What are you currently running? I have the Minn Kota Terrova, and have been very happy with it. I wouldn't shy away from the Xi5 for a minute though. The auto deploy feature on the Ulterra would be fantastic, especially when you're on the hunt, bouncing around structure. However, I'm not sure they have that feature fully ironed out yet, I've read quite a few bad reviews of them not working properly and the last I knew there was no manual override to deploy them. You may want to check out some of the Walleye forums (Walleye Central, hope thats not blasphemy!) there are tons of threads on them. I fish FG a lot and know a bunch of Mack guys that have bounced from spot to spot with their electrics down. Most all of them have eventually experienced failure with the seals on their motors. They have a bearing thats made to take the thrust while powering forward, but if you leave it down and run your big motor, even at slow speeds the thrust pushes back on it , and there is nothing but a seal in that direction which quickly wears out, leaks, then freezes and won't turn. Thats how they find out, if you live were its warm and didn't find the leak in a timely manner it would probably ruin the motor. Lots of guys around here would love the auto deploy, but I don't know any who've pulled the trigger yet. Good luck!