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Posts: 1023
| I am getting a new motor next Spring. Can't decide between Ultrex or Terrova.
It all comes down to the pedal. Not sure I will lovebirds the Terrova pedal but it is time tested and proven reliable. Love the look of the Ultrex but worried about new tech glitches.
Opinions????? |
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Posts: 1675
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | My thought is go with the terrova. If the pedal goes, a replacement is about $100. I personally like that I can move the terrova pedal to allow me to position myself differently depending on how rough the water is. |
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Posts: 860
Location: NE Ohio | fished my ultrex all year averaged 6 days per week, 7 hrs per day, from april through october. NOT one issue, and i love the motor. one item i wish they would change is the size of the pedal, its on the large side. but i use the remote most of the time so its not and issue for me. but if you like the cable type steering of electrics you'll love it.
if you like the terrova style of motor it has the same features of the ultrex i'd upgrade to the ulterra. lots of people on here love them and the self deploy and retract. do some searches, lots of good info in them. |
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Posts: 1638
Location: Minnesota | I have a terrova it's nice next spring I'm selling it and getting the ulterra |
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Posts: 26
Location: Foley, Mn | Baught an Ulterra this spring. Great motor no problems, would never think of another terrova. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | Ulterras are great overall. I have had one 2 seasons...it went down on me both times in 30 or so degree weather. I kept my Terrova on the same quick release plate and have it ready to slide on when the Ulterra goes down. That said I have a ton of hours on the Ulterra and just know come November to put the Terrova back on... |
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Posts: 1023
| Thanks guys.
I am not including the Ulterra on my short list due to the cold wether deploy issues some have had.
Leaning towards blue tooth Terrova or may gamble on the Ultrex as it looks amazing |
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Posts: 5
Location: Mid Michigan | Since Ulterra keeps coming up I think this is worth mentioning. This spring my Ulterra would not stow correctly on the water. The manual stow procedure isn't terribly difficult, but if the waster was rough I could see it being a bit daunting. Basically involves taking some screws out and securing the motor with a Velcro strap. I had already tried to troubleshoot mine on the water. I called Minn Kota support when I got home and described the issues. The support engineer said there were some magnets that could fall off which caused the head to lose it's orientation, which was likely what I was experiencing. On disassembly there was a magnet that had fallen off that was attracted to one of the nuts. The support engineer said in early models these were glued, but later models there is a bracket for them. Mine was an early model. It was 2 years and a day past when the unit was delivered, but lucky for me Minn Kota still serviced it for no charge. I still had to drive an hour each way to drop it off and pick it up. I was also lucky to have a V1 PowerDrive I could throw on while the Ulterra was in the shop.
That's the only big issue I've had with the Ulterra, although a couple times it has cost me time to go through reset procedures on the water. Its also helped me put some nice fish in the boat that maybe I would not have if I was fighting to stay on location.
I do love my Ulterra when its working and would never buy a trolling motor without spot lock in the future, but I'm not sure the stow and deploy is worth the hassle. If I had to do it over again, Ultrex with iPilot Link hands down.
(2017-04-25 13.05.31.jpg)
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 2017-04-25 13.05.31.jpg (52KB - 461 downloads)
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Location: Contrarian Island | what is the reset procedure? If I did it over I'd go with another Ulterra 100% .. when fishing big water, running and gunning, in big waves, not having to deal with going up on the bow to put it in, take it out is a back saver over the course of a long weeks trip...as long as they make them, I'll have an Ulterra on my boat
Edited by BNelson 11/29/2017 11:42 AM
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Posts: 5
Location: Mid Michigan | Reset procedure is described here: https://www.minnkotamotors.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=3473
I agree, in big waves its awesome, I'm throttling up as soon as its leaves the water. Who knows, I might have got a lemon. I bought mine that first winter they were available and from the support techs comments, it sounds like Minn Kota further refined them. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | I had the magnet update done to mine too.. thanks for the link!
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Posts: 133
| Absolutely love my ulterra... My question is with the ultrex do you have to keep your foot on it like the old cable drive trolling motors. Because I have used like a fortrex before and that part of cable drive system I absolutely hated and it boggles my mind why anyone would use a cable drive |
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Posts: 134
| Thuawk - 12/1/2017 9:03 PM
Absolutely love my ulterra... My question is with the ultrex do you have to keep your foot on it like the old cable drive trolling motors. Because I have used like a fortrex before and that part of cable drive system I absolutely hated and it boggles my mind why anyone would use a cable drive
You have to keep your foot on it just as much as a terrova, I always ran regular cable as the terrova/ap/ all power steer were always to slow turning for fishing around structure. Plus with those you had to physically look at the head to figure out what direction the trolling motor was pointing. I can run a cable steer all by feel of which way the pedal is pointed. I switched to an ultrex early this spring, and absolutely love it!
~Ultrex positives:
Stows and deploys better than terrova
can use external transducer and hydrowave as only turns 380deg
has the pedal response so can run by feel
no super long shaft to worry about bouncing all over, self contained with bounce support
No cold weather deploy/stow issues
~Terrova positives:
?
?
~Ulterra Positives:
Deploys and stows electrically
Electric height adjustment
Edited by BBT 12/2/2017 10:11 AM
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Location: Green Bay, WI | Ranger Cup boats now have the Ulterra, so I'm pretty stoked to get the auto-deploy function. Glad to hear that they've gotten the issues worked out, as I'd heard there were a few problems earlier this year...or from late last year.
TB |
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Posts: 1023
| Thanks to the guys who commented on the Ultrex and Terrova.
I appreciate your opinions. |
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Posts: 479
Location: Northern Illinois | This was my first year with the Terrova and I loved using the foot pedal. But I guess I don't understand the concept of always keeping my foot on it. I seldom had my foot on it except for making adjustments: on-off, steer. In fact the reason I went away from cable drive and started using a PD was the inconvenience of my foot being tied to the pedal. Everyone has their own preference, obviously, but for me there are lots of positives using the Terrova starting with the flexibility of being able to move around while controlling the boat. |
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Posts: 546
Location: MN | Thuawk - 12/1/2017 9:03 PM
Absolutely love my ulterra... My question is with the ultrex do you have to keep your foot on it like the old cable drive trolling motors. Because I have used like a fortrex before and that part of cable drive system I absolutely hated and it boggles my mind why anyone would use a cable drive
No, when you take your foot off Ultrex's foot pedal, the motor head remains pointed in the direction you left it last. You can take your foot off the pedal, even in
"constant on," without the need for readjustment. |
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Posts: 1023
| Well I am now gonna buy a new motor and like the ultrex the best.
I am worried that the mounting bracket is gonna be too big for my cresginer Fish Hawk 1600’s small triangular mounting area.
Anyone out there put this motor on a smaller deep v??
If it won’t fit I will just go with the terrova Ipilot link |
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Posts: 546
Location: MN | deadbeef - 11/29/2017 11:33 AM
Since Ulterra keeps coming up I think this is worth mentioning. This spring my Ulterra would not stow correctly on the water. The manual stow procedure isn't terribly difficult, but if the waster was rough I could see it being a bit daunting. Basically involves taking some screws out and securing the motor with a Velcro strap. I had already tried to troubleshoot mine on the water. I called Minn Kota support when I got home and described the issues. The support engineer said there were some magnets that could fall off which caused the head to lose it's orientation, which was likely what I was experiencing. On disassembly there was a magnet that had fallen off that was attracted to one of the nuts. The support engineer said in early models these were glued, but later models there is a bracket for them. Mine was an early model. It was 2 years and a day past when the unit was delivered, but lucky for me Minn Kota still serviced it for no charge. I still had to drive an hour each way to drop it off and pick it up. I was also lucky to have a V1 PowerDrive I could throw on while the Ulterra was in the shop.
That's the only big issue I've had with the Ulterra, although a couple times it has cost me time to go through reset procedures on the water. Its also helped me put some nice fish in the boat that maybe I would not have if I was fighting to stay on location.
I do love my Ulterra when its working and would never buy a trolling motor without spot lock in the future, but I'm not sure the stow and deploy is worth the hassle. If I had to do it over again, Ultrex with iPilot Link hands down.
The sensor magnets falling out of place was an issue that affected Gen 1 Ulterra motors and was resolved by Minn Kota soon after. Not to worry, the Bluetooth models have not been affected by this issue. |
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Posts: 546
Location: MN | Thuawk - 12/1/2017 9:03 PM
Absolutely love my ulterra... My question is with the ultrex do you have to keep your foot on it like the old cable drive trolling motors. Because I have used like a fortrex before and that part of cable drive system I absolutely hated and it boggles my mind why anyone would use a cable drive
No, unlike the other cable-steer motors, the Ultrex motor remains pointed in the direction you leave it, whether the prop is on or off. This also means that that the motor does not send torque back into the pedal, making it very easy and providing a consistent effort to steer the Ultrex. |
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