I love my 1992 stratos 201 but Im not gonna keep it forever, but in the meantime I wanna better trolling motor then the original OMC that's on there now. I think its a 55 pound thrust and my boat is 20 feet long. I don't wanna get something too nice incase I sell the boat after this summer. I would hate to give away a thousand dollar trolling motor with it.

So I been looking at the minn kota edge, maxxum and powerdrive as well as the motorguides. I was thinkin of gettin a 70 pound thrust since I can get one on ebay for around 550 bux. Ebay has by far the best deals on trolling motors from what I have seen.  An 80 pound is a big price jump. I do fish tidal rivers and in rough conditions sometimes, not quite like Lake Erie tho.

How much of a difference would an 80 pound make over a 70 ? And how much better is a maxxum then an edge model ? How does the powerdrive compare ? And is one brand really better then the other or is along the lines of daiwa vs. shimano ? Also I notice most of the powerdrives on ebay are 54 inch shaft, will that be too long ? I do fish alot of shallow weedy water , sometimes less then 2 feet deep. I have e tendency to bump the shaft into rocks and stumps too, the potomac river is full of them. So what should I do ? Thanks in advance .

Go for the Maxxum! They are tough I had one! A 24 volt 65 lb thrust, on your boat i'd go with at least a 70 lb! Junebugman

Go with the Maxxum digital model and you will never regret it.  I went from an Edge to a Maxxum and the infinitely variable speed control is fabulous.

I love the Powerdrive v2. It has a life time warranty on the carbon shaft. Which should take the bumping of rocks and stuff better anyway.

The auto-pilot function is awesome. Just set your angle and speed down the shoreline and hit the auto pilot button and fish. The T/M does the rest. I highly recommend it.