Minn Kota from the US

[bassfan]

Fellow Ausfishers,

I'm looking at purchasing an 80lb i-pilot from the states and wondered whether anyone else on here had done so with the AUD currently so healthy. Freight & insurance is @ $430 but it should still get here for less than $2K which is a lot less than they cost to buy in Oz.
Anybody here done business with "Marine Deal" or recommend another a good supplier?

cheers

bassfan

[Stik-ugly]

Have you had a look at Cabelas and Bass pro they are very reputable companies

[Toddy_again]

Have you had a look at Cabelas and Bass pro they are very reputable companies


They wont ship motors over here.I tried 12 months ago.Actually I reckon you will be hard pressed to find anyone reputable in the US these days to ship a motor over here for a reasonable price.
I would say that these days there is a list of cans and can nots for shipping OS.

Toddy

[jighead]

G'day Bassfan
Also don't forget to add 10% gst for purchases over $1000
Cheers Mal

[Escape with LG]

Tackledirect mate john there is great to deal with!

[coastrunner]

Ebuyersworld.com are good to deal with...

[bassfan]

Thanks for those replies. Yep there are still a few US companies that will ship over here and freight is expensive, but I reckon you would save nearly $1000 by doing so compared to buying one in Australia. Of couse you could forget about warranty as it would cost too much to send back for repairs. Hmmmm what a dilemma....

bassfan

[selous]

You could use a freight forwarder like shipito.com or hopshopgo.com (there are others) which will give you a US address and have it shipped there. They then forward it to your Aust address.

Basspro charge 40% S&H on international orders, so even if they would ship it here, their postage is a killer.

A good site that ships internationally is Westmarine.com A Miin Kota RT70 costs USD$669 and shipping to Australia is $281.19 via Fedex. Didn't see an iPilot on the site but you could always contact them and see if they can get them.

As per an earlier post, ebuyersworld.com is also good.

[MattChew]

Hey mate, shop around a bit more ... I paid $2200 for my 80lb iPilot. One thing is pretty much guaranteed ... you will be making a warranty claim at some point, and also note that Minn Kota's warranty period is now only 2 years.

Ta
Matt

[bassfan]

Hey mate, shop around a bit more ... I paid $2200 for my 80lb iPilot. One thing is pretty much guaranteed ... you will be making a warranty claim at some point, and also note that Minn Kota's warranty period is now only 2 years.

Ta
Matt

Thanks Matt, did you get yours here in Aus for that price & if so may I ask where? Re: warranty claims, yeah I had my last Minn Kota back to BLA twice for repairs, but they were great & even fixed it for free when the 3 year warranty had expired. I was hoping the newer models had less issues but that was probably wishful thinking....;)

bassfan

[Stressless]

Being a gps, do they suffer from geofencing having been exported from USA??? Just a thought

[scrotty]

I was also wondering about Geofencing issues?

[myusernam]

Geofencing built into lowrance software. Not becissarily a GPS thing

[Stik-ugly]

Try Northland Marine in the US I have bought Minn Kota parts from them with out a problem

[chocolatemoose]

no love for AUS retailers. (thats another argument)
there ARE differences in gps systems to the northern hemisphere..... there was a delay in the release of the AUS JW watersnake GPS systems owing to GPS sattelite tracking for the southern hemisphere.. however i dont think there is much of an issue in the minnkota ipilot range "though some claim that spot lock is no better than 10mt radius"

[Finbar]

Hi, new member. Have been researching Minn Kota to suit salt and fresh fishing. Usually target whiting/calamari around St Leonards in Port Phillip bay, but also troll for trout in W. district lakes and Eucumbene. The Minn Kota ipilot ilink Saltwater Ulterra 60in leg 80lb thrust is the model that would best suit my needs. The current 2016 saltwater model has now been superseded in the US with improved GPS and sounder link features but according to Minn Kota Australia is unlikely to be released in Aust anytime soon.
The improvements provide better auto anchor, which would be a big plus, especially chasing whiting, no need to constantly drop and retrieve anchor, now stated by Minn Kota to hold within the original claimed 5' radius. Further the new model would have inbuilt transducer plus ability to link with sounder. The current model in Australia will not be updatable, the new one in US is bluetooth based. My questions are these-
1. Is there any electronic/compass difference between US and Aust models?
2. Any reason not to buy from US if as stated by Minn Kota Aust rep they would honour warranty here?
3. Any other comments?

[chocolatemoose]

not sure who told you that. but the new generation of Minnkotas are all coming to australia with the exception of the hybrid cable/electric steer ULTREX "Which would sell in extremely low numbers in aus"

the updated Bluetooth based with heading sensoring ulterra is coming to australia. as well as the newer terrovas/ powerdrives with ezy lift system and enhaced acuracy

the freshwater versions remain the only ones with built in transducer options

minnkota AUS will not honour any US imported warranty.

[rayken1938]

minnkota AUS will not honour any US imported warranty
and not only that the techs in australia will not be trained to work on the usa models so you are really on your own if you have problems unless you have contacts to arrange cheap freight to usa otherwise you are looking at around a grand just to send it back and forward.
Wait and see what watersnake and motorguide and haswing have in the pipeline.
Cheers
Ray

[chocolatemoose]

haswing have a GPS dueo soon. the motorguides are doing well with acuracy but build quality is pretty average. watersnake is a price point unit .
these new minnkotas coming out look to be the best electric we have seen.

[perko]

Moose, is there a 80lb, 72 inch shaft I pilot available?

[NAGG]

Warranty would scare me off .... or should I say lack of warranty

I've owned 4 Minn Kotas and each & every one has had work done under warranty ..... one of them knew it's own way back to BLA it had been there so many times.

Chris

[millzee]

Warranty would scare me off .... or should I say lack of warranty

I've owned 4 Minn Kotas and each & every one has had work done under warranty ..... one of them knew it's own way back to BLA it had been there so many times.

Chris

With saying that, I'd assume you'd go the Motorguide next??

[NAGG]

With saying that, I'd assume you'd go the Motorguide next??

Probably not - I've seen quite a few issues with motorguide too . .... they are less robust (IMHO)

& whilst each Minn Kota has had an issue in one form or another - BLA have handled each and every one in an exemplary manner ...... & that does go a long way



Chris

[Donutmaster]

..... one of them knew it's own way back to BLA it had been there so many times.

Chris[/QUOTE]

Lost when I read this hahaha

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Ausfish mobile app (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=91595)

[scrotty]

I have had heaps of Minn Kota's and never had one issue. All been Aussie though. Not worth the hassle with a cheaper import in my opinion.

[China]

Digital oasis also, but with the exchange rate don't know if it is any cheaper.