I plan on upgrading my trolling motor for this coming crappie season with the newest technology to stay over brush piles, it's a hassle with a regular trolling motor staying right over them doing 2-3 things at once before you know it your 10 feet off the pile. I noticed the Minnkota Ipilot is about double the cost of the Motor Guide xi5. Those that have seen both in action or can tell me about their personal experience...honest feedback. I'm leaning towards the xi5. I would mainly be using this to stay over brush piles. Which one would be best to hold an anchor position and has a better GPS?

I have the motor guide xi5 pin point. I love it. Some advice is if you have lowrance electronics get motor guid bc it's compatible. If you have hummingbird go with the minn Kota. The motor guide will stay within 5' of pin pointed spot. Hope this helps.

Ps make sure the xi5 has the pin point other wise it does not have the gps position sensor in it. I made this mistake thinking I was getting a really awesome deal and had to buy the gps brain separate and install.

Motorguide xi5 snr/gps will hold much tighter than the Minn Kota i-Pilot.

Feel free to give me a call. I would be happy to spend some time with you answering any questions you may have.

David @ shut-up-and-fish
972 822 9285

If your looking for GPS positioning over brush the XI5 rocks!

I know there's guys who love them but I have only experience only with the ipilot so I cant speak on the motorguide, this is my 2cents. I've seen that I-pilot throw guys standing in the front off their boats when they over compensate in the wind. Make sure what ever you get its dialed in, my buddy cant stand his I pilot he put his pedal unit back in. The remotes are only good if your not near your tolling motor and need to position it other than that having a remote adds more steps in moving your boat,1 look a TM position 2, look at remote, 3 find button you want on remote, 4 look at TM to see if its doing what you want, 4 when it over does what you want start at 1 again too much BS.

I've heard the I-Pilot is not accurate enough to keep you in a brush pile. It sounds as if the Xi5 does a better job in that area. I have all hummingbird electronics and will primarily be using this combo to hold on brush piles. Is the motor guide compatible with my 1198 and my 1159?

Humminbird is compatible with Minn-Kota.
Lowrance is compatible Motorguide.

Just to be clear here. This statement only applies if you are wanting to link your units to your trolling motor. The anchor feature on either motor will work with either manufacture depth finder. In a nut-shell, it is not required to link to utilize the anchor feature.

My iPilot Can be a pain in the arse during winds. It's to slow to compensate for the winds and by the time it realizes it's moved of the spot lock point it overcompensates the other direction. It's like your boat is a slinky going every direction except staying on top of the location. In light or calm winds it does ok. I'd go with the Motorguide.

Do any of the recent I-pilot updates make the MinnKota any better?

I put an I Pilot on my 22' CC boat and 15' is about what you get with Spot Lock. The remote does not work good from the back of the boat, and also I have had issues with it not working from the console. It works well for me, I fish for Stripers ad Whites 90% of the time. The other 10% I spend on Crappie and Catfish I just tie off or anchor. I was about ready to swap it for an Xi5 and I got some inputs from guys that say they don't have the power of the Minn Kota, and on a heavy boat the power is nice. I do like the I Pilot remote better with the screen. I'm holding out for a while longer to see if the I Pilots get an update and spot lock better. I like the fact it works with my Bird Graphs as well. Lots of trade offs in either direction.

I believe the updates are only available for the i-Pilot Link System...

I love my xi5

I have the iPilot, and was really disappointed with the spot lock. One of the guides I fish with has the xi5. I was shocked at how well it held on a bush pile on a breezy day.

The feature to move at 5' increments from current position was pretty sweet too.

Sticking with Minn Kota however because I prefer HB.

-danny