Let's talk ipilot

I have considered an ipilot a few times, but I have concerns about a couple things. So those of you that have the ipilot fill me in. Here's my first concern. I have noticed that on my Humminbird 597ci hd that the GPS sometimes goes way off coarse when I'm moving very slowly or sitting still. It will at times show my boat to be 100 feet on the bank. So if the ipilot GPS is no more accurate, then how well will it hold on the spot lock feature? Also how well will it stay true on a saved trolling grid? And Lastly (I will be using it on the powerdrive v2) I am concerned about the loss of my foot pedal. A friend got a copilot and the remote is very small for arthritic, carpel tunnel ridden fingers. Is the ipilot remote more comfortable to the hand? Thanks in advance superfly.

I just installed the i pilot on my v2 a few weeks ago and got to use it last week at Lake Talquin. It worked flawlessly, you can control the boat so much better. We played with the features on the control and they worked as designed. The control is bigger than on the copilot and easy to handle. I would suggest keeping extra batteries for the remote in the boat just to be safe, I also clip the remote to one of the motor wires so that it stays in the boat.

I'm sold on mine. It holds pretty close if you lose signal it will shutdown and you know it real soon. The robots works good for me far as size and layout. Just be careful not to bump the rabbit button. It will throw you outa the boat.

There is no comparison between the ipilot of today and the GPS capabilities of your 597. You won't be disappointed, have only had my foot petal hooked up once in the 2 years I have been running ipilot, now ilink.

It works so good, I am gonna get me another one (with the auto deploy/store). This will be my third Ipilot. I love the pee stop button.

The spot lock feature is a good/nice/convenient feature on the IP but it will not hold your boat w/in the advertised circle. You will drift off and it will pull you back on target but it will not perform as advertised. If you plan on using the IP to "anchor" off of brush piles, you will drift off and then come back depending on wind/waves, etc. Wind/waves/wakes will push the boat off course/track if you use the maintain heading or whatever the feature is called when trolling, but it will keep the boat headed in that designated direction.

It's a great tool to have, but don't believe everything you read on the MK site. It's not perfect, but a good tool to have.

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Originally Posted by jimp

The spot lock feature is a good/nice/convenient feature on the IP but it will not hold your boat w/in the advertised circle. You will drift off and it will pull you back on target but it will not perform as advertised. If you plan on using the IP to "anchor" off of brush piles, you will drift off and then come back depending on wind/waves, etc. Wind/waves/wakes will push the boat off course/track if you use the maintain heading or whatever the feature is called when trolling, but it will keep the boat headed in that designated direction.

It's a great tool to have, but don't believe everything you read on the MK site. It's not perfect, but a good tool to have.

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X2!

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Originally Posted by superfly

I have considered an ipilot a few times, but I have concerns about a couple things. So those of you that have the ipilot fill me in. Here's my first concern. I have noticed that on my Humminbird 597ci hd that the GPS sometimes goes way off coarse when I'm moving very slowly or sitting still. It will at times show my boat to be 100 feet on the bank. So if the ipilot GPS is no more accurate, then how well will it hold on the spot lock feature? Also how well will it stay true on a saved trolling grid? And Lastly (I will be using it on the powerdrive v2) I am concerned about the loss of my foot pedal. A friend got a copilot and the remote is very small for arthritic, carpel tunnel ridden fingers. Is the ipilot remote more comfortable to the hand? Thanks in advance superfly.

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Turn your GPS up to max setting. I used to keep mine at 50% and couldn't get speeds below 1mph. at max. I get 0.1mph.

I don't own one but a couple of friends do and I can say that I will own one. I two pole a lot and use my pedal all the time so I will probably sell my Riptide PD V2 AP CP and buy a new I pilot with the pedal. Maybe I'll just talk Rees Guide outa his. I also think they're a good tool.

Mine is for sale

I like the convenience of the I Pilot remote when I need it, but I couldn't fish without my foot pedal and don't think I would want that TM if I had to give it up.

I use both the remote and pedal all the time on my Terrova, just a personal preference

I own the foot pedal and have never used it!

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Originally Posted by jimp

I use both the remote and pedal all the time on my Terrova, just a personal preference

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As much as I have tried this year to get used to foot pedal just can't get the swing of it. I keep remote in one hand for direction and foot on button for motor ON.

Wish this foot control could be adapted to Terrova.. CORDED FOOT PEDAL-POWERDRIVE V2 | Minn Kota Motors . Like the BIG buttons.

BTW, love my i-pilot.

-danny

I keep the pedal hooked up all the time. I use it if I'm changing baits or taking a fish off glance up oh shoot bump the pedal no sudden stop hello dock lol. Love my i pilot best thing I have purchased for my boat