GPS trolling motor links.

[Knot there yet]

Motor guide& Lowrance =Hummingbird & MinnKota. Big $$$$. Are they worth installing or just buy new boat?
 I don't like pairing you should have your choice.of GPS and Motor.
 I see it becoming standard soon  on GPS's and wireless.
Will it work on electric kicker motors?
I was most impressed with the concept of anchor mode. The need to stop or stay put would help in how I fish. But if it can read the GPS can it read sonar and find the fish then stop when you get there?
Could you tell it to stay on a school of alwife let say?(if it can I'm hooked) or even just a target rich environment perhaps.
 Tuna guy told me kid on his boat found that a couple captain linked there tablets to sonar. Kid had all their numbers and sonar images. "That's why they call it wicked tuna"
 I'm not against authorized sharing.So how does it no what to share. Even with the network I'm saying.
I'm lazy and would love to think I chould tell boat drive around the lake on 20' contour line. But if water level down three feet where will I be?Who much can I trust the mapping chip?
Do I have to pay to upgrade chip too?
So much to consider?

[Jethro]

Ok, I think you are giving the system too much credit. There are a few ways to use the GPS that is integrated with the trolling motor. One is the anchor mode you talked about. It simply uses GPS to keep you in one spot regardless of wind and/or current. Another way to use it is to reproduce a previous track. So you go to your favorite bass lake and use the foot pedal to drive around in a certain path. The GPS tracks that path, then you can store it, and the next time you fish that lake you can have the GPS recreate your path following the same track. Another way the linked systems work is you can tell the head unit you want to stay on say, the 14' depth line. Start heading in a certain direction and it keeps you in 14' of water. I am not sure if that uses the charts more or the sonar, possibly both. I know that on almost all chartplotters you can plug in an offset to compensate for low or high water. Even my Helix 5 does that.

As far as I know- and I do not own an I-Link motor or head unit- it does not keep you on a school of fish because interpreting the marks is up to you. You can however, even on cheaper sonars, record pictures or "screenshots" of the sonar which will have GPS locations for future reference.

The sharing you are speaking of is bathymetric data/depth charts. The charts/chips are only so accurate, but the more people that drive over a certain body of water, if all that data is compiled and then shared with all users then the charts get very accurate. That's the theory anyway and I believe that is what you are talking about with "sharing." I don't believe it sends data on anything else, but who knows.

My guess is the kid with the tablet with numbers and images hacked into someone elses boat at the dock using wifi. Almost all the high end head units have wifi capabilities so you can send all your data to an external device in seconds. These head units have security measures that are probably overlooked by most commercial fishermen because they don't tend to be "techy" type people. Kind of like people with wireless routers in their house. Many people don't turn on their security firewall because they don't understand the risks. But without the security active I can (if I wanted to) sit at the end of their driveway with a $179 Samsung tablet and download all your emails, passwords, banking info, plane tickets and so on...

Anyway, back on topic, are they worth installing? Think of it like installing some kind of aftermarket stereo in your car. Does it really help you drive places more effectively over the stock stereo? Well no, of course not, but you might enjoy it more. By the way, there are trolling motors you can buy that have GPS that aren't linked to a head unit at all and have the electric anchor and tracking mode, thus reducing the cost.

[Mac Attack]

The ipilot has its own built in GPS
You don't need to connect it to your fishfinder/GPS head unit.
But it can be done for some "enhanced" features

Mac

[fire314]

I just bought a new starcraft boat this year and yes i spent the money on an i5 motorguide and a lowrance gen 3 with the link for the motor the anchor mode is great while fishing for perch in 50 feet of water today i was able to hold over the huge school where my brother had to tie up to me because he couldn't the capibilitys of this combo are endless i have just scratched the surface of what this thing is able to do and yes it is expensive but i feal it is well worth the money to put you on fish and keep you there the only reason i went with motorguide was because i like the lowrance interface over the hummingbird or i would have bought the minkota with the stow feature almost same price

[Knot there yet]

Wow good info. Still not sure worth four digit upgrade though.

[Mac Attack]

Wow good info. Still not sure worth four digit upgrade though.

Worth every penny.

I have the Min Kota Terrova 80#, with ipilot.

Worth every penny!!!

Trolling for eyes using the ipilot to hold course in concert with my 8hp Honda kicker..
Anchor lock for perch in 70 FOW on Erie.
Jigging smallies on humps out on Erie.
Following a weed contour line while throwing a large blade for pike.


Worth every penny.

Mac

[Knot there yet]

How does it work with kicker?
 

[Doubles Shooter]

you can use the iPilot Trolling motors to steer the boat. I do it all the time with my Terrova. I just set the boat motor straight ahead. I fish alone a lot and it's great to have the boat under control when I'm busy playing a fish. Having front steering also makes it much easier to hold course when trolling on windy days.

[hnd]

I went from a cable steer motorguide to a 80lb terrova with ipilot (no link)  and the difference is worth much more than the cost. 

I do a lot of brush and standing timber fishing for crappie, vertical jigging for walleye, and trolling for walleye.   The ipilot doesn't catch the fish for you certainly but it will keep you on the spot or line so much better than cable steer its not even funny.   

a few scenarios,

you know the trick when brush fishing  spending as much concentration getting the drift just right as you are concentrating on your jig.  one 5 minute drift usually works like this, 1 minute drifting outside the spot, 2 minutes drifting in the spot, 1 minute drifting outside the spot and another minute positioning the boat back to make another run.    with the ipilot you are basically on the spot the entire time.  it drifts a bit within a 10' radius basically but for the most part your concentrating on your jigging and not your footpedal. 

here locally we spend a lot of time vertical jigging for walleye in community holes where there are people all moving around you.  the ipilot lets you record that drift and recreate it over and over again at a set speed.    there is a spot where everyone just kind of moved in a circle and I can record it one time, set my cruise to .3mph and just jig away without having to do much.   especially when you get on a current seam.  you'll see guys with their cable steer trying to stay just inside the current seam and lose it and get pushed out down river.   I can just ride that seam at .3 mph and vertical jig that hotspot with ease while the cable steer guy or even non ipilot guys struggle to keep their drift easy. 

for trolling, I can set a path or use auto pilot to account for wind and current and just cruise at an exact speed really easy.  my motor is too big to troll with but trolling with my cable steer footpedal was a pain in the neck….last year I watched a guy lose at least a 7lb walleye because his boat near drifted into a rock wall shore because he had to net it himself and take his foot off his cable steer unit.

It really has changed the way I fish.  I figure if this thing lasts me 10 years, its worth $150 bucks a year to have it.  (in reality I bought mine off a guy selling for parts and fixed it for around $50 bucks….in the end a 400 buck investment) but I was about to drop the 1500 bucks within the month. 

[Mac Attack]

How does it work with kicker?
 

I do it same as others.
Use the kicker on low Throttle pointed straight ahead.
Use the ipilot to vary or hold your speed.
Also use ipilot to maintain a course with the auto pilot function.
The kicker does a lot of the work saving your batteries
Used to just use the terrova but only got 5-6 hrs of trolling

Mac

[steelie1975]

I just bought a new starcraft boat this year and yes i spent the money on an i5 motorguide and a lowrance gen 3 with the link for the motor the anchor mode is great while fishing for perch in 50 feet of water today i was able to hold over the huge school where my brother had to tie up to me because he couldn't the capibilitys of this combo are endless i have just scratched the surface of what this thing is able to do and yes it is expensive but i feal it is well worth the money to put you on fish and keep you there the only reason i went with motorguide was because i like the lowrance interface over the hummingbird or i would have bought the minkota with the stow feature almost same price

you are aware that you could of bought the terrova with  US2 connection and hooked up you lowrance right?

[Mac Attack]

you are aware that you could of bought the terrova with  US2 connection and hooked up you lowrance right?

Yup - He's correct - the MKR-US2-10 UNIVERSAL SONAR 2 ADAPTER CABLE-LOWRANCE | MFR #1852060

This will handle the job.

Only $29.00

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/Products/MKR-US2-10-UNIVERSAL-SONAR-2-ADAPTER-CABLE-LOWRANCE/

[fire314]

this cable is for the sonar transducer only not for the pinpoint link to control the motor from the depth finder via the nmea 2000 connection. like the i link works on the ulterra with the H-bird

[Mac Attack]

Gotcha!

Makes sense now.

[hnd]

yeah my buddy has teh link and i think in many scenarios it would be very useful.  i don't have that many fishing situations yet that call for it.