I received my evolve 2 in July this year, used it 8 times with ca 20 running hours. Compared to a cheap trolling motor with a (heavy) conventional battery it is an awesome product.
However - 10 days ago the motor broke down, it showed of the blue the E30 error message and cannot be started since then. A clear warranty issue (all on site troubleshooting failed and the unit is still like 'brandnew' ). Have informed my dealer (who is very supportive) about this and am requesting a replacement under warranty and didn't hear any positive feedback yet from Hobie Australia.
I live in the Philippines, there is no local torqueedo service center and now I am really curious if all the postive feedback on this forum on how Hobie is dealing with warranty issues is true....anyhow, will report how this claim has been handled on this forum.
I assume I was unlucky with my unit (actually I suspect that this came from the first batch of evolve 2 motors in Australia which reported some trouble and may have been "disposed' to a developing country...).
Going back to your question - I do like the product and would buy it again. It is amazing how much performance comes out of such a small tiny light battery. Not sure though if I would buy again an evolve or if I would buy the same product (with a different mount) from Torqueedo directly. (Will have a clear answer on this one once I got feedback from Hobie on how they intend to handle the warranty issue...).
Regarding the price for a 2nd hand evolve with a new battery a fair price would be probably 50% of the retail price in your country. If the difference is only a few hundred bucks I would go for a new one because chances are that you may have issues with the unit (this is really a 'hightech' product) and would want to avail of warranty if the motor breaks down.
My 2 cents Peace Serbi
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