Garmin Force trolling motor - pros and cons?

[buckcreekmike]

Hey fellas, maybe some of you that have a Garmin trolling motor could weigh in on any pros and cons they have experienced. Brother in law works for Garmin and can get one at a pretty good discount, but still $1,000 more than a basic cable steer model from the other guys.  
 

would be willing to buy one, but wanted to get any reviews I could from some who actually own one.  
 

Thanks 

[Travis Swift]

I love mine and have nothing bad to say about it.  Garmin is constantly listening to it's customers also and make any updates needed.  The spot lock feature was great but the head moved alot and it backed you up quite a ways before it locked in place but about 2 weeks ago an update came out (cause they listen) and it tamed the spot lock feature down a ton.  You 100% won't regret buying one, it's probably the best money i've ever spent on a piece of hunting or fishing equipment and i've spent a BUNCH thru the years.  

[rps]

Good motor. I am in the midst of diagnosing and curing a sudden movement issue. A service bulletin has come out. Other than that, top shelf.

Note, fished with a guide late June. the Lowrance Ghost was impressive too.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I really like mine my only complaint has been the spot lock isn’t as accurate as the Ultrex I have . Stabilizer bar will not lock in place that’s very irritating. I’d choose the Garmin  over the Ultrex . 

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

I just need to sit in front of my computer with one in my cart and drink a bottle of whiskey so i can finally just hit the buy button.  If i got one my electronics would be worth almost what i bought my boat for

 

[Travis Swift]

7 hours ago, Ron Burgundy said:

I really like mine my only complaint has been the spot lock isn’t as accurate as the Ultrex I have . Stabilizer bar will not lock in place that’s very irritating. I’d choose the Garmin  over the Ultrex . 

Have you done the latest update on the Force?  It was for the spot lock and now that i've done that update its money! 

 

[Bill Babler]

Had mine now going into the second year. Not a single problem and spot lock on mine perfect.
it’s great to be able to run across a cove at 4 mph instead of jumping down and starting the main motor.  
Whisper quiet and race car fast and it deploys and restows with 1 finger. 

[Seth]

The only thing you'll question when you buy is why you didn't do it sooner. Just having the ability to spotlock will put a big smile on your face! I love the Ultrex, but it doesn't hold a candle to the Force or Ghost in the power department. I ran a 36v Ghost in 15k CFS on Taneycomo earlier this year and the power difference compared to my 24v Ultrex was crazy. I'm sure the Force would do the same.

[Ron Burgundy]

4 hours ago, Travis Swift said:

Have you done the latest update on the Force?  It was for the spot lock and now that i've done that update its money! 

 

I have not.

[bobby b.]

There are lots of threads in this forum indicating all the positive aspects of the Force trolling motor and Garmin stuff in general including lots of positive comments from me.  However, yesterday I just found a big negative.  After reading the above comments I decided to do the latest updates on my graphs and troller.  The graphs are relatively easy and as usual the update worked just fine.  Although I have done updates on the Force a couple of times without incident, this time NOT SO.  After the update Active Captain  indicated that the new 4.0 version was on the motor, but the motor would not restart.  As indicated in previous threads, Garmin support is and was again excellent however the motor was totally  ruined in the update -the technical term is "bricked".  There is some indication that power to the motor was interrupted during the update.  Don't know.  According to the Garmin tech because I was going from 3.0 to 4.0 there is actually two upgrades involved which means that the "flashing lights"  on the troller needs to happen twice, once for each of the updates.  I saw the two sets of flashing lights and thought the process was done.

The good news is that Garmin is going to send me a new troller and since the troller was installed at the Ranger factory on my new boat and Ranger is an authorized "dealer" Garmin will pay for the installation work to be performed at Ulrich - also an authorized dealer.

So in summary, I still like all the Garmin stuff on my 2021 Ranger Z519 but the troller has been kinda of a pain with latch modifications, software upgrades.  Also I had previously posted a noise problem I was having with the Force.  Also I wonder how Garmin will handle this kind of issue in the future.  My motor is still under warranty - what if it was not - $3000 out of pocket for a new unit because of a software update issue.  Also the tech admitted that one of the Active Captain screen prompts is incorrect - telling the user to complete the software update using the Chartplotter which has nothing to do with it.

Note to self - PERFORM FORCE SOFTWARE UPDATES WITH THE GARMIN TECH ON THE PHONE so that if it goes south maybe they will pay for it even out of warranty.  Also look for an extended warranty.

Sorry for the rant but I won't be fishing for a couple weeks I guess.  Bo would have said I should have bought the Motorguide.

Bobby