The best toy i ever bought

[Hlleonard]

I have one, but I entered to have a chance to win another one.
thought I'd share this link with all you guys. if I don't win it, I hope someone on fishin.com does Hlleonard sense you were talking about buying one. I hope you win one.
but Good luck to all.
Minn Kota Motors

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Thanks a bunch, I would love to save 1300 dollars on the motor, I tried to talk myself out of buying it but so far I have lost the argument.

[kydonky]

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I'm not sure I could be that trusting either but I am intrigued with the idea of not having to concentrate so much on boat positioning.

I have the Terrova 80lb iPilot on my 18 footer. I put the 80lb model on this boat even thogh the 55lb would have probably worked fine.

I can fish the Ky river is very swift current and the 80 lbs handles the current with no problems, its also better on the lakes in high wind conditions.

I can set the anchor posistion feature fishing the fast current below the dam and that thing will hold you in place for hours without touching the controls.

I don't go to sleep depending on it or what I'm saying is that if you have common sense you will keep an awareness of your position and conditions around you.

The track feature is also cool, but it would take pages on here to do it justice.

All this being said I would not recomend it for anyone (but me). I want to catch the ones that you guys miss finding that foot switch.

[Hlleonard]

I have the Terrova 80lb iPilot on my 18 footer. I put the 80lb model on this boat even thogh the 55lb would have probably worked fine.

I can fish the Ky river is very swift current and the 80 lbs handles the current with no problems, its also better on the lakes in high wind conditions.

I can set the anchor posistion feature fishing the fast current below the dam and that thing will hold you in place for hours without touching the controls.

I don't go to sleep depending on it or what I'm saying is that if you have common sense you will keep an awareness of your position and conditions around you.

The track feature is also cool, but it would take pages on here to do it justice.

All this being said I would not recomend it for anyone (but me). I want to catch the ones that you guys miss finding that foot switch.

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I want to catch the ones that you guys miss finding that foot switch

LOL...I have been looking at this motor for about 2 months and so far nobody that has bought it has any regrets... Some say the spot lock feature is a bit over advertised as far as keeping you in the 5 foot range.... I'm gong with the 55 terova simply because I'm just not comfortable with not having a foot switch, I have a 46 pound motor now, never have a need for the high position unless it's just moving from here to there, if the wind is that strong I usually stay home that day, another perk of being retired, it's always the weekend... 1200 dollars is stiff for a trolling motor for a 17 foot boat though.

[waterdog101]

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Thanks a bunch, I would love to save 1300 dollars on the motor, I tried to talk myself out of buying it but so far I have lost the argument.

did you click on the link, and enter for the drawing, they are going to give away a few of them. you never know, someone will win one. it could be you.

but even if you have to buy one, you will love it. it takes all the work out of fishing. here is something I learned the other day while crappie fishing a fallen tree. I hit the anchor button and it held me in the 5 foot circle. but the wind would make the boat turn in circles.

so I trolled around and put the front of my boat into the wind, and trolled very slow back up to the spot I wanted to anchor on. but instead of pushing the anchor button, I keep pressing the prop button until it would turn slow enough to hold the boat in the wind and not enough prop speed to let it push forward. worked just like having an anchor dropped and wouldn't let the boat turn. this is the truth, I wouldn't go back to the old style trolling motor, if I had to pay double for the i-pilot.

[Hlleonard]

did you click on the link, and enter for the drawing, they are going to give away a few of them. you never know, someone will win one. it could be you.

but even if you have to buy one, you will love it. it takes all the work out of fishing. here is something I learned the other day while crappie fishing a fallen tree. I hit the anchor button and it held me in the 5 foot circle. but the wind would make the boat turn in circles.

so I trolled around and put the front of my boat into the wind, and trolled very slow back up to the spot I wanted to anchor on. but instead of pushing the anchor button, I keep pressing the prop button until it would turn slow enough to hold the boat in the wind and not enough prop speed to let it push forward. worked just like having an anchor dropped and wouldn't let the boat turn. this is the truth, I wouldn't go back to the old style trolling motor, if I had to pay double for the i-pilot.

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I entered soon as I read your previous post... Pretty much everybody that has posted about buying one of these is tickled pink with it.... Somebody from this board posted about having a bad experience with it, something concerning a problem fishing standing timber I think it was but that's the only negative response I have read...One fella was saying he had learned to use the spot lock drift to his advantage..If the think works anywhere close to the positives responses I have read about it I'll be satisfied.. Thanks for the link and the info....

[BuckeyeAl]

I bought a new 18.5 boat with an 80# Terrova on it last January. I love it. I actually use the heading button as much as anything else. You just set it on a heading to stay how ever far off the shoreline you want to be. Even with the wind the boat stays that distance from shore. All you have to do is make minor adjustments to your heading as you move down the shoreline. At times I do find myself having to stop a retrieve to make course adjustments.

The spot lock is not perfect. At first I was concerned that using spotlock could wrap the cord around the motor and break the wires which isn't covered by warranty. It seemed to never go more that a full 360 degrees in either direction. It can keep the head of the trolling motor within 10 feet of the spot lock setting but it does struggle some in high winds. It also doesn't maintain the orientation of the boat. If your facing the north but there's a good wind out of the west, the boat will end up pointing to the west.

I spent a week at Cave Run last April and did struggle some in the standing timber. I spent quite a bit of time steering the boat between the trees.

Overall, I would buy it again.

[Hlleonard]

I bought a new 18.5 boat with an 80# Terrova on it last January. I love it. I actually use the heading button as much as anything else. You just set it on a heading to stay how ever far off the shoreline you want to be. Even with the wind the boat stays that distance from shore. All you have to do is make minor adjustments to your heading as you move down the shoreline. At times I do find myself having to stop a retrieve to make course adjustments.

The spot lock is not perfect. At first I was concerned that using spotlock could wrap the cord around the motor and break the wires which isn't covered by warranty. It seemed to never go more that a full 360 degrees in either direction. It can keep the head of the trolling motor within 10 feet of the spot lock setting but it does struggle some in high winds. It also doesn't maintain the orientation of the boat. If your facing the north but there's a good wind out of the west, the boat will end up pointing to the west.

I spent a week at Cave Run last April and did struggle some in the standing timber. I spent quite a bit of time steering the boat between the trees.

Overall, I would buy it again.

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Nobody is unhappy with the motor, I did see one video in which the motor wound the cord around the shaft but supposedly something went wrong with the thing which can happen to anything...Thanks, I have to buy the thing just to see why everybody loves it.

[GeoFisher]

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Nobody is unhappy with the motor, I did see one video in which the motor wound the cord around the shaft but supposedly something went wrong with the thing which can happen to anything...Thanks, I have to buy the thing just to see why everybody loves it.

I had one similar.....it was the precursor, I think. An autopilot. I loved the autopilot component, but in a wind, while fishing stumps or when you needed to make a move quickly, the mechanical head simply could not move quickly enough.

I ended up selling my autopilot to someone here for about 1/2 the price of a new one. The guy I sold it to (Raporter, I think) wanted it for a pontoon......

Later,

Geo

[Hlleonard]

I had one similar.....it was the precursor, I think. An autopilot. I loved the autopilot component, but in a wind, while fishing stumps or when you needed to make a move quickly, the mechanical head simply could not move quickly enough.

I ended up selling my autopilot to someone here for about 1/2 the price of a new one. The guy I sold it to (Raporter, I think) wanted it for a pontoon......

Later,

Geo

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I was thinking you were the fella that had the bad experience with the electric steer motor and had switched it back to the standard foot control... The major reason I am looking at this motor is the problems I have with my joints trying to maintain position with the foot switch I have now... I do fish the standing timber at caverun quite a bit and am hoping I can adjust to that, mostly I crappie fish on a small lake close to here and it has none of that type cover, brush piles on the bottom are the main source of cover there and I'm hoping it makes that easier... I'm keeping my foot operated motor and if I can't make it work in the timber I'm hoping I can mount it so I can switch the two if I need to.

[GeoFisher]

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I was thinking you were the fella that had the bad experience with the electric steer motor and had switched it back to the standard foot control... The major reason I am looking at this motor is the problems I have with my joints trying to maintain position with the foot switch I have now... I do fish the standing timber at caverun quite a bit and am hoping I can adjust to that, mostly I crappie fish on a small lake close to here and it has none of that type cover, brush piles on the bottom are the main source of cover there and I'm hoping it makes that easier... I'm keeping my foot operated motor and if I can't make it work in the timber I'm hoping I can mount it so I can switch the two if I need to.

The standing timber issue and fishing in the wind when when it is blowing every direction in the world was a big issue for me. So much that I took a 900 motor off, cussed a little, SOLD it for 400 bucks and purchased a different one.

I sure hope it works out for you. And I did like quite a bit about the motor, but the negatives were too much for me.....I guess it really depends on how you want to use it, and how you plan on fishing.

Later,

Geo