I have owned both & both are excellent motors. We had a few growing pains when the Xi5 hit the market but I think all is well now. Like Gene, I either fish open water brush or docks. For this reason I changed over to MG because it does great on "anchor lock". Much, much better than MK. For a troller, I would recommend MK. MG will also be linking with Lowrance soon.

For overall quality of build I would lean a little toward MK.