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iPilot or Tiller


Nag Juice

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The Ulterra is great in small creeks.  I fish some creeks that are not much wider than the boat's length.  The auto trim makes it a piece of cake.  I am able to stand on the back deck, trim the motor up, and turn the boat around to get out of the creek!  I don't know how I use to fish.....

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I Pilot is the way to go for me. Upgraded from a tiller. The Spot Lock is great when fishing in current or if too deep for Power Pole. Also love the memory feature. You can fish a shoreline driving manually, then reverse course on memory. Pretty cool.  Take extra remote batteries. If the fob dies the motor is useless. Learned that the hard way. 

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Dang that was close. Santa just ordered an Elite 7ti for me for xmas from Universal Mania, and then I saw your post. I was worried they would be cheaper, but I lucked out and Universal Mania had the better price.

I did find another site with a slightly better price, but I didn't know anything about the site. https://www.mygreenoutdoors.com/ they are Google trusted, so that gave me piece of mind but the difference wasn't worth  the unkown risk. 

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Bought my Xi5 from Universal Mania, best price and free shipping about $200 less than anywhere else, even Craigslist.

Xi5 over older Ipilot for better spotlock/anchor feature, but heard newer Ipilot better with their spotlock now.

Wouldn't go back to tiller and fish fine in canals and docks. Once you drive one a bit you'll learn to maneuver well in tight places and fish from anywhere on boat.

Be careful on high speed direction changes though as bery responsive and have almost tossed myself off several times 😁

Also wish remote had indicator on speed level.

 

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Good point on the high speed turns - I too have almost found myself in the drink when I either turned it on at a high speed when it was turned, or turned it too far when it was at full power.  When you do that, you had better have suction cups on your feet!

One thing I wish -  I love and use the little "rabbit" on the remote, which takes you immediately to full power.   I wish they had a second button that you could pre-set with a lower speed - something like 2 or 3.   I hate it when I have to scroll all the way down from 10 in half speed increments!

 

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On 11/27/2016 at 8:58 AM, JEM said:

A year ago, I had a Motor Guide tiller on my 18 Kenner.  I bought  2007 2200V last November and put an IPilot on it.  Wow, what a difference and improvement!  A buddy fished with me last November, and the Spot Lock amazed him so, he had to buy mine from me.  I put an Ulterra on, and WOW again, no more bending over and even auto trim!  I thought it couldn't get any better.  Well, after January, I am going to sell this Ulterra and put the puck Ulterra on for the tighter spot lock.  I never use my brand new 10 foot Power Pole Blade.  That was a waste of money where I fish.  Oh well.....

What is the "puck Ulterra"?

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On 11/27/2016 at 11:06 AM, OldestCityLocal said:

Does anybody fish real tight creeks say in Saint Augustine area with a ipilot. Just wondering how quick they are and accurate when the creeks only so wide. Thanks. 

Indeed I do! Head out under the ole Bridge of Lions most every trip. Some creeks are so tight the grass polishes the side! The pilots are very responsive. Doesn't mean I don't skin the paint off the bottom of most of my troll motors on oysters but I wouldn't own anything but a guided troll motor. Solo or with someone they change the way I fish! Put Ulterra on last year and she makes flood tide fishing super easy. Can run the trim on the troller up and down from the pole platform so my son can just focus on the fish! Few shots of my ipilot and my new one:

 

 

IMG_4573.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, Boomer said:

What is the "puck Ulterra"?

That is the latest version of the Ulterra.  It just became available several months ago.  The puck is mounted oriented to the centerline of the boat and hooked up to 12V power.  It communicates with the motor by Bluetooth.  The spot lock feature is much improved over the first gen  Ulterra.  That is the only real disappointment in my Ulterra in that spot lock just doesn't hold its position tight enough.

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I ran my puck to a fuse panel for power. Does anyone know what size fuse to use. Cannot find it in any of the instructions sent with unit and when I called tech support, they were no help. 

Also told them that I had no operating instructions with unit. Only installation instructions. She said I could download them. Told her i tried from my computer but had no luck. Asked if they could send a set.  She said for $10.00. Told her I just purchased almost $3 grand worth of TM and accessories from them and they want to charge me $10 for instructions?!?!?  She said Yep. That's how it works. Wasnt a big fan of that service call. Now gotta get someone to download for me. 

Oh, and there is no "app" to use with the bluetooth yet. Still working on it. 

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8 minutes ago, rubble said:

I ran my puck to a fuse panel for power. Does anyone know what size fuse to use. Cannot find it in any of the instructions sent with unit and when I called tech support, they were no help. 

Also told them that I had no operating instructions with unit. Only installation instructions. She said I could download them. Told her i tried from my computer but had no luck. Asked if they could send a set.  She said for $10.00. Told her I just purchased almost $3 grand worth of TM and accessories from them and they want to charge me $10 for instructions?!?!?  She said Yep. That's how it works. Wasnt a big fan of that service call. Now gotta get someone to download for me. 

Oh, and there is no "app" to use with the bluetooth yet. Still working on it. 

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/Ulterra.aspx

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12 hours ago, mulligan said:

Ok you guys have almost have me thinking about a GPS troller. If they did not have spot lock would you guys feel the same way about them?  I think the heading lock would be helpful but my Power Pole is pretty good at spot lock.:)

If you are going to do it, do it all the way.  I use spot lock heavily - in shallower water, yes, your Power Pole will cover you, but in deeper water, you will want the spot lock.  The ability to hit spot lock so you can re-tie knots, re-rig, etc without having to worry about smashing into bridge pilings or docks - or drifting into busy channels is priceless.   

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Same for our waters here in Georgia.  Invariably, if it is shallow enough for the PP, then the bottom is covered in shells......and that is no good either.  Every locale is different, and I let Master Repair talk me into a PP.  But it's always the troller that I am depending on.  Power Poles were all the rage for years up here, but that was before the anchor feature showed up on the trollers. 

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3 hours ago, JEM said:

Same for our waters here in Georgia.  Invariably, if it is shallow enough for the PP, then the bottom is covered in shells......and that is no good either.  Every locale is different, and I let Master Repair talk me into a PP.  But it's always the troller that I am depending on.  Power Poles were all the rage for years up here, but that was before the anchor feature showed up on the trollers. 

Interesting point of view. Would you buy a pp again knowing what you know now?

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