I had one of the first digital bowmounts motorguide came out with and it always did the job well.  Im now forced with the decision of getting the newest digital tour motorguide or switching brands to a minnkota.  Motorguide has received some bad reviews for their newer tour edition digital on BPS so its making me think harder than I wanted to.   Does anybody here have any experience with either MG or MK digital motors?  Could you give me some likes and dislikes of either brand? Do they still have the stow buttons and all of that?  Once again, Im not looking for a war of words between the two, just advice to help me make a more educated decision.  Thanks!

Is there a particular reason the damaged motor cannot be repaired or are you just wanting to get a new one anyway?

Kind of just a back up plan, but the old one is destroyed pretty badly and Im not sure I want to rely on a rebuilt motor in my tourneys.  There were gears, motors, belts, and all sorts of stuff strung out in my boat from it.  It also appears that some of the wiring down in it is sliced.  So Id imagine the repair bill will outstanding... but not sure yet.  Im pretty sure insurance has already opted to cover it though.  If they want to take it, fix it, and sell it... more power to them.

Kind of just a back up plan, but the old one is destroyed pretty badly and Im not sure I want to rely on a rebuilt motor in my tourneys. There were gears, motors, belts, and all sorts of stuff strung out in my boat from it. It also appears that some of the wiring down in it is sliced. So Id imagine the repair bill will outstanding... but not sure yet. Im pretty sure insurance has already opted to cover it though. If they want to take it, fix it, and sell it... more power to them.

My new boat came with the Motorguide digital tour edition. Its certainly a world better than the motor guide that was on my old boat. It was a new model, just not digital. The pedal is easy to use, and I really like the variable speed settings that you get with digital over the 5 speed selection my old one had.

I've never used a minnkota so I can't compare the two. BUt, thus far, I have no complaints regarding the motorguide. But to be honest, if I had to choose, I think I would go with the minnkota. I don't really know why I would choose that, but I think that's what I would choose. The minnkota pedal looks more substantial (for a lack of a better word) than the motorguide.

I am assuming that you are talking about the motors that are steered digitally as opposed to the steel cable pull/pull motors with battery saving devices called digitizers.

If so I had a digital Minn Kota 3 or so years ago and liked aspects of it.  Pros:  Intuitive steering.  Push right go right, Variable speed, small foot pedal, compact mount, easy to shorten the shaft.  Just pull out the two wires, cut, and reinsert the wires.  

Cons:  Turns way slower than a cabled pull/pull motor, the motor that turned the shaft made lots of noise and in my opinion it translated into vibration/noise under water,  annoying to stow and deploy.

I am sure that they are much easier to stow and deploy now.  They probably turn faster now and make less noise also.  When I bought a new motor for my big boat howerver, I purchased a traditonal cable pull/pull style trolling motor.  I will stick with this type untill I am convinced that the digital motors are much improved.

I have a MG Tour seire Digital TM, Its a 109# 36 volt, but its a cable steer not a power steering model. Ihave had it since 2005 and it has been great not one problem with it and I fish 100+days a year. Best TM I have used

*EDIT* Ya I guess saying digital really isnt that specific. Right now I am looking between the  MG digital steer series (what I had) and the MK Terrova I suppose. Roughly the same price. I am fairly familiar with MG, as I have had 3 now.

Anyone with newer Terrova experience?