Minn Kota Ultrex Quest
If you haven’t heard, there’s a new Ultrex in town and it’s been designed from the ground up. It’s not really an Ultrex 2.0 but its own new machine called the Ultrex quest. I was able to get my hands on one and got it on the boat. You can do all the technical reading you want on it at Minn Kota’s website but I’m here to tell you about what stood out to me.
When I got it out of the box the first thing I noticed was the mount. It sure looked wider and I confirmed right away with a measuring tape. Immediately I had some concerns, was it going to fit my old mounting holes? Would it be too wide? Luckily there were no worries with either of those things. The footprint is less than an inch wider if I remember and all the old mounting holes line up. The new hardware it comes with is bigger at 5/16 but drilling out the holes was incredibly easy. I just put all my old bolts in and drilled out the holes one by one. It was really simple and rock solid when Trevor and I finished that. A couple things to note while installing the mount. If you want it to flip open or close all the way without the motor on. There is a stainless latch mechanism (old Ultrex one is pictured) that needs to be depressed to make it shut. Another thing is that there are 2 screws on the mount holding the end triangular piece on. I’d recommend backing those off just a bit to prevent scratching. They hang just a little bit below the mount when fully screwed in and can scratch your fiberglass if you slide them on the boat. Once it is mounted they overhang the boat so there are no concerns.
Picking up the motor itself there was no mistaking that it was heavier. Everything just seems stronger on it. The shaft is bigger and also has flat sides so when you mount your MEGA Live it points in the right direction. The motor also comes with a new MEGA Live mount to accommodate the larger shaft. The motor actually comes with a lot of things. An ethernet cord for the motor itself, a remote, any cables you might need to adapt to a helix both for sonar and ethernet. So when you buy one it takes the guesswork out of what cables you might need and that was really convenient. Speaking of cables one thing that is awesome about this motor is that there is no plastic piece to hold them into the head of the trolling motor. If you’ve had an Ultrex you’ve likely lost that plastic piece at least once! Another common Ultrex issue was the plastic bushings in the mount. I see a lot more metal in there and it seems really strong. My motor has no wiggle at all.
Now to the motor itself, it has a touch more thrust at 115lbs but it is brushless. That’s a huge advantage over the brushed Ultrex. It is more efficient so you’ll get more run time but also more torque. It is also going to last a lot longer than a brushed motor especially if you fish a lot and run them hard. There’s also 2 props that come with it an open water power prop and a weed prop. I know the weed prop will live on mine most of the year but I do have the power prop on for Lake Charlevoix. I will recommend that you get an extra prop pin and nut incase something happens and everything falls off the motor. I’ve always carried a spare prop anyway so I had that stuff on hand.
I even got a few hours to test it out. The first thing I noticed was how quiet the motor is. Stealth mode is engaged for sure. The power was also there, It was a really calm day and I could get going 3.9 mph on the trolling motor. The feature where it automatically positions itself to stow was also really nice as was being able to use the pedal to mark a waypoint. Stowing and deploying the motor was easier with 2 gas pistons on the mount. They also mounted up to the mount easier than the previous version Ultrex gas piston. There’s also the techy stuff like being able to monitor your battery levels on your Humminbird units. I think that is incredibly important especially with running lithiums because when they die, they die. However with some warning and the eco mode that the ultrex is capable of it could for sure save someones day.
I’m excited to see what this thing can do with a few full days on the water. I’d encourage anyone to stop by the boat and check it out at the D&R Classi or if you for sure want to see it just get a hold of me before hand and I’ll make sure to meet up while we are up there!