Andrew's Adventures

Broken MinnKota Foot Pedals

Mon, August 22, 2011

While fishing last week my 5th foot pedal in the last 3 years broke down on me. The good thing is that the directional buttons, the speed control and the autopilot still work. The bad, however is that the center momentary button always gives out. I hate relying on autopilot all day long when I like precise drifts and boat control.

I’ve tried cleaning it, taking it apart and tinkering around with it. I have no further ideas. It’s really annoying that it won’t work.

Now I have to cough up another $80 to get it replaced. 5th pedal. That’s about an average of $400 in broken foot pedals if you ask me. Half the value of the cost for my unit! Luckily for the past two years I was able to exchange the broken pedals for new at zero charge from Time on the Water Outdoors. That was during the winter time when I had 4 months of vacation to spare and wasn’t on a schedule. But during these summertime months I kinda need a new pedal ASAP so I’ve gotta go through with it on my own and get one fast before this upcoming weekend.

I’m sure that I’m not the only one with these problems.

I’m considering investing in a Copilot this winter so that these problems will be avoided in the future. Then use the pedal in a back-up role. But I like to keep things simple and manual.

I’m frustrated with MinnKota’s reluctance to improve the design and quality of the Powerdrive V2 foot pedal; The durability and even circuit boards. I know there have been several complaints filed with them. I know several other anglers who are experiencing these same problems. I think we should do something about it, because these broken foot pedals are simply a cheap way for MinnKota to hustle money from fishermen.

My unit ran w/ universal sonar nearly $800 when I bought it three years ago and for a decent product it shouldn’t have a foot pedal that is worth crap and stops working only after 30 days on the water. I’m sure the other models such as the Terrova, Fortrex, Edge and Maxxum never experience as many foot pedal problems as the Powerdrive does. Had I known about these junk pedals and the problems that would come with it I never would have bought the Powerdrive in the first place.

But when it works and doesn’t have troubles, it’s a great unit for me and my smaller boat. I run the 55pd w/ digital maximizer on a 12volt battery and gets me over a full day’s worth of power and use. It’s more than adequate enough for me when it actually works without problems like this.

Just venting some frustrations here. Something needs to happen. My wallet won’t cave in easily this time.

If I had to do it right now, I’d happily sell this Powerdrive and all of its problems in exchange for a significantly cheaper and simpler Maxxum or Edge but nobody wants broken goods like what I’m stuck with.

As for last week’s fishing report, I’ll have that up within a few days. I’ve got lots of catch-up work to do till then. Glad to see a lot of nice fishes being caught by everyone around here!

Comments