Anyone using I Pilot

This topic has 7 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 9 months ago by RobP.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

Author

Posts
August 17, 2014 at 3:33 pm #318586

Jimpantera2
Participant

wonder if anyone is using the Minn Kota I-Pilot. Friend of mine is looking for any pros & cons of it.

August 17, 2014 at 9:58 pm #318606

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

No cons, just a different system.

August 17, 2014 at 10:37 pm #318623

MeanV2
Participant

I have the MinnKota Terrova with I-Pilot and Love it. For me it was definitely the way to go.Dan

August 18, 2014 at 1:00 am #318641

Wannabe
Participant

On my second now…pros – advanced auto pilot is the bomb for fishing a line. Cons – spot lock is useless to fish a top..holds a point OK to dish an area, but the advertised rate of error is way off, plus if your bit careful, its possible that it will 360 itself until it breaks its cables. Tight cover and you will regret it, open water and its on. One other con is that its relatively noisy as it turns and at times I would prefer the steer to be faster. Also, the remote bad needs a rabbit function disable. All cons stated, when mine craps out, Ill have another. Random thoughts above, is there something specific you want to know? Wannabe…

August 19, 2014 at 4:37 pm #318664

08Sabre
Participant

I had an I Pilot on my previous boat and loved it, I just had an I Pilot Link and Hummingbird 999 installed on my Sabre, I love it even more, I can set it to follow the shoreline with an ofset or you can set it to follow a conture line and it will stay on it. Like the other guys said if you are in a bunch of trees the cable steer is faster. I was never very good with cable steer so this is great for me. Most of my fishing now is on the main deck insted of up front on the nose of the boat. I also like the spot lock function to keep you on a specific location. There are a lot of good youtube videos on the web you can watch, or if you are in Central Illinois I will take you out for a demo. Good luck

August 20, 2014 at 9:04 pm #318690

Jimpantera2
Participant

08Sabre wrote:I had an I Pilot on my previous boat and loved it, I just had an I Pilot Link and Hummingbird 999 installed on my Sabre, I love it even more, I can set it to follow the shoreline with an ofset or you can set it to follow a conture line and it will stay on it. Like the other guys said if you are in a bunch of trees the cable steer is faster. I was never very good with cable steer so this is great for me. Most of my fishing now is on the main deck insted of up front on the nose of the boat. I also like the spot lock function to keep you on a specific location. There are a lot of good youtube videos on the web you can watch, or if you are in Central Illinois I will take you out for a demo. Good luckI will tell him 08Sabre, he fishes central Illinois a lot. Lake Sarah and such. Thanks

August 20, 2014 at 10:53 pm #318714

socalpIII
Participant

i have had the ipilot since it first came out and love it, spot lock is on point moving down the bank is excellent. the one down i have is the deploy and getting it out of the water the motor has all the weight and pulling it out while standing on the bow in chop it feels a little hairy at times. not a negative but when you press spot lock while going down current it will swing the boat around to face the current. I usually set the speed and go down the bank and can fish from anywhere in the boat, get a snag and have to retie no problem just hit the spot lock and tie up then get moving again! here is a video of me and 2 other buddies with the spot lock on in strong current (fishing an inlet and had the troller on 70% to fight the current and get to the spot and enabled spot lock), you can see the rocks we are fishing were my buddy caught a good one.

August 20, 2014 at 11:33 pm #318731

RobP
Participant

For structure fishing I dont think they can be beat. I just cant give up the instant response of a cable steer when fishing tight to structure. I just wish Minn Kota would make a I Pilot unit that would hook into the Fortrex mount. They already have a swap-able design that lets you change trolling motors without removing the mount from the boat, just configure the center section of the I Pilot to match it. That way I could run a standard cable steer when I wanted the response of a cable steer, and could swap out to the I Pilot when I am offshore and want the contour tracking and spot lock features.
Author

Posts

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login Register