Customer Reviews

Johnson Outdoors MinnKota E-Drive Primary Propulsion Electric Motor

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Do yourself a favor and buy an outboard motor. This unit has been nothing but trouble. The Main board has "burned" three times in three years and had to be replaced. The first two times it was covered by the waranty, now the third time it costs $735 dollars since Minn Kota changed the throtle design and you now need to install a conversion kit. Minn Kota is not what it used to be and I'm very disappointed in this product. To me, it appears they have a design flaw and are attempting to fix it by a redesign and are charging their customers way too much. I dont understand why they cannot repair a product that cost nearly 3K for a reasonale price. I expected many years of trouble free service, however, I've experienced nothing but grief due to the yearly repairs and very very expensive repairs. Again, very poor reliability, I average about 100 hours of use before the the main board burns and is destroyed.

This motor is a bit pricey but probably worth it. It is reasonable easy to install. The wiring and controls are well thought out. It preforms well. The one unexpected cost that I did not forsee was the need of a new battery charging system. I went from a 24 volt system which used a 2 bank charger to this new 48 volt system which requires a 4 bank charger.

I bought a Torqeedo Cruise 4.0 last spring, used it 3 times and the gear drive broke, used it about another dozen times and it broke again 2 weeks ago. So I took if off my 14' pontoon and replaced it with a MinnKota E-drive. Based upon very early impressions of the MinnKota, here is my comparison. The MinnKota is noticably heavier (100# shipping weight vs an estimated 60# on the Torqeedo), which is of some concern given I already have 4 heavy batteries on the back of the pontoon. The MinnKota is totally silent in the water, while the Torqeedo had a whine that increased with speed (even with the whine it is much quieter than a gas engine.) The MinnKota has an aluminum prop which cuts through any weeds, while the Torqeedo has a plastic prop that I was always cleaning the weeds off. The Torqeedo 4.0 definitely has more power, although I don't think the gap is nearly as large as the stated HP ratings suggest(MinnKota states 2hp and Torqeedo states 8/9.9hp.) One day (before the Torqeedo broke) I towed a dead 20' pontoon boat (they ran out of gas) back to their dock with NO problems. Based upon information I was able to dig up online, the Minnkota uses half the amps of the Torqeedo, which would suggest that it is half the hp of the Torqeedo. It also means the batteries should last twice as long with the MinnKota. I prefer the MinnKota battery gauges as they are simpler because they are preset for 105amp batteries, while the Torqeedo gauges are programmable for any size battery. Mechanically, the biggest difference is that the Torqeedo uses some gears to increase its efficiency, while the MinnKota has the prop on on motor shaft. The Torqeedo gears have been the weak spot for me, and the boat mechanic that installed the MinnKota for me said that at MinnKota school this spring they didn't talk much about the E-drive because "they have no problems with it." The only reason I deducted 1 star from rating of the MinnKota is that I would have liked to have a little more power.