MinnKota iPilot Link: Information Resource

[jejb]

These answers are out of order.

Cruise control will control the speed, cruise control can be used in conjunction with follow track, advanced autopilot, and auto pilot to control boat speed.

So there are more than one option for speed, it sounds like, at least in some cases. You can either tell it to use "cruise control" or tell it a certain prop speed?

"Would you fish dry land?" My point was you manually have to drive a different place with foot control, with i pilot link you have options to let TM do it.

I do not use my foot control for that kind of thing. I still have the foot control hooked up to my PD V2, but only use it maybe once or twice a day, mostly just to take the motor off of "constant on" mode when I don't have a rod with copilot in my hand for some reason. I do 99% of my TM work using the copilot remotes. I don't think there's any question that driving the TM manually would still be a huge part of my day even with all the nice tools the iPilot has. As I've said, it's very frustrating to me to see MK not make the copilots work with the iPilot. Very short sighted, to put it very nicely. I'd love to spend the money on an iPilot system, but there's no way I could go back to foot control (so last century) or go to fishing with one hand, which the iPilot would require the majority of the time, at least on the lakes around here.

If the Bluff wall was on the North side with clear view to the South it would probably work fine. It is all about the gps reception, the better the gps lock the better it controls the boat in spot lock, follow track, and advanced autopilot.

Thanks for pointing that out. Our lakes look like a Chinese Dragon on a map, so I'm sure there would be GPS issues at times.

[Jason_Halfen_#511]

So there are more than one option for speed, it sounds like, at least in some cases. You can either tell it to use "cruise control" or tell it a certain prop speed?

The only time that I have encountered a default prop speed is when using the Go To function for a Spot Lock location. In that case, the default prop speed = 10.

All other Go To functions that I have used (Go To a waypoint, route, or iTrack) allow the user to set whatever prop speed they want, either manually or in conjunction with the Cruise Control function. Adjusting the speed while Go To is active, for those navigational targets, does not deactivate the Go To feature. In other words, you could be using the Go To feature to navigate a route, catch a couple of fish, and then slow yourself way down to focus more carefully on that area without kicking yourself out of Go To navigation.

[Jason_Halfen_#511]

The next entry in our i-Pilot Link field test video series is now available:

Users of i-Pilot systems are familiar with i-Pilot's ability to record and replay a track. i-Pilot Link takes this approach one step further, by allowing a user to create and navigational route using a set of pre-existing waypoints on the user's Humminbird fish finder. i-Pilot Link uses these waypoints as GPS targets, and will follow the route created from them at any speed selected by the user. By doing so, you can create the equivalent of a recorded track...without the need to pre-record it!

You can see this process in action in the short video here:

How to create and follow a navigation route with i-Pilot Link

[fsae99]

Jason, great video. Do routes navigated with i pilot link have the same 2 mile limitation as i tracks?

[Doug Vahrenberg]

Can you adjust speed from the Humminbird or the iPilot Remote when navigating a track or route? Seen you set to 10 but what if you wanted to speed up or slow down can that be done without the pedal?

[Jason_Halfen_#511]

Doug, the answer to your question is yes. Speed is completely adjustable from the pedal or the remote while following a route.

[Jason_Halfen_#511]

Jason, great video. Do routes navigated with i pilot link have the same 2 mile limitation as i tracks?

I believe the answer to this question is also yes. I will check on that and confirm.

[Bob B]

Jason, I noticed that in the video, you were always selecting 1 waypoint ahead of your current goto selection.....Can you select multiple waypoints in rapid sequence without waiting?

[Jason_Halfen_#511]

Jason, I noticed that in the video, you were always selecting 1 waypoint ahead of your current goto selection.....Can you select multiple waypoints in rapid sequence without waiting?

Absolutely. Once route navigation has been started (you've selected one waypoint or other position and pressed Go To), i-Pilot Link assumes that all other positions that the user selects should be added, in sequence, to the route. You can even do this before the boat is underway (Go To first position is activated but prop is still off).

[Doug Vahrenberg]

Could you create a Route in the Master Menu like you can do for normal navigation with the Humminbird by selecting waypoint names from you list of waypoints? I really like the feature you showed because you don't have to remember the names and where they are located. This looks much easier but if someone wanted to pre-plan at home could they set up iPilot Route prior to hitting the Lake?

[mduncan62]

I've decided against this. Had many a crappie fisherman PM and say that it drifts so far off the spot that you get hung up in the brush or you're just so far off your spot that you don't catch. I wanted to believe and achieve. I can hold you on a brush pile in 15-20mph winds won't budge. When it counts, when you have to stay in a 1-2ft zone, cable steer will do it.

[Bass Boat TR21x05]

I've decided against this. Had many a crappie fisherman PM and say that it drifts so far off the spot that you get hung up in the brush or you're just so far off your spot that you don't catch. I wanted to believe and achieve. I can hold you on a brush pile in 15-20mph winds won't budge. When it counts, when you have to stay in a 1-2ft zone, cable steer will do it.

You can use the TM normal in those situations and have the benifit.

[fsae99]

I can hold you on a brush pile in 15-20mph winds won't budge. When it counts, when you have to stay in a 1-2ft zone, cable steer will do it.

I think very unlikely anyone can hold a boat in a circle less than 2 feet in a 20 mph wind with a cable or hand steer while actually catching fish. Just doing nothing else but watching graph gps and landmarks you might get within 5 ft, once a fish is on and you have to take it off the hook all bets are off.

Lets see a video proving this claim.

[Doug Vahrenberg]

I think very unlikely anyone can hold a boat in a circle less than 2 feet in a 20 mph wind with a cable or hand steer while actually catching fish. Just doing nothing else but watching graph gps and landmarks you might get within 5 ft, once a fish is on and you have to take it off the hook all bets are off.

Lets see a video proving this claim.

Exactly...15-20 mph winds is not easy to maintain boat control while bouncing in waves with a foot control and the bow comes up and the motor turns and you go a different direction because of the motor turning. Electric steer motors don't flop around like cable steer in these situations they stay pointed in the direction they were last left at. With Spot Lock iPilot is going to adjust speed and direction for you. It's not advertised for 1-2 foot but 5' Range. This is one of the top features for me considering iPilot for my next motor.

I know 2 guys at Skeeter Boats that fish on the big open lakes in Texas that use Spot Lock and they position the boat and move to the back deck when they fish big waves...because it's more stable back there. The iPilot keeps them dang close with the Spot Lock Feature and all they have to do is worry about catching fish not trying to figure out how to control the boat to stay on the structure you are fishing.

I too would like to see a Video too. Especially moving around the boat like putting fish in the livewell and cable steer staying on the spot.

Here's a video I found of iPilot Spot Lock in the Wind...Does better than I can with Cable Steer.

[Jason_Halfen_#511]

Here's a real-world screen shot from my trip yesterday afternoon....barely 18 hours ago. I was fishing wingdams on the upper Mississppi River (Pool 4, near Wabasha MN), in advance of a cold front that was bringing some gusty (15+) winds to the party. In this instance, the Spot Lock function of my i-Pilot Link system had to deal with current (relatively strong, as I was fishing the first dam in a series) and crosswind.

You'll notice my locked location (SL029, the anchor icon), my GPS track (yellow), and the distance scale (on the far left, 20 ft). Those tracks represent nearly 45 minutes of Spot Locked time in front of this dam (big grey line on the right of the chart display). Even with the current and the crosswind, my boat never moved more than the distance scale (20 ft) in any direction.

Can a person do better with manual control? Perhaps. Will they catch as many fish as a Spot Lock user, since they have to devote so much of their attention to boat control rather than bait presentation? Most likely, they will not.

My single, solitary boat control task on this spot was to press two buttons on my i-Pilot Link remote: First, I pressed the anchor button. Then, I pressed the save button to transmit those GPS coordinates to my Humminbird 1198c so that the spot would be saved for future reference. I spent the next 45 minutes baiting up, casting, reeling in fish, releasing a few, harvesting a few, baiting up again, casting, etc etc etc. Not once did I think about boat control or positioning for the next 45 minutes. If I was using a cable steer, my calf would have been cramping up.

In my mind, that is the single strongest argument in support of the i-Pilot Link system (or any i-Pilot system, for that matter). It allows you to devote more of your time and attention to bait presentation, to fishing, and less of your time and attention to boat positioning and control. Why wouldn't a person want that sort of advantage??

In case you're wondereing why the track lines don't line up with the Spot Lock location, it's because the boat is positioned based onthe GPS receiver in the i-Pilot Link head unit, but the track is drawn using position data from the GPS receiver associated with my Humminbird 1198c....and that receiver is a boat length away from the receiver in the i-Pilot head unit. The cross wind was from the south, so all of the boat tracks are just a touch to the north of the Spot Lock location as the boat's GPS receiver was always a boat length to the north of the Spot Lock position.

Click on the screen capture below for a closer look!

205906_149075518564917_552273349_n.jpg

[Doug Vahrenberg]

Jason your running a 20' Boat aren't you so the GPS location is pretty much dead on from the Spot Lock if you use the 20' Scale.

And your 100% dead on...iPilot and iPilot Link is the best tool to help anglers from having to concentrate on using their mind to think about Navigation...they can use it figure out what they need to do to catch fish!

Alot of the guys we have looking know Doc Sampson from his help with Lowrance and he shows and says the exact same thing...maybe since they have used his sonar products his endorsement of iPilot Spot Lock will help them see that all brand sonar users are benefiting from iPilot but on Humminbird Users will get more benefits because of iPilot Link and networking with their Humminbird and LakeMaster.

[skigill]

The gps accuracy will not be 1-2 ft. And in wind by the time you adjust you will drift much more than that. Even with the gen 1 ipilot it is much much better that manual steer. Add the fact that you are fishing and then the drift becomes much more.

[fsae99]

Doug, what Jason's picture shows is the bow of the boat stayed 10 ft or so of where he spot locked while settling in and then maintaining the very close to the 5 ft advertised hold.

The video by Doc Sampson has one of the most key points on using spot lock. Slow down to near stop before pressing spot lock. I use the speed on the ipilot to determine this, it is the ipilot gps that runs the show. If you have the tm on 10 and a 2-3000lb boat is going near 3 mph the TM will not stop it instantaneously. Get bow in to the dominate force, some time the wind overpowers the current and vice versa. If you spot lock with the boat pointing where mother nature wants it to point the spot lock does not have to try and correct for all that. This reduces any jockeying around to reach equilibrium to the bare minimum.

[Bob B]

I've decided against this. Had many a crappie fisherman PM and say that it drifts so far off the spot that you get hung up in the brush or you're just so far off your spot that you don't catch. I wanted to believe and achieve. I can hold you on a brush pile in 15-20mph winds won't budge. When it counts, when you have to stay in a 1-2ft zone, cable steer will do it.

I am SOOOOO surprised that you don't like this product.

[BigMouth]

When I'm looking for structure or fish I set the speed at 10. Soon as I pass over one or the other I hit the spot lock button twice and that marks the spot as waypoint "A" then immediately take it off spot lock. I let the boat go past the area, turn around and setup for best approach considering the wind and current. I ease into the area of the spot I just marked at slow speed 1-3 and then recall spot "A"For my type of fishing (bass) I see little value in the ability to maintain a 1-2 ft lock or even a 10+ ft lock. I can cast my bait 20' to get on fish and on a good day 30'. If your worried about bumping into something hang the remote around your neck or use the foot pedal. My Terrova keeps about a 15 foot circle in wind and easily a 5' circle in calm conditions.

I love spot lock for loading and unloading. Back in until the boat barely floats, hop in the boat lower the TM, grab remote, drive it closer to the dock and step off. Remotely drive boat about 30' away, set spot lock.and go park truck. Leaves dock open for other boaters. Walk back down drive boat over to dock step onto boat as it passes by (slow!) and go fishing. Reverse order for loading. I get a lot of looks. Remote, fresh battery, works up to 200 ft away, and will hold that spot when the remote is well past that range.

It's also great for when the demon arrives and ya gotta poo NOW! Grab yer roll, you do carry a roll right? Ease over to shore, great for rocky areas, step off, set spot lock, release the demon, wipe, repeat and reboard. Don't forget the roll they're hard as hell to relocate (shorelines look the same) and just because you've released one demon don't mean there ain't more. Don't ask how I know.

Minn Kota, one request, please make an auto deploy mount for lazy assed fishermen like me! :)

QUESTIONS:

Will there be an upgrade or kit for my recently purchased Terrova w/iPilot?
Will it ever link with Lowrance?
Lakemaster is useless to me as they have no California maps. so will it ever work with Navionics or Insight maps?