Thread: Minn Kota i Pilot questions and answers

Post all your info regarding Minn Kota's new i Pilot here.

Tackle Warehouse Inside iCast 2009

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/_docs/i-Pilot.pdf#ZOOM=50

Introduction to MinnKota's i-Pilot

1. How far off the mark (5 foot circle) do you drift before position correction?

2. When the position correction is turned on, how far into the spot (5 foot circle) do you go before the TM shuts off?

3. Can you record a track without deploying the TM?

4. Can you download a prerecorded track\waypoint or is this next generation?

5. At what slowest gps speed you can record and re-track?

6. What is the frequency (err-err) of correction (how often is correction)?

7. The slower the speed the more the err-err correction?

8. Will it still have the autopilot feature (electronic compass not gps compass)?

9. What is the margin of error from recorded track to re-track? (How close are the tracks in feet from record to actual).

Just a few ?

I was wondering when and if you are going to test/demonstrate the "cruise control" option on the ipilot??? Would be really nice if you could get some VIDEO out on the water one day when the wind was blowing 5-10mph. so that we could see how it reacts to the wind...Thanks!!:D

I have more on-the-water tests planned for this weekend, and I'll make the Cruise Control function one of them.

One of the things I'll be working on is shooting some video showing the i-Pilot in action. We'll actually be targeting some big suspended crappies, which will give us the opportunity to see how spot lock works in deep water (deep enough that anchoring wouldn't be a great option) that is catching a fair amount of wind. If the site admins will allow me to do so, I'll be happy to post a link to that video here once we upload it.

Many of your i-Pilot performance questions, particularly those relating to the Spot Lock and Track Record features, are addressed by the test data on my website:

Introduction to MinnKota's i-Pilot

Regarding some of your other questions:

The trolling motor must be deployed to record a track. Deploying the motor (I'm talking specifically about Terrova) powers the i-Pilot GPS receiver, which is necessary to record a track. I'm not sure how PowerDrive V2 motors work in this capacity, but it's clear to me that the i-Pilot was designed with Terrova in mind.

Slowest speed to record? As slow as you'd like, I imagine. To replay a track: you'll need enough speed to combat any wind/waves/current in order to stay on the recorded track. Track record only follows a path; the user can set their own speed during recording and playback, and change that speed as much as they like.

There is still an autopilot feature, as well as an advanced (GPS-based) autopilot feature. Yes....that's right...two independent autopilots that are user selectable.

Wondered if anyone had heard any updates on the availability of the I-Pilot. I've only been told Nov.

November 2009.

I was wondering when you put it in the backtrack mode or what ever it is called lets say from end to start will it continue to keep retracing it path or will it stop when it reaches the start position lets say you trolled a big circle and you wanted to keep trolling this path
will it continually troll this path or stop after one loop hope this makes sense

The track record feature specifies two termini: start (the first point that defines the track) and end (the last point that defines the track). Start = that point where you first press the R (record) button, and end = that point where you press the R (record) button next.

When you use the track record feature to follow a recorded track, you must specify whether you want to follow the track back to its first point (track to start) or to its last point (track to end). If you are off the the recorded track when you press track to start or track to end, i-Pilot will return to the closest point on the track and then follow the track in the specified direction. I haven't thought about, or tried, to record a circular track and then see how i-Pilot performed under those circumstances. It might be a good way to get dizzy!