Minn Kota I Pilot

Post by **MLR** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:19 am

Looking at upgrading my bow mount to the new Minn Kota I Pilot

Has anyone read any articles or reviews on these new units yet?

Post by JC » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:02 am

Yup
Looks like the cats meow.....
I am looking as well, if I could even find a used V2 or Terrova I would wait a bit and buy just the iPilot module.
Been doing some reading any PD V2 will accept the upgrade, takes about 20 minutes and any Terrova, which takes about 4 minutes.
I read about a tester who was having issues with it and Minn Kota sent him 3 or 4 updates for it and it turned out that he had his 24v system wired wrong/incorrectly. After that issue was resolved he loved it.

Post by **SixStringHack** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:08 am

Needs radar for collision avoidance...

Post by **karma** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:41 am

I've ordered a Terrova for the Blind Fishing Porta-Bote to go with the new casting platform Porta-Bote came out with this year. The platform includes a swivvle seat and a mount for a bow-mount trolling motor. I already have a Terrova on the bigger boat (20-foot power cat), which I will someday up-grade as well -- funds...

The I-Pilot really is amazing in terms of the features it offers. It won't work on the watch-style remote that the co-pilot uses, it instead has a larger remote the size of a TV flicker, but the remote is light and can be hung around the neck on a lanyard -- there's still the foot peddle which can be used at the same time.

Can't wait to try it out, but may be waiting a while as Minn Kota is back-ordered in Canada and the US. You can order I-Pilot with Terrova's 80lb and 101lb, but not with the 55lb model -- for that one, it's an option which costs about $350-$400.

the next step is for Minn Kota to link wirelessly the I-Pilot to the Hummingbird so you can create and then select your GPS marks on the display and the motor will take you their automatically...

Post by **MLR** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:04 pm

Lawrence

Thanks for the informative feed back.

Also congrats on the write up in Outdoor Canada this month. Keep up the great work you do.

Post by **Hookup** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:32 am

Personally I cannot wait to get rid of my digital-steer minnkota PowerDrive bow-mount. I hate the digital steering system and would never recommend one. I-Pilot looks cool for sure, but I'd not be willing to have to use digital foot-controller/steering.

Why? With a cable system the foot-pad has a neutral-mark. A mid-point where the trolling motor is tracking straight forward. Tip one way and you go left, tip the other you go right... return your foot to that neutral point and you know you are going straight forward. This piece of "feedback" is what is required to steer the boat while casting without having to look down at the trolling motor to see which damn way it's now pointing every time you want to adjust.

This sounds like a small thing, but for me, this is huge. So much that as soon as the boat is out of storage a new cable-driven unit is going onto the boat and my 'dealer installed' Power Drive 2 is going on the classifieds.

i-Pilot systems would have this limitation/issue, and therefore I'd stay away.

Just my experience... your own millage may vary.

Post by **Fish'n Technish'n** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:20 pm

Been doing lots of research on this one.
Still thinking about it!
Here are some sites to check out

http://www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com/2010seminars.html
Click on I Pilot index

Aslo check out www.crappie.com and type I Pilot into the search feature!!

You can also down load the manual on line.

FT

Post by **MLR** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:45 pm

well, I ordered one today, just have to wait for the FedEx man to show up.

Post by **lifeisfun** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:12 am

Good for you!

let us know how you like it

Post by **Matt Bass** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 7:19 pm

I also ordered one from Paddletales. I hope that the back order status will be soon removed, I already sold the other one I had. Will let you know how it work when I will try it.

Post by **MLR** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:12 pm

Well, finally got to test drive the new I-Pilot

It only took me 30 seconds to master the remote "because I am a man"

With the bow pointed up stream, 2 pushes of the anchor button, and the boat held its position as it should. Turned it off and drifted down stream about 150 meters, hit the anchor memory button and away she went right back to where I started.

Next I will play with recording tracks, but am confident that it will work flawlessly.

My only small gripe, is that the display on the remote control has the black blotches while wearing polarized sun glasses. Not sure what Minn Kota was thinking, since the majority of people fishing wear polarized glasses. Hope they come out with a new remote that is polarized sun glass friendly soon.

Other than that, I love my new trolling motor.

Post by **horsehunter** » Sun May 02, 2010 3:54 pm

Does this unit come in 12 volt Lebarons catalog does not state voltage?

when my auto pilot died I didn't replace with another autopilot I really miss it. When fishing muskie alone you can just head offshore while you deal with releasing fish and not deal with wind.

Post by **1MoreCast** » Sun May 02, 2010 7:04 pm

From the minn kota website
http://www.minnkotamotors.com/products/ ... ivev2.aspx

It looks like all the 55lb ones are 12 volt, including the iPilot.
So the one at lebarons is 12 volt.

I picked up a 24 volt PowerDrive with iPilot early in the spring when they came out at Laurentian Marine for a better price then any other dealer around. Try calling them to find out if they have it, ya never know.

Post by **Hookup** » Mon May 03, 2010 11:23 am

After spending the weekend fishing with someone who has an ipilot i have to give a second point of view.

The ability to troll with the iPilot, using the remote, was excellent. This worked very well for trolling techniques. For casting techniques, and Jigging I'm still in favor of a cable-driven system, but, for pure trolling I think the iPilot has the advantage.

Post by **toobinator** » Mon May 03, 2010 4:09 pm

Hookup: The rule of thumb I have observed in the store is that bass guys (like me) prefer the cable steer, Walleye guys like the digital steering. Of course there are exceptions, but that is what I have generally found.

Early reports back to me from customers that have bought the I Pilot have been outstanding, including one that says the anchor feature helped him finish second in a walleye tournament on the American side.

Ed