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Although MK's statement is somewhat deceptive and misleading, it doesn't actually claim that S-L will keep you within 5' of a fixed marker. Here's what they post online: "If the boat drifts more than five feet from the Spot-Lock location, i-Pilot will activate the trolling motor to keep the angler on the designated spot."Originally Posted by timbo 66
Forgive me if this sounds Clintonesque, but "the designated spot" is not a single spot, but rather a set of Lat/Lon coordinates determined by a GPS receiver. We all know that GPS receivers have a margin of error--even military grade GPS. As Gobbler points out, a weak signal will increase the error. In reality, "the designated spot" becomes a cluster of spots. How tight is the group? When my handheld GPSmap 76 reports the coordinates of its current location it includes a "give or take" +/- number of feet. Sitting on the bow of my boat parked in the driveway, the best it will do (locked onto 11 satellites) is +/- 15'--roughly one boat length in all directions. Apparently MK believes that iPilot can do much better than 15', but even a cruise missile won't be accurate enough to hit a BP dead center, time after time.
Beginning with a "designated spot" that is really a 30' diameter cluster of spots, move out another 5' before your motor starts up. (The combined diameter is now 40'.) If wind, current, or both are pushing you at any speed, you'll be quite a bit farther away before the motor overcomes the outward drift and starts moving you back toward the "designated spot." (Total diameter may now be 60' or larger!) As the iP's GPS controls your return to the "designated spot," it's getting new satellite data and may now think the spot is somewhere else within the original 30' circle!
So what's the bottom line on all of this? GPS is an extremely useful technology for fishermen--but it has limitations. The value of Spot Lock varies from one fishing style to another, from place to place, and from day to day. If you spend a lot of time jigging BPs, Spot Lock won't be extremely useful.
My fishing style is different. I drift 8 corks back & forth over and around structure, and often (but not always) find Spot Lock to be very useful. When there's a light breeze, Spot Lock keeps my baits drifting in a zone--forward, back, and to the sides. This puts baits in the faces of fish throughout the zone. Here's an example.
This image came from my GPSmap 76 after an extended session in and around 3 large stumps. I made a few minor position adjustments manually and relocked, but most of the time iP was running the boat while Doodlum & I drifted corks and landed numerous fish, including 2 over 15" and one over 16".
