My $.02 on SL.... When I am on a slow drift with my jig bumping structure seeking, the SL will keep me in the general area when I get a hook-up. I can get the fish to the surface, netted and on ice and still see what the fish was relating to.. i.e. change in depth, brush, weeds ect. SL also makes it great for when the lure you have tied on does NOT match the hatch and you need a change out and do not want to drift into the bridge, stumps, shore ect. It will not hold me close enough to a brush pile, stump or structure with any finesse. For that I sit with the hand held in my lap and bump power on and off. I am happy as a monkey in a mile of grapevines with mine. Oh, its anchored to the bow of a HD 22 ExPress.

You mount your gps puck next to your trolling motor gps so you can see exactly how far off from your "spot" you are drifting. Not rocket science.

You can't mark a spot and expect the tm to hold your whole boat over the spot. It's only going to hold the front of your boat. The rear is free to swing in any direction. Use a drift sock or a small rear anchor. Just seems you're asking for too much

I've got one had it a week so far I like it.

Like mine too. I too don't know what a gps puck has to do with it. I locate the BP with my console mounted SI and throw out my bouy, then troll back over the area with my front unit. Hit the spot lock when I am over the top of it. Bingo! Fish on.

You could do all that or you could just mark your structure with a waypoint then spotlock on top of your waypoint. And with GPS puck right besde the tm gps you know your waypoint and the point your spotlock is using arenboth using the same gps refernce point. Whatever though.

The point I'm making is don t expect to mark structure with your transdcer and gps puck at the back of the boat and think spotlock is going t hold you over it. It will hold the very front of your boat wihin about 5 feet. Which is fine by my standards.

Ignore typos I'm on a cell

I guess that does work if your GPS is external, 797 SI's aren't.

However, it really doesn't matter your GPS location relative to how the spot lock functions. If it's breezy, it kicks in at 5 feet away and then powers up so you really drift 10-15 feet away. If you have a a heavier boat, then it's tough to stop the momentum and you overshoot. It is good if the area you're fishing is very large such as a flat, a large school of baitfish or little to no wind, but it doesn't work well if you're fishing a 4X4 tree. The best use in those sutuations is to hit it to put fish in the well bait up or retie if it's breezy and at least you'll be in the vicinity.

I love mine! The SL, AA, and RT are awesome! It sure beats trying to stay on a bp with a handle held with 2+ fish on, one in each hand!

I like that the spot lock hovers me around the Bp as most the fish I catch are not on the bp, but around it.

The Advanced Autopilot is great becasue it does take you in the direction you want to go!

The Record a track is great when you are slow trolling a couple of close BP's or a cove. Its great to follow a path and pickup some fish and then come back and do it all again just by hitting a couple of buttons.

I too have the Terrova IPilot USR2 80# 60" It leaves my hands free to catch fish while the TM does all the work. I have mine on my 22' sea pro which is heavy and that keeps it from moving too much. I could see how lighter boats might have an issue.

One key is to rememeber is that the SL always takes 3 sec to "Lock". Took me a while to figure that out. So i go just past my spot and then hit it and by the time I drift back I am on the spot I want to be.

I think that I am happy with my choice overall. Like it has been said, being able to re-tie, put a fish away, grab some bait, etc, etc etc without blowing halfway across the lake is freaking great. Spot lock is spot on for that application. As far has fishing small cover, at least in my boat, I will have to keep it on spot manually.

I am with Raiderland. I like mine and it does everything I think it should. 80 lb. Terrova w/ I- pilot and transducer. I have an 18.5 alum deep vee boat. So is a 30 mph wind a problem. Yes. I have a HDS unit located within 3 feet of my TM. lock on a bp and go for it.

I agree the ping-ponging could be a little better. However, the efficiency it provides and the amount of effort it reduces in staying on top of something without dropping anchor outweigh the downside of the inherent drift in the system. At least IMO. Some of that error can be blamed on the government for not allowing us to use better GPS.

One thing I have found is that the more I use it the better I get at running it. The more you use it in different weather conditions the better you're going to get at knowing when you're going to need to adjust. I prefer a very slight breeze to no wind at all. With a breeze I can use that to my advantage and pretty much keep the boat facing directly into the wind. Then all I have to worry about is the boat moving forward and backward. Where as fishing in no wind at all the stern can just go willy nilly. Sometimes you can run into an issue of lake current moving you around when there is no wind. I mention this because I was out recently and it was dead calm. However the lake was high and there was a nice swift swirly current around the points. I found myself wishing there was a slight wind to help keep me lined up straight. I've found when there's no wind or lots of wind, a small rear mushroom anchor will work wonders.

I realize using an anchor sort of defeats the purpose. But for me it's a lot easier to toss out that little stern anchor than have to fight my big arsed bow anchor. I have a bad back and I always dread pulling that front anchor up out of the muck. It can turn my day into a bad one real quick. So for me, the spotlock is good enough, but there is always room for improvement in everything.

I use spotlock like crazy but I'm still usually always making small adjustments. I'd say I have to do about 75% less of that though than using a manual non-Ipilot TM. It is what is.....and what it is....... is frickin pure awesomeness!

I have the PowerDrive V2 55# w/iPilot factory installed on a 16' Lund deep vee. I love how quiet it runs and how it seems to use much less battery power than my old TM.
Even with my small boat, the iPilot SL feature just doesn't perform as advertised. It is supposed to hold within a 5' radius and it does not. I've tried coming to a complete stop before going to SL and I've tried slow trolling before going to SL and nothing I can do seems to help. I'm guess the best I can control it is maybe a 10' radius. And a very annoying problem is the cable keeps winding around the shaft. I have to watch it constantly as it has no idea where the cable is when locating the spot it is searching. (hope that made sense?)
I'm very happy with the TM but, NOT the iPilot.
Okie Bob

Same here, I had mine on a 17' Express. Sold it and went back to a cable drive. It was a Terrova 80 54, US2, I-pilot.

I fish in trees and stumps and have trouble with steering response of the terrova as opposed to cable steeting.

Few weeks ago



Now



Just sayin...

First day slight breeze in open water not fishing a brushpile. The rest of the month I used it various winds, fishing situations, and boat traffic. Just answering. First impressions change with use. Glad you are happy with your choice. I guess that is why they make different ones. But the need to justify your purchase at my expense leaves me

I'm not justifying anything. I'm sorry you didn't like yours. Personally I couldn't be happier. There's only about a gazillion reviews out on the net about the I-pilot. The overwhelming vast majority of them are positive. From the reading I've done, the people who were disappointed either had too high of expectations or didn't know the little tricks to get the full potential out of the motor.

I went into the purchase knowing that the unit had 10 foot of play (5 feet in any direction from center). However I also went in knowing that GPS has an inherent built in error of 3-15 meters..... So that's around 9-30+ feet. Add in static electricity in the air or power lines, etc. and the amount of error can get even bigger. The fact I-pilot can keep you on the lower end of that spectrum is pretty amazing IMO.

You can wait around for a better product all you want but until the government decides to allow the use of more accurate GPS systems in the civilian sector, 10 feet is about the best that can be expected from a GPS unit of any kind. Anything below that is gravy.

What were you expecting?