Garmin Force Trolling Motor

[SteveTX]

Anyone see these? I just saw the YouTube video it appears to be built to compete in the Ultrex level?



I have read

The Force trolling motor will be unveiled Wednesday to Friday at the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades in Orlando and will be commercially available in August for $3,099.99 and $3,199.99, depending on the motor's size.

That is a little steep for me but it is retail and we all know sales etc can help.

[Princeton_Man]

That had kind of dropped off my radar. I remember seeing some of the chatter about it back around January. Thought it originally had some ties with Motorguide, don't know if it's related or not now. Full interfacing with Garmin graphs is a really big plus. Don't know it that plus will bring the extra $$ in though.

[SteveTX]

Yeah having a Garmin unit it caught my attention. Then I saw the $    I know you have to pay to play but my goodness. Some of this stuff is getting absurd.

Its like cell phones over $1000 for a phone and because people pay it they continue to go up in price.

[Princeton_Man]

Yeah having a Garmin unit it caught my attention. Then I saw the $    I know you have to pay to play but my goodness. Some of this stuff is getting absurd.

Its like cell phones over $1000 for a phone and because people pay it they continue to go up in price.

I lot of guys are doing what I did and adding a bird in addition to their Garmins. By the time you add a bird to the Ultrex you're pretty much at three bills.

[Princeton_Man]

Here's one with our old buddies in the video.

[SteveTX]

I lot of guys are doing what I did and adding a bird in addition to their Garmins. By the time you add a bird to the Ultrex you're pretty much at three bills.

Definitely see other options as well. Who knows it will be a year or two before I will be buying so by then who knows.

[Princeton_Man]

Definitely see other options as well. Who knows it will be a year or two before I will be buying so by then who knows.

I'm reading some intriguing stuff. They say it's wireless foot control feels like a cable steer. With just two AA batteries, there can't be any feedback but if it's proportional that's still a win over most other wireless controllers.

[SteveTX]

I'm reading some intriguing stuff. They say it's wireless foot control feels like a cable steer. With just two AA batteries, there can't be any feedback but if it's proportional that's still a win over most other wireless controllers.

I saw where they kept saying how quiet it was. Seems they were pretty intent on it being quiet in the water and out. I like that.

Oh and the 2AA batteries suppose to last a year in there also I read. 

[Princeton_Man]

Here's one more story I found.

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[Princeton_Man]

Does anyone know if these are being built here in the US?

[Smallie_Stalker]

All the hub-bub says Lowrance is debuting one too at ICAST.  Interesting stuff.

[Princeton_Man]

All the hub-bub says Lowrance is debuting one too at ICAST.  Interesting stuff.

https://www.lowrance.com/ghost-trolling-motor/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ghostlaunch&_cldee=amltLmxhbmdyaWRnZUBqbGFuZ3JpZGdlLmNvbQ%3d%3d&recipientid=contact-31ab9d5367c24845a96d82364e8f1405-63bde1a6ac3847818aeefe935bf406b4&esid=59a015df-86a2-e911-a97f-000d3a33085c
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[SteveTX]

Does anyone know if these are being built here in the US?

Taiwan like all the Garmin products is what I was told when I asked.

[Oldfart9999]

I just hope it forces everybody to drop their prices a bit.
Rodney

[Princeton_Man]

I just hope it forces everybody to drop their prices a bit.
Rodney

Don't see that happening with these new high end TMs. They're going to be like Talons and PowerPoles for quite a while.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Don't see that happening with these new high end TMs. They're going to be like Talons and PowerPoles for quite a while.

^^ This ^^ these new high end TM's have a pretty steep price tag. The new Garmin from what I've seen are going for 3k. 

[Bud Kennedy]

This whole market place for fishing equipment seems to have found a niche to be away from the pressures of market pricing.  Obviously as long as we are willing to buy these products then prices will stay high and the profits will be used in development of the next generation of products.  This kind of stuff is not important to me as a simple local angler but the tournament folks might see benefit and return to their needs. 

The company that provides the entire liked system will be the one who will dominate.  The connection with sonar tools with their trolling motors is certainly a technology advancement.  I submit that it is not the hardware that we are paying for but the software.  The competitive market demands continuous improvement in imaging quality and sensitivity.  The interplay with gps and related maping systems along with digital processing certainly requires constant development.  These costs are then passed along in the product costs.

Just considere what the market has demanded for boats over the past 20 years.  Things once the domain of the local dealer are now factory provided and have cut deep into the profit structure of the dealership.  Just add up all the goodies we have demanded and price them separately and I believe it will suggest that overall boat pricing has been fairly constant but the doo dads have escalated dramatically over the years.  It also appears to be the same scenario with outboard motors. Makes one wonder what keeps driving these prices of the new motors.  Is it also the impact of technology and integral systems now resident within the motor product.  Heck I recall two years ago I wanted to repower and went to four local marine dealers.  Not a one of these dealers could give me a bottom line price proposal....Not One...I was so frustrated and certainly did not want to put a blank check on the table to make a purchase.  For the most part dealers have lost their capability to handle re power situations in most cases and they certainly have no technical capabilities that are not the result of a computer diagnosis.   Oh yeah the other thing is that none of them could estimate what gauges needed to be changed.  They could do it but they could not put a price to it until the job was finished.

[ring fry]

This trolling motor is the real deal.  I've had one on the boat since early March.  It is sooo quiet, the wireless foot control is amazing.  If you were blindfolded, you'd swear it was cable steering.  Same trolling motor can be used for 24 or 36 volt without changing any wiring or any switches.  I've had an 80# Fortrex on my boat the last several years and this 80# rated motor will run circles around the Fortrex.  Fast and powerful.

SE Kansas grass grower

[Oldfart9999]

This whole market place for fishing equipment seems to have found a niche to be away from the pressures of market pricing.  Obviously as long as we are willing to buy these products then prices will stay high and the profits will be used in development of the next generation of products.  This kind of stuff is not important to me as a simple local angler but the tournament folks might see benefit and return to their needs. 

The company that provides the entire liked system will be the one who will dominate.  The connection with sonar tools with their trolling motors is certainly a technology advancement.  I submit that it is not the hardware that we are paying for but the software.  The competitive market demands continuous improvement in imaging quality and sensitivity.  The interplay with gps and related maping systems along with digital processing certainly requires constant development.  These costs are then passed along in the product costs.

Just considere what the market has demanded for boats over the past 20 years.  Things once the domain of the local dealer are now factory provided and have cut deep into the profit structure of the dealership.  Just add up all the goodies we have demanded and price them separately and I believe it will suggest that overall boat pricing has been fairly constant but the doo dads have escalated dramatically over the years.  It also appears to be the same scenario with outboard motors. Makes one wonder what keeps driving these prices of the new motors.  Is it also the impact of technology and integral systems now resident within the motor product.  Heck I recall two years ago I wanted to repower and went to four local marine dealers.  Not a one of these dealers could give me a bottom line price proposal....Not One...I was so frustrated and certainly did not want to put a blank check on the table to make a purchase.  For the most part dealers have lost their capability to handle re power situations in most cases and they certainly have no technical capabilities that are not the result of a computer diagnosis.   Oh yeah the other thing is that none of them could estimate what gauges needed to be changed.  They could do it but they could not put a price to it until the job was finished.

It will force the MK and MG to up their game more causing an increase in costs, the upshot is that those looking for a reasonablely priced TM will be left behind or forced to buy something with far more capability at much higher cost than they need, it's been happening with sonar/GPS/mapping, thankfully Lowrance has been doing something about it, more than the others I think. I just hope they can figure out how to make the "little" guy happy with a quality product as well as the tourement guy by offering quality products that don't have all the bells and whistles the average guy doesn't need.
Rodney

[Princeton_Man]

I agree with you Rodney. Brushless motors will surely be soon to come on MK and MG. $$