Ahead of its time!!!!!!

[croixeyes]

Thats the phrase I can use to describe pinpoint systems trolling motors and graph systems back in the 90s and early 2000,s.With such things as networking and depth track,its a shame new technology hasnt been able to surpase and improve on some of these things.I wish pinpoint would have held on and improved the durability and mapping side of their motors and graphs.To me it was alot of technology to put on the part of the boat that takes extreme abuse, but with todays advancements someone should be able to figure it out.The Ipilot is a nice feature but why does the terova still have wire connections to the motorhead,its to easy to twist up around the motor.Or maybe they have a wireless system I havent seen yet I dont know.Why isnt their a trolling motor out their that tracks depth or allows you to plot a course on a graph with mapping features then follow it.Pinpoint started a good thing,Someone please take the reigns and march on,Ill be waiting.

[Sonicrunch]

Thats the phrase I can use to describe pinpoint systems trolling motors and graph systems back in the 90s and early 2000s. With such things as networking and depth tracking, it's a shame new technology hasnt been able to surpass and improve on some of these things. I wish pinpoint would have held on and improved the durability and mapping side of their motors and graphs.

To me it was alot of technology to put on the part of the boat that takes extreme abuse, but with todays advancements someone should be able to figure it out. The i-pilot is a nice feature but why does the Terrova still have wire connections to the motorhead? It is to easy to twist up around the motor. Maybe they have a wireless system I havent seen yet, I dont know.

Why isn't their a trolling motor out their that tracks depth or allows you to plot a course on a graph with mapping features then follow it? Pinpoint started a good thing,Someone please take the reigns and march on,Ill be waiting.

There. Now it's readable.

So.........what's your point?

[CAMAN]

Quote:

why does the Terrova still have wire connections to the motorhead?

Because no one has invented a reliable and safe form of wireless electricity...

[TooTallTom]

There. Now it's readable.

So.........what's your point?

[Fish Head]

The English police are out in full force today.

[brian6715]

The English police are out in full force today.

Yeah, you can tell it was a long winter. Some are obviously suffering from a lack of fishing!

[TooTallTom]

I tend to react poorly when people pick out composition/ spelling/ grammar simply because it's not up to their standards.

Speaking generally, I know that sometimes it is difficult to understand the point or question a person has if they write/ spell very poorly, and I have no problem if someone asks for clarification. But, there is asking (politely/ nicely) for clarification, and there is calling out just for the sake of calling out.

I apologize for being a bit heavy-handed, and for taking the thread off track.

Is Pin Point still in business? I actually just saw an ad (I think it was on the Enemy Classifieds, maybe it was here.) for a trolling motor/ depthfinder combo. I had literally never heard of them before, and now there's this posting.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

His points should be taken seriously. Companies pay for that feedback. It's called market research. I posted a simular post last year. Development takes time. They also like to hold back a bit so there is something new to buy every few years.

[Sonicrunch]

Also, your first two sentences really should be one sentence, such as "There, now it's readable." and you might consider using an elipsis (That's three periods in a row, denoting a pause.) rather than the nine periods you have, which are simply overkill.

That is not nine periods n a row. It is three ellipses in a row.

Duh, winning.

[Sonicrunch]

I tend to react poorly when people pick out composition/ spelling/ grammar simply because it's not up to their standards.

Speaking generally, I know that sometimes it is difficult to understand the point or question a person has if they write/ spell very poorly, and I have no problem if someone asks for clarification. But, there is asking (politely/ nicely) for clarification, and there is calling out just for the sake of calling out.

The OP was borderline incoherent rambling. We should all strive to do a little better, or, are you happy with caveman standards of communication?

[Jarrod32]

Let's keep the discussion on the original topic, and set the grammar policing aside.

I think there was/is an i-Pilot thread that touches on this...that maybe the next step is the ability to link the i-Pilot with a GPS lakemap and follow contour lines.

[croixeyes]

TooTallTom,That is my point.Sorry if the thread is unreadable to some.My grammer/spelling/composition aint so good since I drank that thermometer juice .Now that its been corrected you should be able to understand what I was getting at.

Why has it been at least ten years that have gone by without many advancements in the trolling motor industry?Im done,have at it Sonicrunch.

[TooTallTom]

I understood you just fine croixeyes. And I'm as disappointed as you are that this particular line of development in fishing tech hasn't advanced much recently.

I've spoken with MinnKota reps. They told me "We want to take our time and make sure it's right the first time." I can understand that, the market is pretty punishing to a bad launch. But, I don't see why it's such a scary thing for the manufacturers to incorporate a few different processes that are all being done seperately into one process/ solution to the "GPS controlling trolling motor" problem.

[bopper4]

Pinpoint was bought out by motor guide. I bought a ranger from my father in law and the trolling motor had issues. I pulled it it and updated the graphs. I have a trolling motor and three black and white graphs I guess I will use in case of emergency. I called about getting the motor fixed and I was looking at three to four hundred.

[TooTallTom]

I guess the way I'd solve the problem (Because you've all been dying to hear it, right? ) is to make a wireless transmitter dongle that speaks iPilot and plugs into the ethernet(?) port on the backs of the newest gen Humminbird units. The user can select a route, and the fishfinder can feed the waypoints one-by-one to the trolling motor as they are reached.

No additional processing power is needed in the trolling motor, and I think (looking through the options on my 788ci) that the "brainpower" in the software for the depthfinder already exists. You can get a bearing and distance to a waypoint, so I know that the unit can do the math for distance from "here" to "there". (Full disclosure: I haven't worked with routes on my unit at all.) When the distance reads zero, feed the "dumb" trolling motor a new waypoint.

The wireless dongle already exists (in remote form, it'd have to be changed up a bit to plug into the fishfinder), the fishfinder can already export data, and I know it can store a heck of a lot of it.

The only thing that I think would need to be created is a way to select the individual route that you want to follow on the GPS and to send that single route in parts via the ethernet(?) port. I suspect that the ability to select a single route already exists or there wouldn't be much point in having routes at all.

[croixeyes]

However,some mapping chips arent always accurate.This is where depth control comes into play.Also what if you are getting poor gps coverage?

[TooTallTom]

I'd take the mapping chip out of the equation by using only created routes or waypoints. But you're right, if the GPS coverage is not allowing a useable signal, you've got yourself a very expensive hood ornament.

There's always the remote (or pedal on a Terrova with iPilot) for manual control.

[whitebassman]

Please! Don't come out with a new and better ipilot!!!! I just got mine last season and don't want to have the urge to upgrade already!

I'm still kicking myself that Humminbird is doing away with interlink and using ethernet ports on their graphs, and that there now is HD versions of the 500 series which I have on the bow.

Just give me a few years to enjoy the awesomeness that ipilot is before there is something newer and better!

BTW, we still can't charge our phones wirelessly (in a native manner, not using an accessory to do so), so how can we be so advanced already? Also, if you have problems in a dense urban area with multiply wireless networks, interference may be an issue. Who knows. i'm happy with what I have for now. Ignorance sometimes is bliss!!

[NELS-BELLS]

Please! Don't come out with a new and better ipilot!!!! I just got mine last season and don't want to have the urge to upgrade already!

Sorry to burst your bubble but that is exactly the strategy that these companies are using. Why give the consumer the perfect model when they can just upgrade it by adding a few new features every year, so that you will want to buy the most recent model. Thats how they stay in business.

You know that the technology already exists to do everything that the original poster mentioned. Heck, most tech savey highschool kids could probably figure it out. I would think that Minnkota could easily combine the technology from Pin Point and the i-pilot and link it all to your GPS/locator. Any patents for Pin Point should have expired by now.

Nels

[Sonicrunch]

Sorry to burst your bubble but that is exactly the strategy that these companies are using. Why give the consumer the perfect model when they can just upgrade it by adding a few new features every year, so that you will want to buy the most recent model. Thats how they stay in business.

You know that the technology already exists to do everything that the original poster mentioned. Heck, most tech savey highschool kids could probably figure it out. I would think that Minnkota could easily combine the technology from Pin Point and the i-pilot and link it all to your GPS/locator. Any patents for Pin Point should have expired by now.

Nels

Did you get fitted for your tin hat yet?

[whitebassman]

Did you get fitted for your tin hat yet?

lol. I'm happy with what I got. Updates and improvements are to be expected, but nothing major or revolutionary yet. To me and what I was using prior to iPilot, it is such a huge evolution in gear, that I will have to wait to make another such leap, if and when it is available. I'm not rich enough to upgrade every year.

All I was saying was, I didn't want the current technology of iPilot to be rendered totally obsolete by something else, at least, not this season please!

[delcecchi]

In fact, if there was only one brand to deal with, they could have just linked the ipilot/trolling motor to the console unit, wired or not wired. But then they couldn't have charged 400 bucks for a GPS.

Also it makes their life much simpler, not having to support a bunch of different models of fish finders.

[401TE]

His points should be taken seriously. Companies pay for that feedback. It's called market research. I posted a simular post last year. Development takes time. They also like to hold back a bit so there is something new to buy every few years.

Pretty sure I read last winter that Hummingbird and Minn Kota already have this in the works. I'm holding out until that happens, then I'm jumping ship from Lowrance and updating the trolling motor.

[boec0020]

Same here

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

+2, count me in on that.