The one thing you should ask your self is how you like to fish. I have had the auto pilot, the foot control, and the hand control models on my boat in ther front.Now I'm using the long cable minn kota, its because of arthritis in my ankles, the auto pilot is great for fishing open water as is the cable, but if you are a structure or fish where you need quick response, these are not the animals you need, they respond slowly.Another thing to consider is what kind of boat you have, my deep vee isn't that good in rough conditions with the standard foot control, and it needs a lot of attention with the cable sterring, the auto pilot worked somewhere in between.Then the old bugger AGE! if you can handle the foot contortions, the standard foot control is the answer, if you are too sore at the end of the day fromm using one, then consider tyhe other two alternatives, cable or auto pilot, BUT make sure what ever kind you get, have enough thrust it never hurts to turn the power down all the wat, but if it hasn't got enough, you're screwed some times.