Had the terrova for a while now and the last few trips, the spot lock seems to be off. When I activate it, it spins 180 degrees and moves the boat off the spot even when I want moving forward. I understand that it keeps you on a ten foot area, approximately 5' in any direction from the spot. Mine seems to have gotten way off. I would estimate that it is moving around 15-20' in any direction from the spot.

I first assumed it was the calm conditions, 5-7mph wind. I was out in 12-15 mph winds and it was still dropping way off the mark and correcting itself way past the mark. In the past, in rough water it held much closer to the spot.
It kind of moves itself all around the locked area, not just back and forth from the wind. I can only explain it as if it is trying to drive itself around the perimeter of the spot more than correcting itself from wind and waves

I am thinking maybe it is the gps connection and wondering if it has different channels to connect to or some other adjustment that I may look at. I am trying to lock into an area to cast to a spot but pretty much have to drive over my intended target and compensate for the locking spot to keep me in the casting range that I want to work in.

A lot of times changes in the voltage could result in this.

Only have it connected to the battery and don't have any kind of guage set up. I did push the button on the unit and showed 3/4 power left.

Is it a Link model and if so, did you just update the software? If not, I'm with Baylor Guy. The first thing to go when the power source is wavering is the GPS. If it works for the first hour or so and then it goes crazy that's usually a good sign it's a power problem. I had a Minn Kota 3 bank charger for my trolling batteries and it had a bad bank. It would "charge" all batteries but in reality one was no all the way full. So I saw all kinds of problems with the spotlock.

Not a link model. I run a Minn Kota bank charger also and never really check it. Due to the amount of use that I have put on it after a charge, I really don't think that is an issue but I can still double check it to see that it is charging fully. It's a good place to start anyway. It's something that I have just started noticing and was never an issue before.

I went through five 3 bank minn kota chargers in less than 2 years and three 2 banks chargers. They all dropped banks and were not charging the batteries fully. I'm using Dual Pros now.

mmmm...

are you just operating the terrova at 1 mph and then clicking lock spot?

if that is the case the boat will keep running and you will be pass your spot lock point on the gps. terrova will turn like crazy trying to go back, it will spin it fast that it will miss the spot lock again because it overpowered it.

what i do is:

if i passed a point on the side imager and i like it, i make a waypoint, i get close to the waypoint and hit spot lock or goto waypoint and arrive in spot lock form.

if i just want to do the spotlock i kind of wait until the boat is not moving, or moving slowly because of the wind. then i hit spotlock and it will be right on.

My spotlock is lucky to stay within 30' of the center. 5' either way my azz.

It's both from standing still to locking in when on speed 3 or 4. It doesn't move at a high speed, it just keeps going and then correcting itself. I'd almost understand it if it just went too far and tried to move back but it kind of does circles. One minute my boat will be facing north and then it will be moving around and spin the boat and I'll be facing another direction. All the while the wind will be coming from the same direction.
I'll check the voltage on the battery and maybe try disconnecting and reconnecting it and see what happens. It's been working fine up until now.

As a work around I just started locking it in the direction that I want and setting a speed to match the wind.

Interested to know if you found a possible cause for the spotlock issue

No but i have taken it out twice since the post and have been in very light under 3mph wind and 12mph. It is holding like it was originally. One thing that i did notice was that one day it took quite a while to get a signal. I am thinking that maybe it was from all the heavy cloud cover and not getting a good gps signal

Never been a big fan of spot lock; foot control is the only way too go. Either way, hope you fixed the problem.

I've been in 3 different boats with spot lock and have yet to see one hold a boat on a brushpile still enough to fish it.

Gman

No way is spot lock going to hold you on a brush pile .

My boss had a minn kota with spotlock and just recently installed a motorguide and said the MG anchor feature is far superior. Said he was lucky be within 20-30 feet of his spot with the MK, but stays within 5-10 feet with the MG.