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power pole questions


whichwaysup

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Hey all - 

I have a $900 cabela's/bass pro gift card that will put me in range of buying something to add to the MA when she comes out of the shop.   I'm debating on one of three additions to the boat:

1) Upgrading my I-pilot to the new blue-tooth version.   Love the ipilot, but it wanders around in certain conditions.   I've heard the new ones are dead on accurate and a big improvement.   Of all the components of the boat, this is by far the one I use and rely on the most.   If I sell my current one, which is in great shape, I basically break even, so upgrading this would be "free".

2)  Sticking with the current I-pilot, but getting a power pole.   Would have to spend a little extra to do this, especially with the engine bracket.   I fish in the marshes in the summer and like the idea of having the back of the boat pinned easily.   On the other hand, my poling platform has a nifty vertical slot that allows me to drill my push pole straight into the mud, making it a pretty effective poor man's power pole.   I'm also not 100% sure I like the idea of that thing sticking up on the back of the boat.   

3)  Jackplate - I know it won't help me while running, but it sure is a nice insurance policy when running shallow.   I had one on my last MA and miss it terribly.   A 4" atlas is pretty darned close to what my gift card is, but doesn't include the required switch/hook ups.  Also, don't want to add anything that might compromise the transom.

4)  I'm also not above selling the gift card at a discount and just throwing the cash at the boat repair, since it's so far over budget.   None of these upgrades are necessary, but I'm "stuck" with the gift card, so it is what it is.   If you are interested, shoot me a PM.  

I keep going back and forth between 1 and 2, but curious about the real differences between the various versions of the power pole (sportsman, pro II, blade).   If anyone can give some good advice on "value" it would help.  I doubt I need the top of the line, but is there a reason to avoid the sportsman 2?

 

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Before you decide to buy a power pole how often do you anchor in shallow water? If you are tugging on anchor line all the time in 8 foot of water or less I would say power pole. If you do not a power pole is not a lot of good obviously.  Use mine mostly when scalloping. Other than I use the trolling motor much more often.

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I’ll be honest. I HATE the I-pilot. I don’t own one but fish on a boat pretty regularly that has one. When it was first installed, we called it the I-robot because it had a mind of its own. MinnKota replaced board in the control head and it works better, but I’m still not impressed with it’s position lock feature.  I would suggest looking at the Rhodan trolling motor also. The Powerpole is convenient in areas like HoneyB suggested, but South Georgia is hit or miss when it comes to areas for using it. I love my jackplate. You’re just going to have to assess which will work better for your needs. 

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I would go with a new I pilot. The accuracy is far above the original when used with the heading sensor but an often overlooked improvement is the jog function.  A push of a button can shift you any direction and a couple of pushes often puts you in distance of that perfect cast.

A good stick it pole will do what a power pole will do and allow you to keep the bow oriented in the right direction unless you buy two.

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I just upgraded to the new Ulterra last week and I can say that the new spot lock is way better than the old. I use my PP and iPilot all the time and would be lost without them. I realize you have a gift card but you could really save some coin buying a power pole from Hydrilla Gear or another company that has much better prices than bass pro. I would do the trolling motor. I sold my old ipilot in a few days.  

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Before deciding I'd sure get a ride with someone having a power pole, especially on a windy day in the shallows.  I almost didn't put a PP on our boat, but I'm really glad I did. For us and the way we fish, I use the heck out of it. In combination with the trolling motor it really shines.  Bud does most of his fishing in the passes and offshore, and I doubt he's used his enough to scratch the tip.

What we find is we use it especially when conditions say we should be anchoring to stop a drift, but it's just too much hassle. I especially like it for following wind and chop when anchoring with the trolling motor causes the boat to windmill around into the wind when you want the bow downwind.  No fixing that without a PP or an anchor, and the anchor is a pure hassle with lots of quick stops.

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11 hours ago, smilemaker said:

I would go with a new I pilot. The accuracy is far above the original when used with the heading sensor but an often overlooked improvement is the jog function.  A push of a button can shift you any direction and a couple of pushes often puts you in distance of that perfect cast.

A good stick it pole will do what a power pole will do and allow you to keep the bow oriented in the right direction unless you buy two.

I did not know they had the jog function now.. I thought that was only Rohdan and thought it was pretty slick.. Ill trade you my motor for the card and i will upgrade!

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My vote is for a power-pole. Makes life so much easier. I stop and go as I feel at the push of a button. I've had one on both redfishers and pathfinder I've owned. I remember when I had an HPXV without one and went old school staking off with the pole. On windy days it was pain to stick the push pole in the mud with out almost being pulled off the tower. I said no more old school and installed a power-pole. 

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The difference between a sportsman and pro is upgraded hardware on the latter. My pay in law has a sportsman on his 16’ hewes and is is fine. I have an 8’ pro on my 22’ pathfinder and really like it. I want with the pro bc my original one finally broke( which is similar to the sportsman), but I was replacing parts more often than I wanted to. I’d go with an 8’ pp ( 10’ sticks up pretty high), if you fish shallow. My original I pilot is still going strong and seems to hold well. But in 3’ or less it kicks up a lot of sediment 

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Let me begin this by saying Power Pole or JL Marine has excellent customer service. My 8 foot power pole has had issues 3 different times, and they overnighted me parts every time to repair it. That said, I don't fish the boat but 2 times a month, and the failure rate seems a bit high for the usage.  One of the problems I traced back to a bad ground, buy the installer. Not a Power Pole problem. I am not the original owner, I am the second owner and the boat was low hours and clean when I bought it, not abused.

I love my power pole, I just don't love working on it......although its pretty simple to repair.  Circuit board, Cap or motor, not a lot of different things to replace.

Once you have a PP vertical anchor, you will wonder how you ever fished without one.

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