Minn Kota I-Pilot

[Jeff C.]

I've had my new Terrova with I-pilot for a few weeks now and one word describes it - Amazing. Its so easy to just put it on autopilot and forget about driving the motor while I fish a bank. I think I've been catching more since I've got it because I can concentrate on fishing rather than driving the motor.

And the anchor feature is kick a$$. I know a lot of you are putting Pro Poles in your boats but the I-pilot anchor will hold you in place just as well regardless of current or wind and you aren't limited to using it in shallow water like the Pro Pole. The Terrova has heel to toe steering somewhat similar to cable driven motors. It does steer slower than a cable motor but in my opinion the advantages of having the I-pilot far outweigh this issue. I haven't used it for flipping in the Delta yet, so I can't say if the slow steering will become an issue there.

[jamescaird]

I had 2 different Minnkota autopilots bow mount trollers on my previous bay boat, and I could get it to hover on a spot using the autopilot (just not as easily as the I-Pilot as I had to manually adjust power to make it hover). For some types of fishing the autopilot feature is awesome, and the I-Pilot system is even better with the GPS integration.

I disagree however on the shallow water anchoring aspect....The big difference between a real anchor like a powerpole or pushpole stabbed in the mud, tied off on the stern and a bow mount troller hovering you in a spot is you are not holding the nose of the boat into the wind/waves making a bunch of boat noise with a stern mounted anchor. You also don't have a trolling motor kicking on and off, electric servo motor turning the head noisily back and forth, etc... so while the I-Pilot will hover you, it misses the whole point of a shallow water anchoring system - stealth.

Currently I run a Maxxum 101 and to me the ultimate troller would be the I-Pilot, but with dual controls like an airplane - cable AND electric... one as an overlay to the other... so you can use it on autopilot, etc... but have the option of going to regular cable control when desired.