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I am thinking of purchasing the motorguide Xi3 with pin point 55lb thrust. I currently have an Edge Minnkota bow mount that is hand controlled but would like to upgrade to a unit with spot lock and a remote that I can control speed with. Any body have any advice. I will spend necessary money to get what will work but pockets have bottoms also. 12 volt 55 pound thrust moves my boat fine now so would like to stay in that range.
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I've got the XI5 and love it, mine is 12vlt 55# also and controls my 18 ft pontoon in 16mph wind just fine.
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Let us know if theres any interest in selling the old one pleasee..I may be interested...
The spot lock capability is real nice at times!!!!
I have 2 and love them both, get the remote that goes around your neck
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Been running a XI-5 for five years. It does a lot of gps searching in lite wind, makes a lot of noise and is cumbersome in launching/retrieving, extends beyond the bow of boat, loses contact with foot controller occasionally, foot controller build quality/use is horrible especially if you bass fish, syncing beeps are worthless, no off /on switch , hand controller has no speed or battery life indicator. The good things, sitting on a spot in a big wind catching big crappie like I have this week, sitting and following routes, gps headings, auto cruise and depth. It is a love/hate relationship for me. Having said this the 5 has never needed service or repaired. Still have my MK Maxxum and often threaten to put it back to use. The 5 is great for crappie fishing not so much for bassing.
Not sure if you have purchased a new one yet..but my two cents advice.... if you do get one with a remote, make sure it also comes with a foot control. I had an iPilot with remote and found it cumbersome to run so I decided to order a foot control. My model wasn't compatible for one. Found on older MinnKota online for $100, sold mine for $400, bought beer with the difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fishfood123
Win-Win-Win......
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Haven’t bought one yet but thanks for advice. I run a hand control now but would like to have remote and foot controls as you stated and am mostly upgrading to get spot lock.
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foot control sucks on them, pedal is very stiff.. had mine going on 2 yrs and while it does search for gps signal when its calm it is in no way noisy, very quiet in fact, Minn Kotas are way noisier then the Motorguide.. I can bass fish with mine just as easy as a foot controlled motor just put it on slowest setting and cruise along bank casting..
as far as launching/loading getting the way way, you can buy a bracket that you mount the Xi5 on that has a pin in it you pull when loading and you lift/pull your motor back over edge of your floor out of way , load and put motor back install pen.. I have it on my pontoon and it works great unless you forget to do it. What is a pain in the but is stowing/deploying motor, they could of come up with a little better design for it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbowling
They did, Its called an Ulterra :biggrin
Foot controls do seem awkward on the Minn Kota as well. Ive tried using mine a few times but it seems tricky to me. I can see where people that do live in the front of the boat prefer the cable steer motors. I use follow contour, autopilot, go-to waypoint, etc for all my navigation and just avoid the foot pedal. I don't usually need to use the remote enough to keep it on me- which is good, because the touch screen doesn't seem to do well with dangling against your body.
This is true, wish I would of went ahead and bought one before my Xi5 but at the time was using on 14 ft V bottom and was fairly easy to deploy/stow, on pontoon more of a pain as its between my seats.. I still really like it though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by binfordw
Sheared the bolt that holds the handle on top of shaft of my minnkota 55 edge today. It was windy and I fought it to stay on fish all day. Only dinks to be had. All the more reason to get a new trolling motor even though it will be pretty simple to fix.
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