Keep us posted I have force going on a boat soon!!!!!!!!
Keep us posted I have force going on a boat soon!!!!!!!!
I think you'll love it and hope you don't experience this issue. Everything else about the Force has been awesome.
I'm hopeful the new foot pedal fixes my issue but it's concerning to hear that other brands seem to have the same problem.
if it's a loss of GPS signal, I would think the default would be to disengage Anchor Lock and revert to manual user control.
If my foot pedal was "communicating" something strange, the new one should resolve the issue.
2023 Lund 2075 Pro V Bass XS
2023 Mercury Pro XS 250 4S
Excuse my ignorance on spotlock trolling motors but why haven't the manufacturers just put in a thrust limiter setting for spotlock? Seems it would be an easy software fix and if it takes the motor 20-30 secs to regain a spot, so be it.
There are settings that can control the sensitivity of how the TM responds while on spot or anchor lock, and you can adjust for wind or the size of your boat but those only seem to control it while it has the correct "signals".
I would think the same thing, it seems like the programming should default to manual control or have the option to limit thrust if it loses GPS. I'm not sure if that would make a difference in my case if the foot pedal was sending a different signal (ie accelerate at full power to port) to the motor vs it just losing the GPS signal. Or maybe they are programmed that was and not functioning correctly?
2023 Lund 2075 Pro V Bass XS
2023 Mercury Pro XS 250 4S
And this is why equipment in a marine setting needs cables for critical functions.
I had Xi5 around 3 years, never had this kind of problem.
Tangrine Orange Key 16604126S1
Anchor lock works really well on my Force. My only complaint regarding Anchor is when you are drifting along at a slow pace and then you hit anchor lock, the motor will swing around and go almost to full power to move you back to where it thinks you hit the anchor, then it usually has to swing around back to the forward direction and use medium to high thrust to compensate for how far in reverse it went. At this point you have blown out the area.
I've had to try and make a conscious effort to almost bring the boat to a stop or go ahead and start reversing on my own before hitting AL. It's not a major deal and if it was in high winds or deep water, the way it works would be fine. I just wish they could dial it back a little bit for how quickly it tries to get you to the spot when in reality you don't need it to be on that exact location 1-2ft mark boat was in when you pressed it.
My only other issues with Force is that my "navigate to" functions do not work with the chartplotter . I can go to a waypoint via the remote, but not the chartplotter. I am waiting on a response from them. It works with the remote, but not chartplotter
Same experience with anchor lock when it is initiated.
As to chart plotter with TM, I had the same experience and here is what Garmin told me and it works: If the trolling motor doesn't respond when engaging a route, go to your trolling motor bar, press the Menu button and ensure "Follow Route" is enabled. However, I don’t like the extra step.
2023 Lund 2075 Pro V Bass XS
2023 Mercury Pro XS 250 4S
No doubt Garmin will get it fixed, they have the best customer service out there. Certainly my previous issues with other brands were connectivity related. The programming on all brands should be changed to not respond wide open when signal is lost not matter if it's GPS signal or wireless foot pedal signal.
Update:
Well, I wish I had better news. Went out yesterday and had the exact same issue whether I used anchor lock on the remote or the foot pedal. It would still rapidly accelerate for no reason. I have a video but can’t upload it. It shows the motor running at full speed in a circle, it would then slow down a little bit and then accelerate again to full speed. You can clearly see anchor lock is on by the illuminated symbol. I let it do this for about three complete boat rotations until I shut it off but it would do the same thing almost every time I used anchor lock. Sometimes straight back, sometimes in a circle. I’ll be back on the phone with Garmin customer support tomorrow morning to see what they suggest.
Last edited by GMT; 05-31-2020 at 12:12 PM.
2023 Lund 2075 Pro V Bass XS
2023 Mercury Pro XS 250 4S
Further update, spoke with CS again this morning. Again, another very good call. Reps are very knowledgeable and do a great job of helping diagnose the problem and finding a solution.
It looks like Garmin will be sending me a new "drive assembly" along with the foot pedal. I'm not sure what all constitutes the drive assembly, but it sounds like I will not have to completely uninstall my existing Force, which is welcome news.
Foot pedals are back ordered until June 12th unfortunately. Once I have the new parts installed I'll let you all know if that fixes the issue. Hopefully just a bad unit.
So far, I have been very impressed with Garmin's response.
2023 Lund 2075 Pro V Bass XS
2023 Mercury Pro XS 250 4S
Just thought I would update again for anyone that is following.
Garmin sent me a new drive unit, basically the head unit, drive shaft and motor/transducer. I have not received the new foot pedal yet as they are still back ordered.
I took off the old drive and installed the new one and took it to the lake. Happy to say, it performed flawlessly. Anchor Lock worked great and I experienced no malfunctioning. It seems it was an issue with something in the drive, not the foot pedal.
I'm hopeful I'm good to go and will have no more issues. I'll add that I have been very impressed with Garmin customer service throughout this process. They are knowledgeable, seem to interact with their engineering section to understand the product and potential issues and everyone I spoke with was a fisherman and concerned about getting me a product that worked as advertised as quickly as possible.
2023 Lund 2075 Pro V Bass XS
2023 Mercury Pro XS 250 4S
2023 Lund 2075 Pro V Bass XS
2023 Mercury Pro XS 250 4S
Well, unfortunately I have to provide another update.
I thought the problem was resolved with the new drive unit. When I had the new unit on the lake this weekend, the problem came back. Same rapid acceleration, either in circles or backwards.
I had just seen the new service bulletin the day before so I tried raising the shaft on the trolling motor to provide more clearance for the coil. I had been operating the unit with the shaft as fully deployed as possible. After raising it up about 4", I did not have the problem for the rest of the day so it seems like the issue was with the coil being compressed, not the foot pedal or the drive unit. I"ll have to remount my livescope transducer closer to the motor now as it hits the bracket when it's stowed and redo some wiring. Had I know this, I might have went with the 57" shaft, I"m not sure.
I"ll just be glad if I can trust the Anchor Lock feature going forward.
2023 Lund 2075 Pro V Bass XS
2023 Mercury Pro XS 250 4S
Quite often, if I am moving at a decent speed, I will activate anchor lock, have the motor spin around to start backing the boat up, then deactivate and reactive anchor lock again. This seems to stop the move backwards too far then move back forward too far cycle. It's only a couple of additional quick button presses, and I usually do it on my remote. I know this backward/forward cycling should probably not be happening, but it is a fix I use until a more permanent fix comes along.