North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

I have the 80lb motorguide on my 6m and it works perfectly. Deepblack Mk was always Frustrating.
You hit spot lock and take a minute to lock on. By then your gone off the spot or in the bank

The MG grabs instantly and is awesome with the jog feature.

Hi bigjig, what type and size of boat? Thanks.

I have the 12v 50 mg and it's been great on my 5 metre Savage

Used it a heap over the last couple of months, spot lock is great as well as the recorded track function

Has anyone had any problems with their motorguide not picking up the gps signal? Everything else working fine and batteries fully charged. Used spot lock at the daly, next morning got up and won't find a signal.

I hooked my new motorguide up and synced it to the remote and had it working then put it in the shed. Went to shoal bay a week later and it wouldn't power up. Took it back and apparently needs a new circuit board. Hopefully it's fixed tomorrow and I can finally try it out

Blew my motorguide up last.month.
Water got into the motor and fried it. Also took out the board, but it's all sorted and I get it back tomorrow under warranty

Didn't CC take a MG Xi5 for winning Seadogs last year? Any chance of a personal review Cuddles?

Sounds like some issues with the motorguides durability starting to pop up. This is a good thread glad people are being honest about their purchases. I was considering a motorguide next due to the better "spotlock" and other feutures, but my MinnKota is still going strong after 3 years of abuse. I think I will wait a while to see how the motorguides go over the next 12 months.

I'm in the same boat MP, not far off pulling the trigger on a 105lb MG, might wait a little longer now.

Tried my motorguide out on Saturday for the second time and it was spinning in reverse and wouldn't pick up the gpsso dropped it back to get fixed again. Pick it up tomorrow so hopefully third time lucky

NBN wrote:Didn't CC take a MG Xi5 for winning Seadogs last year? Any chance of a personal review Cuddles?

Wont say it has been perfect. I had an issue with the first control I had. Took it back and straight swapped no questions asked under warranty. Awesome service thank you Micheal. It has been good since then. I had issues with it loosing GPS but found that some of my wiring had corroded and the connection on the battery wasn't great as well as the control issue. Once sorted no dramas since.

All in all pretty happy with it but haven't had a super amount of use yet (been using the bigger boat Lately). I think the concept is great and the reliability will get better as I have heard of one or two little issues here and there as mentioned in other posts above, not a lot though. I have heard of just as many with the other electric brand.
I know they are far more accurate on spot lock and far more responsive when given a command. If I was to buy one a would wait a little and see what else happens and then I would be all over them if they hold up. Hopefully some of the teething issues will be sorted by then. In any case the boys at IN and Outboard have been straight onto any problem I have encountered so far. On another positive they can repair the motor here in Darwin if they have to unlike Minn Kota that has to be sent away.

So all in all I like the motor and the idea of local service and repairs available.

If I had one thing to say to any one buying an electric is always put one on that has more thrust than thought required. When fishing our big rivers the extra thrust is a god send. I have used both MK and MG and think the same about both of them. A mate put the 80lb on his 4.5m and it hoots. Another one has the 55lb and it holds but struggles to do so.

Thx CC. Always going to be some teething problems with 1st Gen gear. But if MG are serious about this market (and I believe they are) one would expect Rolls Royce service and backup from day dot. I agree, if you don't desperately need one at present (but lets be honest we all need a new toy...) it may be worth waiting for 2nd Gen or 1st Gen II.

The Jog Feature is of particular interest; how do you find this feature? Apparently shifts in 1.5m increments, is this accurate in your experience?

In my experience fishing a few comps like the Classic (as casters) demonstrates how the electric pilot generally achieves a lower catch rate simply due to less lure time in the water. Any improvement in re-positioning and control efficiency would be most welcomed.

Haven't paid that much attention to the jog feature to be honest. I use it but pay more attention to my fishing surrounds then the electric. Probably would be right though. I guess this is a major function for the classic as you cant sit idle. Am I correct in saying you wouldn't be able to use spot locks? Maybe the Minn Kota would be better because it does a circle in a 5m radious (literally) for its spot lock. lol

re: Classic, spot lock is fine just no physical tie up or anchoring.

I may have misunderstood the Jog feature. I thought it could be used as a one off adjustment (1.5m) in any direction? So rather than sever your GPS link it simply resets the anchor (pin point) position? I see it being very handy when you need to access a different part of a snag/bank or retrieve path. Sure you can do it with the MK but it can be problematic with flow/tide/wind/wake etc. A small correction or re-positioning (one push of the button) of that magnitude (1.5m) would be perfect. Anything that frees up the controller for another 100 casts for the day is worthwhile. For example, last year on the 4th and 5th days there were 3 teams anchored (spot lock) at Elizabeth. We were literally bow to stern. We had a 30-45 minute window for metery caos around 2 hrs into the run-out. During this time to prevent collision we had one team member fending off the other boat/s and the controller probably lost 15 - 20 casts attempting to re-position....bring on jog!

ok. I have never looked into that. I guess there are 100 little things that you can do if you read the manual.

Im not that technical savvy so I keep fishing as simple as possible. If there are three boats there I tend to go find fish in other places. If I was there first I would tell the others to move on just a little to not collide with my boat. After that its there problem and I would just send them the damage bill.

I guess that is probably the difference between the really good fisherman and myself. They can learn all the technical gear (and afford to install it) and use it to there advantage. I'm still left in the dark ages reading water conditions by eye and basic sounder readings to get info on where a fish may be holding. I reckon they should make a comp with no modern technology and see how many fish people get. I might then have a chance.