I feel it deploys fairly easily. I usually kneel down next to the foot control, the press the lever in the back of the unit and gently push the motor/prop forward. The two wide brackets under the motor keep it from falling too fast. When it's time to stow I kneel in the same position, depressed the lever and pull up on the shaft until it seats back in the wide brackets. You don't have to turn the motor off. It automatically shuts off when stowed the entire way. I've never used a cable steer TM so maybe I haven't experienced an easier system to deploy/stow.