Minn Kota ULTERRA (Who wants one?)

[scottar]

Sure stuff is expensive here but think about the costs incurred in running a marine business - like BLA. Sponsorship for events, advertising, warranty coverage, freight, shows, normal business expenses for day to day, wages and the list goes on. Someone has to pay and in a country with such a large area yet such a small population, cold hard economics mean the costs are spread across significantly lower numbers of units - nothing new about that. Take a look at motor vehicle price differences - same same.

As for the Chinese stuff - I recently fitted an Ebay switch panel to a mates boat - worked great for a fortnight until the switches literally snapped in half. Yes, you can get good gear from China but there is also a lot of absolute shit that comes out of there at bargain basement prices with zero support. Also think about product development costs - not cheap - unless you simply copy your competitions products and concepts. Yet another reason Chinese stuff ends up cheaper. Would I personally drop a K or two to import a Chinese variant of a GPS capable electric outboard for saltwater use...…...yeah NAH. Don't think the lack of info is so much a google thing - just most people wanting some sort of back up in case there are issues so the sales of the "generic" Chinese stuff are very low. How do you think KC would have got on if he had imported direct or fitted an Ebay special from China (if there is even something with similar capabilities) and had the issues he has had. My guess - very expensive for return freight to the States or odd looking anchor if from China.

This is not a crack at people wanting to take a chance on direct import - I totally get it - money is money, but to then give Aussie companies a hard time over prices is a bit poor. For every one bought in direct, the rest get more expensive on a cost per unit basis.

[NAGG]

Yes - stuff is expensive here & it is usually because some company sighns up as a sole distributor - The outlets have no choice but to go via the distributor ....... with the right products - it can be a licence to print money as was the case for BLA .
sorry with that much disparity .... I'd rather put that $K in my pocket.
It reminded me of Dunphy sports & his Shimano arrangement …… so lucrative was it that in the end Shimano got it back .

Chris

[scottar]

Some one has to look after everything associated with the product - advertising, warehousing, warranty, carrying parts. No one is going to do it for free and there is no way a lot of Minn Kota dealers could afford it. If there was enough money in for MK to do it themselves they would. Take a look at the situation with BRP who have just gone the other way and appointed a distributor. As a manufacturer you simply wouldn't do it if sufficient profit existed in doing your own distribution. Our market simply isn't big enough for a lot of major corporates to do it. Furuno is another example - in the US they do it themselves, over here it's through an agent. Like I posted - I don't have an issue with people importing. But having spent 20 years in the marine game at both wholesale and retail levels, I do get a bit miffed when the inference is that the companies that offer the service of a distributor get bad mouthed for not doing it for nothing. You are always welcome to contact MK and tell them you can do a better job for half the money. They should jump at the chance to sell more units at the reduced price if you can present a suitable business model that won't implode if that's the case.

[shortthenlong]

I think a lot of Australians underestimate the lack of size of our market (customers) and the cost of doing business here. I have worked in sales for my whole working life, self employed at that for the last 10 and the words of my first boss always stick. "The price is what the market can stand".
Matt

[Lovey80]

Regulatory cost is huge in this country. Honk about that the next time you’re at the ballot box.

[NAGG]

Some one has to look after everything associated with the product - advertising, warehousing, warranty, carrying parts. No one is going to do it for free and there is no way a lot of Minn Kota dealers could afford it. If there was enough money in for MK to do it themselves they would. Take a look at the situation with BRP who have just gone the other way and appointed a distributor. As a manufacturer you simply wouldn't do it if sufficient profit existed in doing your own distribution. Our market simply isn't big enough for a lot of major corporates to do it. Furuno is another example - in the US they do it themselves, over here it's through an agent. Like I posted - I don't have an issue with people importing. But having spent 20 years in the marine game at both wholesale and retail levels, I do get a bit miffed when the inference is that the companies that offer the service of a distributor get bad mouthed for not doing it for nothing. You are always welcome to contact MK and tell them you can do a better job for half the money. They should jump at the chance to sell more units at the reduced price if you can present a suitable business model that won't implode if that's the case.

A company like BLA does a lot more than sell Minn Kota's & Cannon Down riggers (eg BEP , Humminbird & Seastar) - all high profile brands…… The costs get spread over the whole business. All these costs you talk about are part & parcel of doing business & are deductions anyway ( I work for a significant manufacturing & importing business... so I get the picture) . Sponsoring everyone with some kind of profile doesn't make it a good reason to jack your prices up either.
The fact remains that it is a successful business & that is why a company like Brunswick acquired them .


Anyhow - As I said , there is a element of risk with not buying locally ( specially with Minn Kotas track record)

Chris

[TREVELLY]

I took the risk importing Bennets trim tabs to save a fair bit - I would do it again on one of these electrics.
I would like to think if I bought it local then the price might go down but I see all too often - BOAT - Bring Out Another Thousand and it becomes cost prohibitive for me - so yes I take a risk or I go without.
As for trusting Chinese with submersible saltwater electric motors exposed to offshore pounding conditions hahahahaha - no thanks - maybe in years to come after others have taken that risk and they have fixed all the problems - maybe . . . .

[kc]

Have to agree with Scott's sentiments. Yes I paid "plenty" for my Ulterra and despite all the issues they kept honouring the warantee and fixed it, and fixed it and fixed it. This time around I was done. I offered to pay a fair and reasonable amount to get it swapped and to my surprise they are giving me the new one for free. Good on BLA. They may have had a product which was ultimately unsuited for offshore use but there is no way I would ever have got that level of support from a Chinese import. You get what you pay for, and in this case, I got a level of service above and beyond expectations. Exceeding customer expectations is a key to operating a successful business so these guys deserve to be kicking a few goals.

[myusernam]

good on BLA for doing what they legally have to? all specifically defined in australian consumer law.
There's no way i'd import a minn kota as they're so unreliable. Nothing much can go wrong with a manual outrigger

[552Evo]

For anyone interested:
Not sure if this has been covered previously but I'll share anyway.
Motor Guide - the iX5, 72" shaft, 24volt, seems to suit my application due to it having the setup that's able to link in with Simrad/Lowrance and Mercury.
From what I can find out the Minn Kota doesn't do this link with those brands I mentioned above. Maybe it suits other brands - communications wise.
Due to my boat (centre console) I'm easily able to walk up front to manually deploy so I'll be steering towards that idea as well, it saves about $1000.
Less to go wrong as mentioned in earlier posts.
Anyway my wish list has been narrowed down, hope this helps someone.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[rayken1938]

Minnkota and Motorguide both owned by Brunswick.
Minnkota links with Humminbird
Motorguide links with Lowrance and simrad.
BLA has their own dedicated service technicians
Motorguide serviced by some Mercury agents.
Cheers
Ray

[NAGG]

Have to agree with Scott's sentiments. Yes I paid "plenty" for my Ulterra and despite all the issues they kept honouring the warantee and fixed it, and fixed it and fixed it. This time around I was done. I offered to pay a fair and reasonable amount to get it swapped and to my surprise they are giving me the new one for free. Good on BLA. They may have had a product which was ultimately unsuited for offshore use but there is no way I would ever have got that level of support from a Chinese import. You get what you pay for, and in this case, I got a level of service above and beyond expectations. Exceeding customer expectations is a key to operating a successful business so these guys deserve to be kicking a few goals.

I've owned (own) 4 Minn Kota's over the last 14 years …. 3 purchased locally - each of the 3 local purchases have been back to BLA more than once & yes while they are under warranty BLA have been very good ……. so I can't & wont argue the toss there.


On a side note …… & no one I know does it - you should get your leccy motor serviced every couple of years for seals & a general check over.

Chris

[552Evo]

Who has experience with linking their trolling motor up to their MFD/Plotter/fish finder and their motor display ?

So if MK links with hummingbird and
MG links with Lowrance and Mercury, then what does this do ?

I’m interested to see what advantages you get in spending an extra $350 on an nmea cable.

If you’ve already got a MFD (hummingbird or Lowrance) then you already get a track history displayed.
What are the benefits of linking the system together ?



Saltwater fishing, boat mad but has a job that gets in the way.

[Smithy]

^suppossed to hold better. You can scroll over marks on the plotter and hit some sort of goto and it will take you there, you can do some functions like move forward 10m or whatever and it will. This is hearsay off a mate who has a Motorguide to a small Lowrance unit. Yet to physically use one linked. Just about to take the iPilot function off my MK on my small boat and go back to a foot pedal. I don't reckon it holds good enough on GPS and I want to have both hands free for jack fishing etc. in structure. Remote control doesn't cut it in close quarters.

[Nog]

I have my Bird linked to my MK.

When I get around to it, I'll map my local dam so I can set the MK to follow either a contour or a track I put in.

Love the spot-lock and jog function so far.