Thread: Moto Guide XI5 Owners

THIS MONTH MAKES 2 YEARS WITH MINE,I AM A BP FISHERMAN AND CAN SAY THEY STAY GOOD OVER PILES AND LOVE WIND,WORST PART ABOUT THEM IS DO NOT STAY IN FRONT OF DOCKS GOOD ON SPOTLOCK,PART OF ITS BEAM I THINK IS BLOCK,ALSO UNDER BRIDGE ALSO,HAVE TO MANUAL USE IT THERE. USE IT PAST 2 DAYS ON PILES

I've had mine for over 2 years. 100% happy with it. This week I gave in and purchased a Lowrance Gen 3 to connect to it for navigation to waypoints (my boat is equipped with Humminbird electronics. HB does not interface with MG). As typical with Lowrance, I spent over $1,500.00 for a unit, then discover that I have to spend another $300.00 for wiring to hookup to the XI5!! It requires a NMEA 2000 network and a Motorguide Gateway to connect the two.

The only thing that I like about the xi5 is the spotlock (while the wind is blowing).All of the rest of the time I'm thinking about jerk ing it off my boat and throwing it in the water..... (be sure to keep exta batteries with you and a little Phillips screw driver)

KOMOS,WHAT IS MATTER WITH YOUR'S,I NEVER PUT BATTERIES IN MY HAND HELD CONTROL YET AND NEVER USE THE FOOT CONTROL,DON'T LIKE IT

It s a love/hate relationship for me. The spot lock stays within two feet and works better in the wind. I like that I can set up and pull cranks/jigs while I sit in the back seat controlling the boat or spider rig. Bass fishing off shore it is great. I do not like bass fishing/ flippin near the bank or brush due to noise and slow rotation of head unit. No down imaging built into transducer and nearly impossible to add. Will lose power control from time to time requiring a reset. Foot control is poorly designed and old men cannot hear the beep indicators in the wind. Mine is 24 volt. Two friends with 12 volts. All have same issues. The hand fob has no indicator screen. They are easy on batteries. I would not use it if I only bass fished.

I've had to replace batteries several times in the hand held remote. (There's no battery life indicator).when switching from hand held remote to foot pedal I have to kill power to trolling motor and reset.That beap, Whaler mentioned is hard to hear out in the wind.The foot pedal is extremely hard to use imo.If the hand held remote stops working at a bad time,it take awhile to kill power and boot uP to use the pedal.while in spotlock and the wind dies down, the xi5 can't make up its mind what it wants to do.So it keeps going back and fourth. Also,I guess mine getting some were on the deploy, laching mechanism. Sometimes it doesn't always lock.(also it hard to no what speed setting your on with the hand held remote.You can tell speed with foot pedal,but like I mentioned, the foot pedal is very hard to use.)

Looks like some irritating issues but may be worth it for the spot anchor ability. I have a HDS8 gen 2 in the boat with a N2K network so another 250 big ones for the gateway kit.

Originally Posted by Flint

Looks like some irritating issues but may be worth it for the spot anchor ability. I have a HDS8 gen 2 in the boat with a N2K network so another 250 big ones for the gateway kit.

Buy the Ipilot or Ultegra. You will thank me later.