Newport NV-Series Thrust Saltwater Transom Mounted Trolling Electric Trolling Motor w/LED Battery Indicator

I recently purchased a piece of property on a shallow lake. It is a very quiet community, so I thought an electric trolling motor would be appropriate for just cruising along the lake. I read several reviews done by others on this Newport product, and watched videos that were posted showing the motor in action. I have to say that I am beyond impressed with what I purchased. I chose the 62 lb thrust motor since it can be used on various size boats. I have a 12' StarCraft rowboat that is an older and well-constructed boat. That means it has some weight to it. I was able to cruise along through the weedy places with no trouble at all. A very clever design feature is the adjustable collar that allow the motor to be raised or lowered depending upon the depth from the floor to the propeller. Once I was in open water, I selected the highest speed and was amazed at how very well it moved me along. It will be put to a full test next week when my wife and 3 others will be using the boat. The weight of the motor is great in that it is light enough for my wife to carry it without hurting her shoulder. This was another selling point. It installs in seconds which mean no heavy lifting for a long period of time.. I have only one major concern that I experienced that could easily be remedied with a design modification. The forward and reverse motion is controlled by a twist of the handle. If you install the motor and accidentally have the motor in any of the power settings before you hook up the battery, the motor will turn and you could get injured. Yes, common sense would demand that the battery no be hooked up until the motor is in the water, but the potential for injury does exist. Perhaps they can incorporate a safety switch that interrupts the power going to the motor. I purchased a deep cycle lithium battery to power the motor. I ran for about a couple of miles at full speed and measured the voltage at the battery after I finished the run. The power loss was only a .01 drop from the 12.8 volts. There is a built in battery level series of LED's that tell you at a glance how much power you have left. This is a testimony to not only the quality of the battery, but also to the low amp draw of the motor. It is very efficient. It is very well made and I expect many years of use out of this unit. There are replacement parts available which is encouraging. Final word, for the price you will not find a better motor that has all the features of those that are priced much, much higher. I expect Newport to be around a while.

I got this for puttering around lakes on an inflatable boat. It does this perfectly. Screws right onto your transom. Turn to steer, twist for throttle, all in near-silence. Like all trolling motors regardless of power, speed will not exceed 5mph. This is plenty fast for puttering around lakes. I’ve heard about propeller upgrades that might get you another 1mph, but haven’t tried that myself. If you want to go faster, you’ll need to spend thousands more for either an electric outboard that might go 2mph faster, or a gas outboard that will go much faster but be loud, smelly, and illegal on many lakes.

UPDATED PICTURES AND REVIEW AFTER 100 fishing trips. 3/24/2025. I will leave my original review but add too it. I still like the motor. Very fast(3.5mph by itself). It absolutely still serves its purpose. Never any issues with 500+ hrs between my dad and I. Only issues are -battery indicator on top is worthless. THE FIX- Just make sure your battery’s are charged and do not risk it(recommend Noco onboard charger 10x3). -there is no creeping going up the bank, even first gear is 2+ mph and I’m being picky but a little loud. THE FIX- I have enjoyed using this motor to help get us to the other side of lake first thing in morning then use front motor to creep up banks. I don’t mean to exaggerate the noise, not bad but noticeable. -Vibration. It’s not terrible but the handle definitely wobbles/vibrates at top speed but it is worth it for extra speed vs 55/62lb options. I can only get 2.5mph out of the front 55lb thrust minkota edge($100 on marketplace).THE FIX- I have not attempted to play with mitigating the vibration. Also not a big deal just being transparent with issues that are frustrating (even if only make you mad a little lol) Next upgrade for me is new lithium batteries to drop some weight. Still rocking 3 27 size 100ah+ ($100 each) from Walmart. 2 for rear motor. 1 for front motor and electronics. It’s been GREAT! This setup got my and pops fishing on my small budget. Grateful for that. Lots of fish caught and even more memories made. You all can imagine your typical 35yr old son and 70year old dad fishing. LOL Hope this helps. Buy the motor. I would again. I’ll be looking at the nt300 down the road for a jon boat build! 6/1/2024 Disclaimer!!!!!! I have only used the Newport motor once so I can’t give feedback on long term yet but I’ll update back over time if things change. I’m no expert at all but I have had maybe 10 trolling motors over the years and can compare speed-vibration-battery life-ergonomics-etc from them to it. Overall yes I am happy with it and will NOT be returning it. It’s very nice with only one major flaw. First gear is way too aggressive. This new newport 86lb is faster in first gear than my 40lb at full power. Creeping ultra quietly down the bank is not easy anymore. I WANT TO GIVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FIRST. Only one issue so far, first gear is super aggressive. It’s not bad enough for me to return, just something to note. First gear, the slowest option is 2.5mph. For example my 40lb first gear is maybe little over half of a mph. So an immediate 2.5mph is very jerky, so if you are moving on small ponds just get the 62lb that runs 12v. If you are fishing bigger reservoirs or state parks, etc get this 86lb. I covered so much more water today now that I’m moving double the speed. I wish it was possible to have a slower first gear to creep from spot to spot. It’s much more aggressive than I would like first gear to be. IF the guy upfront is standing you better let him know before you turn the motor on. It’s funny with my buddy in his 30s, but my dad in his 70s is going to have a balance problem if he is standing LOL. Creeping ultra quietly down the bank is not possible. Reverse is perfect! Very powerful too. With this new 86lb I’m now able to get over 4mph while using both motors even with weight of 3 big batteries and 2 180-200lb guys and our rods, the front motor and battery/etc. The motor seems very nice quality, reminds me of minn kota. I would rank this quality higher feel than my motorguides (r3 ) but lower than min kotas. The lever clicks are very solid, like I like my adjustments on an optic. I want to hear and feel the change. I ran it all day today and the battery light only went down 3 bar! Nothing got hot either. INCLUDES THE CABLE YOU NEED TO RIN 24v! I took a picture of wiring and batteries to help others get setup. Super simple To run the 24v needed. I picked up 2 deep cycle marine batteries (pictured) at Walmart for $100 each. They are both 100+ah batteries. This 86lb came with the cable to run from one batteries positive, to the other batteries negative. Then you hook the motor up wires to the open positive and negative posts. Battery voltage indicator is such a nice feature. I will reply back to tell you how accurate it is. UPDATE NOT ACCURATE! Vibration seemed normal. Nothing to crazy. I was able to turn on full speed and it stayed straight with my hand even off it. Big bonus for that when you need to cover a lot of water it’s nice to take your hand off for a second. This Newport 86lb motor seems to only weigh slightly more than a normal 55lb troller. Also a win. Easy to take on and off boat if you need to.

Purchased this 55 Lb. thrust trolling motor to replace a MK brand that was no longer working after many years of service. Was stunned at the current replacement cost of a new MK so ordered this Newport Vessels brand. It is being used on a 12 foot alum. wide-transom canoe with a Group 24 deep cycle battery. Used it 2 times so far. Once on a tidal river and then a lake. (2 passengers). It performed very well and never lacked for speed even when up against head winds and tidal currents. It was used at speeds 2 and 3 for the most part with occasional bursts in 4 and 5. In speeds 1-3 it's a trolling motor, at 4 it's cruising and at 5 it becomes more like an outboard motor! She flies! Fairly quiet, but gets a bit louder as the speeds go up. Motor runs well but not as smooth and refined as the MK did. Seems to use a little more power than the MK, but the MK had slow- start and maximizer circuitry. Battery was down to about 65% after just under 2 hours but that was fighting winds and opposing current about 1/2 the time. Never felt any reduction in speed/power. Don't count on the built-in LED battery indicator as it was still showing 4 out of 5 lights. Overall, a decent motor and a good value. Can't comment on durability/reliability just yet until it sees more use.

I bought the 55 pound thrust model to use on my Intex Excursion 4 inflatable boat. Short story is it works really great. Longer story is that I'm using a 100ah lifepo4 battery to power it. The battery is inside a 12 volt battery box. If using a lifepo4 battery, DO NOT trust the accuracy of the battery meter on the motor handle. It's only reading voltage, and attempting to determine the battery capacity of a lifepo4 battery from voltage alone is vague at best. I've drained the battery down to 40% and all of the green lights were still lit up, happy as could be. I installed a Renogy 500amp shunt into the battery box to get an exact real time view of the motor's power draw and time remaining. Your draws may fluctuate a little from mine, but should be well within the same ballpark. You can use these values to calculate the expected run time from your battery: At speed 1, the motor drew 10 amps or 132 watts. At speed 2, the motor drew 13.3 amps or 173 watts. At speed 3, the motor drew 20 amps or 259 watts. At speed 4, the motor drew 24.4 amps or 315 watts. At speed 5, the motor drew 52.3 amps or 664 watts. As you can see, the increase in power consumption is somewhat linear and modest through the first four speeds, but bumping it into the fifth speed doubles the power required while only giving what I would estimate to be around a 25% increase in speed. In short there's rarely any reason to use the fifth speed. Although it has been nice to have once or twice when encountering stronger than expected winds. I typically cruise around in speed 3 or 4. My 100ah battery can run for five hours on speed 3, or 4 hours on speed 4. Way more than enough time. This will allow me to putt around at about 3 miles per hour. At 23 pounds, it's light enough to easily carry to and from the car to the launch site. I can mount it on the bracket for my boat in about two minutes. I have a "real" boat as well, but sometimes it's fun to take the little inflatable one out and put this motor on the back of it. There's also the benefit that you can fit everything in your car and explore new places. I take it with me when we go camping. My kids get a kick out of it. Overall it's a lot of fun and I'd recommend it. If you're in the US, note that in almost all states, once you put a motor on anything regardless of size, it needs to be registered.

I purchased this motor 1 month ago and attached it to my 12 ft double kayak. My first trip was in Wellfleet Harbor in Cape Cod Bay. I put in from Great Island and went out to Billingsgate I. I trolled some lures for bluefish and drifted for fluke. The fishing was terrible but the motor was great. I could only use up to 3 setting. That zipped me along at a nice speed. when I set it to 4, my motor mount dug into the water and was splashing water into the kayak. Maybe I had too much power, I was wondering? the day was nice and calm. It was a joy to land right into shore which has a lot of rocks on the approach. The tilt function was excellent and allowed me to avoid the rocks. On the way back, a breeze sprung up and the tide was with me coming in. No problems. I bought a 75AH deep-cycle sealed battery to run the motor. (Weighs 60 lbs) This was from advice in "On the Water" magazine which had an excellent article on motorizing your kayak. I estimated I used the motor for 6 hours. As I was coming into the landing, the battery petered out. The whole trip was 10 miles. The motor took 12.5 amps/hr using it on the 2 and 3 speeds. 7.5 amps/mile. A few days later, my daughter Laura and I went from Morris Is. put in in Chatham over to Monomoy Is. We were hoping to explore Monomoy. However, a very stiff 20MPH SW wind was against us crossing the channel. With the extra weight of another person, I could use the 4 setting. There were whitecaps and 2 ft waves. With the motor we pushed through the elements. Again the motor mount caught some water and splashed it into the kayak. I bailed and ran the motor and Laura paddled. We made it to Monomoy OK. I don't think we would have without the motor. A couple in a kayak coming back looked exhausted. They pointed at the motor and said: "Next time we're going to get one of those!'. We explored some and ate lunch. On the way back, the wind was at our back and we were still taking on water. We got back just fine though. It was 1.5 miles to Monomoy so a 3 mile round trip. The battery was still pretty fully charged. I'm glad I purchased this motor. I can do things now that would kill me just paddling. I have a 12 ft aluminum boat that I used to have a 9.9hp gas motor on that no longer works. I feel confident that this motor would push that boat OK. I would be able to use the 5 setting if I needed to. We'll see how long this motor performs. I'm done with MinnKotas. They (2) wore out on me after 2 years use.

Great motor for less than half the cost of the leading brand. Saw prior review about water intrusion into the motor housing. So I took mine apart straight out of the box. Sure enough the wiring goes down the shaft and right to the motor. (See pictures). I used a tiny burst of Daptex low expansion foam sealant. Problem solved. Two ways this could happen: 1-Motor falls off your transom into the water and the power cords keep it attached. You pull it out and water would have gotten down into the shaft to the electric motor—ruining it. 2–water spray from a transducer gets into the head of the motor and enough comes in that the little drain holes in the base can’t drain fast enough and bam—motor ruined. Also I’d worry about salt spray getting down there—that’s why I took it apart and sealed it up. Don’t leave this motor outdoors—even with it sealed up, it’s not that waterproofed. The battery tester led’s appear safe from most water sources, but I’m betting dampness will get into the upper head of this motor and ruin it eventually. Time will tell. My advice is of course wash with clean water and store it in a dry (not even damp) location. But this isn’t a Minnkota and I didn’t expect it to be at this price! It’s less than half the cost of a MK riptide for salt water. If you need a motor to last 10 years of heavy use then go that route. I’m starting with an inflatable dinghy in a tidal lagoon for my first saltwater vessel. Went very cheap on the boat and the motor. I’m hooking this up to a very high quality AGM deep cycle marine battery. Goal is to just to not have to use the oars! The trim mechanism is very well engineered except for one more fault—the transom mount bolts stop about an inch and a quarter too short!!! With a 1” or smaller plywood transom now I have to “beef” that up so the motor will stay on. Stupid design there—this company’s smallest shaft motor and it’s designed to fit a 17.5 foot fiberglass boat not a small jonboat or dingy. This is not a big confidence boost I’m feeling for the company right now. (See pic). At any rate if your boat has a wide transom no modification will be needed. Comes with an in-line circuit breaker which is nice—though you better keep the salt off of it as well, it’s ferromagnetic so it’s going to rust.... Also the motor is definitely louder than my Minnkota freshwater trolling motors (I’ve two that have lasted 11 yrs). But, again, right now I’m just trying out the saltwater on the cheap. I will upgrade later if things work out. I’m giving it 4 stars for now based on the value. I got exactly what I’d expect at this price point. If it fails in any way I’ll update this post. I figure I’ll get at least 5 years out of this as I only fish saltwater when I’m on vacation. If you’re starting out on the cheap and are just seeing how things go, this is the motor for you. My next saltwater trolling motor will be a Minnkota riptide if this thing even stutters just once. Usually I plan to do it right the first time, but as I’m just getting my toes wet here I’m going on the cheap to see how I like it. I would never buy this thing for daily or even monthly use. Don’t trust the brand yet. If you fish a lot in saltwater, or stealth is super important to you I’d warn against this purchase. Also one more word of caution: almost all states will require boat registration if ANY type of motor is used, including electric only. So check the refs where you fish—I’ll bet you you have to fully register your vessel even if it’s a kayak as soon as you strap a motor onto it.

I have been using this motor on my Sea Eagle 385fta Fast Track Angler inflatable kayak for over a year now. It is powered by a Dakota LiPo 54A battery. With this combo, I can cruise of and on at medium speed all day for two whole days without running out of power. The Newport motor is a couple pounds heavier than what is recommended by Sea Eagle but the battery weighs a fraction of what a standard marine battery weighs so that more than makes up for the motor being 2-3 pounds over the recommended weight. The one thing I would change on the design is are the clamp faces. The metal is very durable but it is also too smooth. It needs to have a better grip on the surface that contacts the transom. this is especially true if you use the Sea Eagle side mount transom with it's heavy duty vinyl vertical plank. On more than one occasion after tightening the hand knobs as far as possible, the round discs on the opposite side of the clamps would slide out of place during a moderate turn. Had I not been paying close attention, the entire motor could have fallen off and been lost in the bottom of the lake or maybe even capsized me like a giant anchor. I have since remedied this issue by adding a thin layer of inner tube rubber on both sided of the transom which greatly improves the clamps' grip. It would also be good if the throttle handle extension had more resistance when it was extended or contracted. As it is designed, it slides in and out with just the bare minimum pressure, even if unintentional. This was also corrected (at least temporarily) with some clever use of thread tape but it required some disassembly which very well might have voided the warranty. Even with these relatively minor issues, the Newport Kayak motor had been a solid performer and I expect to get many more years of use out of it.