Motorguide Xi5

Ive heard its the most accurate of the type. However, I have no experience with either brand.

I had a Terrova with ipilot on my previous boat,mI can answer questions about that but have never even seen one of the motorguide version. I loved my terrova on a Lund multispecies boat, it did a decent job of solving my “getting blown around way too much” issues, but if all I did was fish sheltered shallow water Id go for a cable steer motor for certain, but thats a relatively small % of what I do. My new pantera classic I put a cable steer on, figure Ill try it for a season and see what I think, and might go back to a powered-drive motor with a gps function, well see.Among other things Im interested to hear from anyone who has one of these on a basscat how they have rigged, how theyve solved rigging the motor with regards to bounce while running, and also how theyve rigged the foot pedal in the recessed tray.

A friend of mine has the minnkota version with an extra long shaft 55 or 60 inches . When I first seen it on his boat (an “R” boat) , I thought it looked goofy however , after fishing with him on Kentucky lake on a real windy day , I am sold . He uses the electric anchor feature along with that extra long shaft ,we were fishing the ledges and points with no issues at all . My real problem is the mount ,seems like they could make it with a fold back mount like the mg gator mount . My two cents..

I had my terrova on a lund and the overhang was a non-issue, but Im told on many bassboats the overhang can hit the bow stop on th trailer so a slide-back mount is helpful…I did have one on mine but mainly for easily removing it, I never had a problem with clearance. The spotlock isnt perfect, if the wind is variable and gusty youll still get blown around, and it only works if youre pointing into the wind (if youre not now, you will be soon…) but its a heck of a lot better than without. My lund was like a sail in the wind and it made a huge difference. Its great fishing shorelines in the wind especially alone–if you need to retie or land a fish simply hit the spotlock and forget qbout it, itll keep you from being blown off the spot or into shore. Its NOT great at close-quarters maneuvering like you might find in flooded timber, channels through thick weeds, etc as the motor-steering is slow and takes getting used to. Its also a total pain to pull it put of the water, Im told you can rig a pullcord on it, if so that would be much nicer on a bassboat. I used a trolling motor RAM to stabilize it, as the mount doesnt provide any stqbility from hitting waves to the mount is under a lot of stress and Ive heqrd of people having them deploy at high speeds from this and tear apart the motor, the ball from the ram did make the motor easier to grab, but a cord would still be a massive improvement.Id love to see photos of the foot pedal insert mentiond above, or any other basscats that use a terrova or similar foot pedal.