I’m making last selections for my new boat and I’m trying to decide what trolling motor to put on the bow. Between the Power Drive and Maxxum which do you think would be better slipping the current?
Any advice would be appreciated.
I don’t know that one is really better than the other. In my opinion it comes down to the motor style / foot control style that you prefer. If you’re a cable steer guy, the Maxxum is your obvious choice. If you prefer the power drive, then I would recommend the Terrova. Have you owned or used either motor style in the past?
James hit the nail on the head. It depends on your style of fishing. I am big into vertical jigging and dragging baits and I started out with a PD and upgraded to a Maxxuum and absolutely love it. The response time on the Maxxuum beats the PD all to heck. If your style doesn’t keep you constantly in contact with your troller then you may not be happy with the Maxxuum. For me and my style the Maxxuum is the ticket—and hopefully the occasional tourney check 
Either sitting in a chair or standing up use your dominate foot to:
Cable Steer: rock your foot from your toes to your heel. Go back and forth several times.
Power Drive: now rock your foot from left to right several times.
Which movement felt more comfortable to you? Remeber you may be doing this for 8-10 hours when fishing. Having to rock my foot from side to side used to drive me nuts controlling a power drive. After 3-4 hours my foot would be telling me let’s go home!
I have a Terrova with Auto Pilot and Remote. The Terrova has a bigger pedal and is much easier to operate. With this I can set up above the wing dam and hold in the current and slip in or out to shoreline maintaining my position with my remote that allows me to adjust my slip and speed with the remote. Works like charm for me.
Quote:
Either sitting in a chair or standing up use your dominate foot to:
Cable Steer: rock your foot from your toes to your heel. Go back and forth several times.
Power Drive: now rock your foot from left to right several times.
Which movement felt more comfortable to you? Remeber you may be doing this for 8-10 hours when fishing. Having to rock my foot from side to side used to drive me nuts controlling a power drive. After 3-4 hours my foot would be telling me let’s go home!
The Terrova (power drive) allows you to choose… forward / back or side to side.
One other thing to consider. With a cable drive, the pedal cannot be removed and stored. Always on the deck. The Powerdrive allows you to disconnect the pedal and store when not in use.
-J.
Quote:
I have a Terrova with Auto Pilot and Remote. The Terrova has a bigger pedal and is much easier to operate. With this I can set up above the wing dam and hold in the current and slip in or out to shoreline maintaining my position with my remote that allows me to adjust my slip and speed with the remote. Works like charm for me.
This is the same as my setup, I like the auto pilot for slipping too, far from perfect in current, but it buys you some time between corrections, Though I really like the co-pilot remote, I don’t tend to use it for slipping much, because speed control isn’t fine enough (for me anyways) I had a cable drive couldn’t stand it on the river in current you are completely tied to the motor, I remeber I couldn’t get my own bait 
in some real current.
And Jon has a very valid point, the pedal is always there with a cable drive.
I probably have the only Maxxuum with autopilot(or is it Auto-boy ) but when he leaves for Basic Wednesday I may not be nearly as happy when I am running the controls 
Quote:
One other thing to consider. With a cable drive, the pedal cannot be removed and stored. Always on the deck. The Powerdrive allows you to disconnect the pedal and store when not in use.
-J.
One more thing to note, with the power drive you don’t have to be in the front of the boat to run the motor, you can move he pedal all around the boat, or you can get the co-pilot wireless remote as well.
Jami
Thanks everyone. After reading I think the Power Drive with AP could be a better option for what I need. Thanks again!
Either will work as long as you get a motor that has enough thrust. For the river, I would suggest you get an 80-pounder. Keep in mind that there is a $100 rebate on the Terrova until 07/01/09. That rebate makes the Terrova an even better option. And the autopilot is a really nice feature for slipping current under most conditions. With the autopilot feature, you can really let the motor do most of the work while you enjoy fishing.
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