Garmin Force?

[Travis Swift]

I love my force!  It's the best piece of hunting or fishing equipment I have ever bought in my opinion.  It will run my boat 4.7 MPH if I want it to and that's using it as 24 volts.  The best thing about the Force it's its Garmin and they have the best customer service anywhere this side of Chick Filet.  I broke something on it and it was 110% my fault and I told them so.  They said no problem sir we have a new piece on the way and it was overnighted to me free of charge!  They designed it so if something breaks that part can be easily replaced without taking the whole trolling motor off the boat, that's how their pro team wanted it.  I have NOTHING bad to say about the darn thing.  I run my pedal off of 2 AA batteries and those two will last you an entire year.  

[fishinwrench]

58 minutes ago, Travis Swift said:

They designed it so if something breaks that part can be easily replaced without taking the whole trolling motor off.

There's alot to be said for THAT.   Those hinge bushings on the MK mounts are a PIA ! 

They do give you plenty of warning before they go out completely though, so if one goes out and ruins your day.....it is definitely YOUR fault. 

[Bill Babler]

There is no better GPS lock as far as immediate, quiet and dead balls On than the Motor Guide. No one has even came close and its been that way. for the last 10 years. 

I'm running full Garmin and its wonderful. The sheer power and speed are what makes it for me along with the complete ease of 1  finger retract and deploy.  Its also whisper quiet. 

It will skoot across a cove at 4 mph lugging the big Phoenix with me and 2 clients. Just have to remember to turn the power down so as not to buck the riders out once ya get there. 

Right now you can't go wrong with a Garmin, Lowrance or the new Motor Guide. 

That's all I have to say about that. 

[Ron Burgundy]

I own a Ultrex and a Force , Force is on the boat now. I like every thing about the Force other than the foot pedal is to narrow and that’s a problem when using Livescope I constantly hit buttons on the side such as spot , I emailed Garmin about the na rrow pedal and their response was we’ve had others complain about that also..... The other issue with my force is the spot lock is no where as accurate as the Ultrex is. Others seem to have a completely different opinion on this but on my boat that’s what I’ve experienced.  I’m running the Force on two lithium batteries and it’s unreal how many days they last before needing a charge . There has been problems with the Force but fortunately mine hasn’t had any. 
 

 

[bobby b.]

The Force is great for all the reasons given in this thread and other older post regarding Garmin.  The Force connects perfectly to the Garmin Chartplotters.  

If I had to say anything negative about the Force it would be:

• Although the anchor lock never disengages (like my MinnKota did) and holds position perfectly , for some reason when I engage the anchor lock the motor always backs up about 10 ft as if it was taking the GPS location of the Console chartplotter.
• Also I do not like the location of the power switch which is under the unit when the troller is stowed.  I use the trolling motor circuit breaker to turn the troller off and on which is located near the main battery switch in the rear of the boat.  Also I have it setup to auto turn off after 2 hours.

[Champ188]

I think what Wrench is saying is we have no evidence yet that any of the new entries (Garmin or Lowrance) will hold up under years of use. And for what they cost, they better last more than the standard-issue TM's of the past. Speaking of which, my 8-year-old 36v Fortrex continues to work as well as it did new. Wish I had switched from MG to MK way sooner than I did.  

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, Champ188 said:

I think what Wrench is saying is we have no evidence yet that any of the new entries (Garmin or Lowrance) will hold up under years of use. And for what they cost, they better last more than the standard-issue TM's of the past

Exactly.  Beginning about 2012 marine manufacturers started making things with certain cute little components that really can't be substituted (or at least not easily).  

We have 60k-70k boats out there with designer touch screen switch panels.  One switch goes out and the entire panel has to be replaced.   If you think that 10-12 years later that you'll be able to buy that goofyassed bean or teardrop shaped switch panel..... you're delusional.   One good smack with a 3/8 jig, and there goes that $2000.00 digital command center tachometer combo.   It's totally freakin' ignorant. 🙄

I can't wait to see the kinda afro-engineered crap that guy's come up with to keep all of this "limited edition" $#!t working 10-15 years down the road after getting replacement parts have become a joke.

[Dutch]

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

Exactly.  Beginning about 2012 marine manufacturers started making things with certain cute little components that really can't be substituted (or at least not easily).  

We have 60k-70k boats out there with designer touch screen switch panels.  One switch goes out and the entire panel has to be replaced.   If you think that 10-12 years later that you'll be able to buy that goofyassed bean or teardrop shaped switch panel..... you're delusional.   One good smack with a 3/8 jig, and there goes that $2000.00 digital command center tachometer combo.   It's totally freakin' ignorant. 🙄

I can't wait to see the kinda afro-engineered crap that guy's come up with to keep all of this "limited edition" $#!t working 10-15 years down the road after getting replacement parts have become a joke.

I looked at a $79,000 and an $85,000 Ranger today in Springfield at BPS.  The $85 looked close to what I would want but it had an Ultrex instead of an Ulterra on it.

[bobby b.]

1 hour ago, Dutch said:

I looked at a $79,000 and an $85,000 Ranger today in Springfield at BPS.  The $85 looked close to what I would want but it had an Ultrex instead of an Ulterra on it.

Are you saying you want the Ulterra?  I had one of those - I loved it, the automatic deploy because I'm old and lazy.  I switched to Garmin on my new Ranger because of the Live Scope and I wanted everything talking to everything else.  The Ulterra did not hold the anchor lock well and had some other issue but again I like the auto deploy.  I think Babler said that the Ulterra was " a bunch of parts trying to get away from each other" 😀  Very true.  Try the Force you will like it.  Easy deploy and stow even for an old fart like me.  If a person needs a setup that will never let them down while fishing, he better get a row boat.

[fozzype]

On 5/18/2021 at 9:36 AM, Travis Swift said:

I love my force!  It's the best piece of hunting or fishing equipment I have ever bought in my opinion.  It will run my boat 4.7 MPH if I want it to and that's using it as 24 volts.  The best thing about the Force it's its Garmin and they have the best customer service anywhere this side of Chick Filet.  I broke something on it and it was 110% my fault and I told them so.  They said no problem sir we have a new piece on the way and it was overnighted to me free of charge!  They designed it so if something breaks that part can be easily replaced without taking the whole trolling motor off the boat, that's how their pro team wanted it.  I have NOTHING bad to say about the darn thing.  I run my pedal off of 2 AA batteries and those two will last you an entire year.  

I agree with all Swift said.   I have had some issues with my Force and they sent me new stuff the next day.   I wouldn't have tried the first year model without their type of service.  

I have run all 3 brands quite a bit. (Not motorguide  which also is having a lot of issues with servo breaking cables)  Buy what you want..none are junk

So for FORCE

good:

I know 100% it is the most silet t motor out there.  Not even close for others to second (I have run them all). 

The thing will fly and more efficient during to brushless.

ZERO interference with ANY graph...only lowrance and garmin can actually say this..it's 50/50 on others.

Works with Garmin graphs and makes autopilot waypoint finding easy

BEST customer service 

Did I mention it's fast..21 ft fully loaded boat will do 4.3 mph

Best remote out there..not even close

Bad:

A little floppy when turning 

Had a few issues with foot pedal (replaced and new one is good)

Anchor lock is too close to pedal and my 14 size shoe hits it when I don't want to.

Take a while to get used to pedal and not as good as ultrex in tight spots