G'day Guys
anyone taken the plunge & bought one of these new I Pilot motors yet ???
I have heard a few reports that they are not receiving a very good gps signal here in Oz !!!!
Whats your experience so far if you have one ???
I was gunna buy the head unit for my terrova but might hold back until I know if it's worth spendin $800.00 odd.
cheers AL
I am in South Africa and I found that if the i Pilot has another GPS receiver close to it that is active, it tends to lose signal. Otherwise it is great!
G'day Fishton
Thats interesting , so if you turn your gps off it works better ?? How close is too close ??? as most boats have combo chartplotters in them nowadays ,so to turn them off your turning off your sounder aswell !!
cheers AL
Funny you should bring this up but I took mine out for the first time today and while mine did drop out once I reckon its the best thing since gumboots.The dropout occurred on a 30m stretch of bank.I am going out tomorrow and if it happens again I will switch the gps off and see if it comes good.Will let you tomorrow night.
Toddy
tednted, I have a built in receiver in the HDS10 at the helm, and a puck at the stern just above the transducer.
Today I had all the systems off and it dropped the signal several times. My EPE (Estimated Position Error) on my other units was very good when I turned them on indicating a good signal strength.
Like Toddy says, "... its the best thing since gumboots." When this thing works it is just absolutely fantastic!
I can just imagine that sweetspot that gets blown out when the weather picks up a bit because it is just too difficult to maintain position and concentrate on a sensitive bite at the same time. Fun times ahead.
Thanks for the replies fellas .
But now its got me wondering if Minn Kota are going to address this prob ??
or perhaps its another example of a company rushing a product onto the market without enough r & d??
Cheers AL
It might be something as simple as turning 'WAAS Enabled' off in the software.
I hope you're right !!!
Obviously I guess that all current owners should be contacting Minn kota to find out if this prob is to be addressed. There is a guy on another website that tells us that someone is doing a lot of testing in Victoria & Tassie , but he didn't elaborate on who it was doing the testing ??
cheers AL
I ahve installed one on my MK, hust waiting for some decent weather so I can go give it a crack...
I hope it is as good as I think it will be - I couldn't get my hands on one quick enough.
I was on the verge of ordering one from the states until I saw the local advertisement.
Kondo ,
Hope it works for ya .
let us know how ya go
cheers AL
What,exaclty, does the iPilot do? I asume you can give it a route to follow - how do you program that route in?
Hi Mate,Originally Posted by spelchek
its basically a module that replaces the Autopilot and works using GPS instead of the gyro compass.
Basically does the same things with some added features - I haven't used it yet however I believe you run a track like u normally would and can record it and then press a button and it replay that track up and back.
Also instead of the gyro it uses the GPS so theoretically it should be more precise and instantaneous on its track corrections, also u can apparently set you speed down to 0.1kt increments and it adjusts automatically.
The feature I like the sound of the most is the virtual anchor - essentially u press a single button and it instanly holds your position (well the motor anyway - and within some prescribed limits) I guess this is a good thing if you get onto a fish whilst you fight it.
Again I haven't used it yet - mine is still in my garage waiting for some decent weather (fingers crossed for saturday) so not sure to what extent the features work to but I will be reporting back as soon as I get on the water.
Sounds like quite the bit of kit alright. So has it replaced the gyro compass on all new min kota's or can you get both the iPilot and the other system (fogotten what it is called)?
Not too sure on all models but on mine it was a bit of a job, essentially I had to disconnect 6 wires off the autopilot control board and remove the autopilot altogether.
I also had the co-pilot but you also have to remove that - not that that is an issue becasue the I-pilot has a nicer better quality remote(which also floats which is handy).
The only other thing is that you cannot use a foot pedal any more either, no real issue for me - I never plugged it in anyway.
Basically I have the Autopilot and Co-pilot systems sitting downstairs in a box.
The good thing is (now I have yet to have this confirmed) but it appears as though u can buy the lower specced MK without autopilot and add the I-pilot ofr probably around the same price I paid for my AP + CP model with more functionality.
Sorry - yes it is an add on, I dont believe you can as yet buy a MK with this system as standard - but I could be wrong, though it certainly isn't standard kit and you pay around $700 or so for the module.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote