Thread: Moto Guide XI5 Owners

Originally Posted by genec

DID U SYNONIZE IT FIRST WHEN U GOT IT,IT MUST BE SET FOR YOUR AREA

Good point, I believe i had read that's what you need to do

Thinking about picking up one of these TM as i always troll, I hope i wont be disappointed

My terrova does good except the anchor lock

One issue I saw with the XI5:

I bought one for a buddy last year for his new boat. He had motor guide before so that is what he wanted. Went with a 24 volt system. He primarily jigs the river in Detroit for Walleye. This requires you to constantly be on the move with the trolling motor to ensure you stay vertical while jigging. After one day of use, he was ready to deep six this unit into the depths of Davey Jones locker! The biggest issue was the delay from the time you hit the button until the head of the unit actually moved. Although it may not seem like much, this delay caused him to overcorrect. He gutted out the season with it and sold it. He had three people right away that wanted it. All were going to use it for jigging. After they found out why he was getting rid of it, they did not buy it!

All of them have their advantages and disadvantages. Everyone seems to have the same issues with Minn Kota in the sense of the "Spot Lock" feature. We all "hear" how much better the XI5 is but.... is it really that much better? I switch fishing styles like some change underwear. One day I'm jigging 7mph current and the next I am trolling 1.5 to 2.2 mph for walleyes. I run my motor for up to 10 hours straight. Many days, I point it at a heading, set the speed and throw the remote on the dash. I thought about getting an XI5 just because they interface with Lowrance, but that seems like the only benefit to me in my book. Too many draw backs to justify going from a trolling motor that only does one thing poorly to one that seems to not do too many things all that great.

Hope that helps you make a decision Jimmy. Based on how you fish, I don't think you will be happy with it.

Thanks and I get what you are saying and am going to hold off and just use my minn kotas.

Originally Posted by Flint

Thanks and I get what you are saying and am going to hold off and just use my minn kotas.

2x on that

AS im getting older im getting lazy so the Ultera might just be the ticket

I have the Vantage on the back which is a pretty good lazy man motor with power deply and stow.

I have had the XI5 for 10 months now. I mainly use mine for brush pile fishing and it rocks at that. If your wanting one for that reason get it. I've taken several clients out that have the I pilot and after seeing how the XI5 operates they love it. The way I look at it there will always be something that people don't like in trolling motors. Everybody fishes different and in different waters. I would recommend going with someone who has an XI5 to see if it fits your fishing style. Just my two cents.

I TOO HAVE A XI5 FOR A YEAR AND MAINLY FISH BRUSH PILES AND IT DOES GREAT FOR THAT,I HAVE CARRIED OUT I PILOT FISERME AND THEY HAVE NOW GOT XI5,HAVE SET BESIDE I PILOT FISHERMEN ON BRUSHPILES AND WATCH HOW THEIR BOAT MOVE ALL AROUND WHILE I SET ONLY MOVING A LITTLE,BUT IF I WERE JUST MAINLY A TROLLER WOULD SAY GO WITH MINN KOTA,FOR SETTING STILL XI5 BUT ANYTHING ELSE MINN KOTA,HOPE THIS HELP SOMEONE DECIDING

Let me tell you about the Motor Guide Xi5! Now, keep in mind this is strictly just my experience thus far. You see, about a year ago while I was still on active duty away from my permanent home of residence here in Kansas (was stationed in Norfolk, VA at the time), I had been researching the MG Xi5 for awhile as well as the iPilot setup. Long story short, went with the MG due to the fact I like Lowrance units over HB. Anyway, so a few days before I was set to come back to Kansas on leave, ordered a brand new shiny Xi5 and two new Lowrance units from Cabelas and had them 2nd Day Aired so they would be at my residence when I got home. No problems there, thank you Cabelas!

Now is where the fun begins, spent all day installing everything the way I wanted it. Upon initial testing of the Xi5, had quite a few issues with the foot pedal not syncing up properly. Ended up having to call the tech support line. Turned out to be a foot pedal. Cool no problem. Got a new foot pedal on the way. Continued through the testing while it was parked in the driveway on the trailer. When lowering the motor as if it would be going in the water, we initially got the green navigation light to come on as it should have indicating we had a good signal for navigation so we could use spot lock so on and so forth. Perfect! Go to take the boat out the next day out to the lake to do a bit of fishing and playing if you will, put the boat in the water, and get setup to hold over the first brush pile and boom, I am no longer getting my little green light for the navigation feature on my motor. So, I let it be for a bit thinking it might just not be acquired yet...three hours later still no signal. So now I have a motor that has no working foot pedal and no spot lock, lovely. At this point I am a little frustrated. I venture to put the boat back on the trailer after really not getting any fishing done and head back home to figure out what is going on. On my way home, I call the tech support line again and discuss the issues I was having. They were originally going to send me a Navigation chip or card or something for the inside of the motor that I could just swap out which was no big deal, after being on the phone with them a bit longer, they decided they wanted me to drag my boat to one of their authorized repair centers. Which at the time, the average turn around time was almost 4 months from what I was being told....ugh!! So needless to say because I had to be back in Virginia a very short time later, I still have a MG Xi5 with no navigation functions working at the moment and not sure if the new pedal works either because the wife doesn't mess with it while I am gone. Now please, do not take this as I am bad mouthing MG because I am not. Frustrated yes, but regardless I still like I am very fortunate to have the setup I do considering there are folks out there who have a lot less if anything at all and I am very grateful I am able to have something nice that will last me a long time once it is fixed properly. I have heard countless of wonders on these motors. I just wanted to share my experience at this point in time with my regards to what I have dealt with on my motor.

A quick update to everything, since I bought the motor last year, I have returned back to KS now and am in the works of getting my boat to a repair center to have everything brought back up to speed where it should be so hopefully I can become more active in thread postings now and enjoy what I have worked extremely hard for! Best of luck in you future shopping for a new trolling motor!!!