Garmin unveils Force® Kraken and expands its award-winning trolling motor series to a wider range of boats and environments.
In 2019, Garmin made some major waves when it unveiled its entry into the trolling motor market and subsequently capped off back-to-back wins of the highly-coveted Best of Show award in the annual New Product Showcase. With a sleek design, near-silent drive and unique, wireless motion and pedal controls, the Force quickly became a serious player in the freshwater fishing market.
There have been a lot of changes in not just the fishing industry since 2019, but also in the world of trolling motors. Never one to rest on their laurels, Garmin is always looking to improve and advance their products, and the Force was no exception as they announce Force Kraken, the most powerful trolling motor the recreational fishing market has ever seen. Coupled with Garmin’s most precise anchor lock technology, Kraken is designed with longer shaft lengths and a pivot-style mount for easy installation on boats where bow space is limited, like skiffs, bay boats, center consoles and multispecies fishing boats.
“We are excited to build on the success of our Force trolling motor and bring new mounting options and features to even more anglers in both the saltwater and inland markets. From power and durability to integration and innovation, Kraken has everything anglers want and need from their trolling motor and more.” –Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales.
Silent and powerful, Kraken’s brushless motor uses a high-efficiency propeller to produce 100 pounds of thrust on a 36-volt system, or 80 pounds on a 24-volt system, plenty of power to work from reef to reef and battle strong winds and currents in even the fishiest of rough open-water conditions.
Kraken delivers Garmin’s most precise positioning technology to help keep the boat on top of the structure so anglers can stay on the bite longer by utilizing multi-band GPS signal reception and integrated AHRS (attitude and heading reference system) for heading hold. In calm conditions, the Kraken can decelerate the motor when it’s within approximately one meter of the user-selected location. And in rough conditions, Kraken can apply more aggressive motor speed for improved performance on larger boats.
With wireless integration to a Garmin chartplotter, anglers can create routes, patterns, and tracks for the trolling motor to follow while they fish. Control of the Kraken doesn’t stop there as the wireless remote can be used from anywhere in the virtual anchor lock, autopilot functionality, heading hold and point-and-go gesture steering—plus it floats. What’s more, a compatible Garmin smartwatch, like the award-winning quatix® 7 series, can also be connected to Kraken to control steering, anchor lock and more, right from the wrist.
Select Kraken models include a built-in GT56UHD all-in-one transducer with Ultra High-Definition ClearVü and SideVü scanning sonar along with CHIRP traditional sonar for brilliant image clarity of structure and fish below and to the sides of the boat.
For the first time in the industry, anglers can install forward-facing sonar, like LiveScope™, on a pivot-style trolling motor by conveniently routing the transducer cable inside the trolling motor shaft thanks to Kraken’s new LiveScope cable management system. With the Kraken LiveScope Mounting Bracket (additional purchase required), any LiveScope transducer can be installed and operated in all three modes—forward, down and perspective. This can keep the LiveScope cable safe from damage during stow or deploy and can keep the trolling motor and deck space clean and free of clutter.
Led by decades of marine industry expertise and innovation, Kraken is engineered for harsh marine environments and built to withstand the rigors of extreme fishing conditions. It’s backed by a 3-year limited warranty and a lifetime limited warranty on the shaft, along with support through an ever-increasing servicing dealer network.
The Force Kraken trolling motor is debuting at the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades (ICAST), in Orlando, Fla., July 11-14, where it will be on display in booth #4802. Expected to be available in October, Kraken will be offered in white in 63-, 75- and 90-inch shaft lengths, or black in 63- and 75-inch lengths. Both black Kraken models are sold with a GT56UHD transducer. Suggested retail prices range from $3699.99 to $4299.99. For more information, visit garmin.com/force.