Those sound pretty cool, espeacially for the ones with the built in transducers,
We use digital drive on cnc machines, big difference from the older ones with analog drive, one of them being noise(which would help built in transducers)
digital drives very rarely go out in the cnc machine world, I dont know how the would do with impact and the abuse a trolling motor gets in normall everyday operation. one thing if they do go out they are 3 times the price of an analog board(should be the same on a trolling motor) they will regulate the power very precise to the motor and make it run much more efficiant. Another problem might be the power source(your batteries) I dont know what will happen when it gets low or a tad to high(this would have to be programmed into the PLC chip in the digital drive)
I know on the spindle drives for cnc machines they are very finacy when it comes to input power souces and you have to run a transformer to keep the power regulated before it enters the drive.
but the out put power(going to the motor) is some of the cleanest burning power around(looking at it with a scope), brushes will probally be eliminated if they are not already, if they do use them they will last alot longer than they do now.
If they do the digital drives correctly they can make it so you can put a mmc card into it and and load different PArameters( Ie making a 36 volt motor from a 24 volt motor) which would be cool if you decided to upgrade your trolling motor.
They could also have it so you can keep your boat at one speed (preset) even if the wind is blowing or current change(it would work of boat speed) which would be very benificial to a fisherman,
Sounds like a great long over due improvement with alot of possibilites.
Delw