Customer Reviews

Johnson Outdoors MinnKota i-Pilot Accessory for Terrova Trolling Motors

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I got a new boat this spring (first one ever). I decided I was going to rig it with this motor because it seemed to have everything I wanted. The last boat I owned had a under-powered, cable-controlled motor that was a constant pain. It interfered with fishing. I researched a bit and discovered iPilot and immediately knew this was for me.

After one season, these are my impressions:

I fish on the upper Mississippi where current and wind are a constant challenge. When you find fish, you can drop anchor or press a button on the remote to hold you in position using the 'virtual anchor'. It works great in all but extreme wind and current conditions. In those situations, the wind tends to spin the boat and the motor has trouble dealing with that. If the bow stays into the wind and current, the thing is rock-solid.

Trolling speed can be controlled precisely because the iPilot uses GPS to monitor speed. The cruise control will keep your boat on heading at the speed you specify. It adjusts the motor faster/slower to keep that speed constant which is great if you're using a rig to bump along the bottom.

You can program routes into it. This is something I do all the time. When I want to fish a weed line or along a bottom feature, I press the record button, watch the sonar or weed line and quickly cruise the route under outboard power. After I have the route recorded, I hit play on the remote and the thing pilots the boat following the path I recorded. It can store three of these routes, each up to two miles long. It will play them forward and backward allowing you to retrace your path at any point along the route. The cruise control can be used to control the speed of the boat to cover the route as fast or as slowly as you want. You can pause along the way to throw a few more casts on one promising area. The routes stay in the motor until over-written so you can go right back the next day and the next and simply press play. The boat then drives itself while you fish. I love this!

Overall, I am happy with the purchase. It took a few trips to learn all the motor would do and how to make it do what I wanted. After that, it was a breeze. On one trip, I threw the remote to a buddy in another boat. He remote-controlled my boat from a distance. The remote has quite a long range. While we were doing it for laughs, it occurred to me later that this would be a life-saving feature if you happened to fall overboard and wind/current pushed the boat away from you. The remote is water-proof and floats.

I bought a Terrova (80) a couple of seasons ago and this IPilot at the beginning of this years season (2011). This is the best fishing money I have spent. Hooking it up to a Terrova amounts to taking 4 screws off the cover of the Terrova, plugging the IPilot receiver in and replacing the four screws. I literally spent 15 minutes on it with a handscrewdriver and was done. I normally fish Lake Geneva in WI- and the waves and boat chop can get harrowing(3 feet plus). My favorite feature is the "anchor" function. In choppy weather I give the system about 45 seconds to adjust after I push the anchor button: it puts you back to where you pushed it even if you are drifting. Some of the initial moves to get "back" can be abrupt (again only in bad weather or if you push it while "coasting"). After that short adjustment I found the moves back to center are very smooth. In rough conditions the boat will move a little: maybe about 10 feet or so from center. We not only use it for fishing but sunning, watching fireworks on the lake, etc. That has decreased the complaints from my wife about spending this money because she likes it too. I have not taken my real anchor out all year. What a huge relief for my back: that alone is worth it. I also use the "directional" button a lot. Point the front of the trolling motor at spot down the shoreline and set the speed (arrow up, arrow down- very simple)and it heads you toward that spot while you fish. In bad weather I do have to make a few course corrections on this sometimes but I have the remote on me and doing so takes one second and can be done from wherever I am...its unreal how much simpler boat control is...this changes the whole fishing experience for me and everyone I am with and I have many more fish this year to prove. (Geneva smallmouth- can't beat 'em). The readout on the remote tells you the speed you are moving so if you want a certain trolling speed you dont need to see any of your other electronics to see it! Its awesome- simple and tremendously effective. The battery in it is one of those flat types. It has the battery "model #" posted on the back of the remote. Make sure you add the letter "N' to it. I cant recall what the battery number is but if says "12345" then get the battery that is "12345N". Tight lines.