Anybody have any experience with the new wireless trolling motors?

An old MK Power drive I had became wireless just before it bounced off the deck and sank into the lake.

Best idea ever.  

I have a MK 55 with Co Pilot on it . It is a nice feature but takes some getting use to. Like most drive by wire things there is a delay in reaction time kind of like a digital camera vs a 35mm SLR. If I had to do it again I would have gotten the auto pilot for me I think it would have worked out better but you don't know until you try it . What do you want to know about them?

I have a MK Terrova... not technically wireless from the foot petal but it is digitally steered. I do have the co-pilot which makes it wireless controlled from the key fob. I like the motor alot. Alot of people will try to tell you that they turn real slow etc, but really the time it takes to turn it is only a smidgen slower. That shouldn't really be a factor if you don't let yourself get into dire situations in the first place. Stow and deploy on it is amazing, and I feel actually easier than my old MG tour with the cord.

It is nice when you want to troll and not have to hold down your petal. Mine also came with auto-pilot, which is great since you can just point your motor into the wind and it will hold the same course at whatever speed you dictate (great for fishing wind blow/choppy points or TM only lakes). You can also set it to cruise slowly down a strait bank and you barely have to pay attention to it. If you catch a fish, just hit one button and its off so you slow down. Just as rugged as any other motor, just a few more electronics that have the possiblility of going bad. Its been on there a year and I have yet to regret it.

O I forgot, MK is also comming out with GPS for these units.  They will supposedly be able to "hold" your boat within 5 ft of wherever you set it to....automatically.  Will also automatically re-trace your bread crumb trails etc.  Look out off shore fish!

I have one on the front of my Cat.    I like sitting at the console and using my big graph when I'm in search mode.  This allows me to do that.

   I have hand held and a wireless footcontroll.  I use the hand held controller more now than in the begining.    Found the best place to keep it was clipped to the front jean pocket,  and didn't take long to master.    

   I can run to the back of the boat to land fish, and still maintain positive controll of the boat from any where on the boat.

A hybrid unit, with a manual cable foot pedal and the remote powered steering would be an awesome trolling motor development.

A hybrid unit, with a manual cable foot pedal and the remote powered steering would be an awesome trolling motor development.

x2.... agreed

A hybrid unit, with a manual cable foot pedal and the remote powered steering would be an awesome trolling motor development.

x2.... agreed

Me too. That would be great. I often find myself in those "dire situations" where I have to pick up the motor a bit to get out of trouble. A cable control is the only thing that will work in this spot and the reason I took an older wireless unit off my boat.

"O I forgot, MK is also comming out with GPS for these units.  They will supposedly be able to "hold" your boat within 5 ft of wherever you set it to....automatically.  Will also automatically re-trace your bread crumb trails etc.  Look out off shore fish!"

Now THAT sounds cool. I would be interested though in how it does that. My concern would be what this thing was doing to my boat orientation in keeping that position. I cannot imagine that make it smart enough to realize which way your boat was pointing. I could see how that could be programmed though. It would be cool if it kept your boat position and orientation.

For personal reasons this thread is very timely.  I'm actively considering purchasing a MK Terrova with Autopilot and Universal Transducer.  Do you folks recommend the Co-Pilot wireless accessory?

A hybrid unit, with a manual cable foot pedal and the remote powered steering would be an awesome trolling motor development.

What would be awesome would be MK to refine the Power drive technology beyond what they've done over the past nearly 20 years.

Given the technological advancements in motors, I still can't believe they haven't been able to increase the head turning speeds of their motors to a level that at least comes close to approaching cable drives and that's the biggest thing keeping most bass fishermen from making the change to those type of motors.

They developed the Genesis motor a number of years ago.  It flopped but the concepts were revolutionary and needed refinement.  Had they worked harder on that motor it would be a standard on most bass boats today.  They seemed locked into selling to Walleye fishermen and the bass fishing market plays second fiddle.