Thinking of upgrading to Xi5 and Lowrance

I have a bass tracker panfish (16' stick steer) and I'm thinking about upgrading to the Xi5 with pinpoint gps and get a Lowrance to link it to. I sink structure and fish on top of it for crappie. So, the main thing I want to do is tell the xi5 to go to a waypoint that I have saved and then be able to see the structure in the graph when I get there.

This is the combo I had in mind:
12v with 45" shaft xi5 with pinpoint gps
Gateway kit
NMEA 2000 starter kit
Lowrance Elite 7 ti with no transducer (just use transducer in Xi5) and no extra map. I don't care about having a detailed lake map. I just want to be able too see the waypoints I have saved on the screen.

Does that combination sound like it would work well?

I also thought about maybe getting a HDS-5 gen 2. Looks like you can get one of those cheap. Would that work with the xi5?

I also have a Humminbird with side scan, so I'm not worried about that function on the Lowrance. I rarely use side scan on the one I have.

All Gen 2 and Gen 3 units interface with the XI5, as long as you have the Gateway and NMEA 2k. I have a 1199 on the console, 998 on the bow and a Lowrance HDS 7 Gen 3 touch on the bow connected to my XI5. No ducer connected to the HDS, only use GPS in it. Have all my waypoints loaded in all 3 units. All I do is touch the waypoint on the screen of the HDS and I get a pop up on the screen asking me if I want Auto Pilot to steer me to Waypoint ###, I confirm, and the motor takes over and sets my boat dead on the point and anchors (be sure to set the option to anchor once it gets to the point). I can go to the back of the boat and build a sammich while the XI5 takes me to the next brush pile!!

Thanks for the reply. That sounds great! I couldn't stand it any longer and I ended up ordering the xi5, gateway, NMEA 2000 kit, elite 7 ti, & a 7 to 9 pin adaptor so I can connect it to the built in transducer. I watched videos and it looked like the elite will do everything I want it to do. I'm excited, can't wait for it to come in!

How accurate does the autopilot put you on the way point? Like will it put the brush pile right on your sonar or do you still have to search a little?

I hope it gets pretty close, but I don't see how it could do better than other GPS systems. If it will get within 10' or so initially and then hold me on the spot once I move around and find it, I will be happy. Maybe Pop N Cork can answer that. I'll post an update once I try it out. I've noticed that with my handheld gps, it will get me within 10 feet or so, but if I mark a new waypoint on the tree top, the new waypoint will be right on for that day. The next trip, the new point will be off a few feet as well. We will see. I can't wait to try it out.

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Originally Posted by uofa314

I hope it gets pretty close, but I don't see how it could do better than other GPS systems. If it will get within 10' or so initially and then hold me on the spot once I move around and find it, I will be happy. Maybe Pop N Cork can answer that. I'll post an update once I try it out. I've noticed that with my handheld gps, it will get me within 10 feet or so, but if I mark a new waypoint on the tree top, the new waypoint will be right on for that day. The next trip, the new point will be off a few feet as well. We will see. I can't wait to try it out.

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I think that you would be better off, manually finding the waypoint/brush pile. Then use the anchor function.

You're probably right. I thought maybe I could use the jog function to move around to find the brush pile, but I'll have to play around with it I guess. At least I'll have a new toy to play with when I can't catch fish...lol

nothing more frustrating than marking a bunch of fish and then turning around and not being able to find the brush again. i would definitely get the gateway if it could put me on the waypoint better than my poor steering could lol

Mine is so precise, that the problem I have, is the difference in the puck location for my Humminbird units, and the internal antennae in the Lowrance unit are about 12 ft apart. If I marked a pile with my HB unit, then transfer those coordinates into my Lowrance, then my anchor point is 12 ft off my brush. Then I have to factor in my Transducer location. I use the 5' jog features on the lowrance unit to position my boat to view the brush pile on my 2D, then drop a buoy near my transducer and fish around the buoy. I am very impressed with the technology in this setup, but still prefer the HB imagining features, and despise the fact that Lowrance cannot be purchased as a "Turnkey" unit. The Imaging transducer has to be purchased extra, takes a separate purchase for NMEA 2k kit, separate purchase for Gateway to MG, and on and on. I also like the ability to manage my waypoints on my desktop with Humminbird PC. If you have a large number of points, you have the ability to edit them, manually enter, etc on your computer, then load back in the unit.

I still use a handheld garmin to mark my spots. I hold the garmin directly over the top when I mark it. I'm going to try to put the Lowrance as close to the Xi5 as possible, but it will be a few feet from it. As long as the Garmin and Lowrance are using the same map datum, I'm thinking it should get me pretty close. I agree about having to buy separate components for the Lowrance. It starts adding up having to buy all of that. I use a free program called easyGPS to edit my waypoints. I can upload the waypoints to my computer and then delete them from my Garmin. I can then rename the waypoints and copy only the ones I want to keep back to my Garmin. I think I will be able to do the same thing with the Lowrance with that program. The trolling motor and Lowrance is supposed to be here Friday, so hopefully I get to try it all out this weekend.

I got to try it out today and I think I'm going to like it. The anchor mode worked great. I didn't even have to put a buoy out. Once I saw the top in the Lowrance, the anchor mode held the boat right there. I also tried out navigating to waypoints by selecting the waypoint on the Lowrance and then telling the trolling motor to navigate to waypoint. It usually went straight to the waypoint, but sometimes I had to use the jog function to adjust the anchor point. I took a video. I'll try to post a link. Notice in the video at the top of the screen that it says Navigating and then after it switches to anchor, the top appears on the screen shortly after. I played with the trolling motor mostly, but I did catch a few crappie. Had 2 around 14".

Xi5 pinpoint gateway - YouTube

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looks like the xi5 put you exactly on that waypoint. cool stuff