Minnkota 55 Power Drive with I pilot.

[sled59]

I have a 2010 Lund 1625 Rebel and am looking at putting a Minnkota 55 Powerdrive V2 with I Pilot.

Does anyone have any experience with this motor and if so what good or bad is there?

Thank you

[Brad B]

I have a Alumacraft Fisherman 160CS and have a Power Drive 55 w/ I-Pilot and the US2 sonar built in. thet whole trolling motor was $950.00. after using it all this past summer I am sold on the I-Pilot. the features I used the most was spot lock and the record a track feature. I recorded a track along the east shore of this lake I fish on a regular basis. it allowed me to focus on fishing and not having to focus on boat control. you record the path you want to follow then just go back and use the I-pilot to follow it all hands free. if you catch a fish just hit spot lock and it holds you in position. then after you get done handling your fish you just then continue on your path. I will never have a boat without it anymore.

the only negative to mine is it only has 3 memory spots for recording tracks. the new ones from this year now have 6 memory spots.

over all I-pilot is worth the money.

[TyGuy02]

worth every penny! I have it on my 14' Lund and it zips that small boat around pretty slick. 2.5 mph on max power when my outboard went kaput. I like the remote, I'm not a foot pedal guy, and I like how I can use the remote any where I'm at. The cruise control is very under-rated, to be able to go 1.1 and not...2.0 or 0.5, that part is amazing. Wind changes or waves start coming from a different direction it just keeps you at that same speed. I really didn't use the record-a-track as much as I expected, I guess the advanced autopilot was better than I expected it to be. It uses gps points to map out ahead, much much more advanced than the non-gps autopilot. I'm sold if you can't tell, buy it, you'll love it

[PerchJerker]

The i-Pilot is great, it's very rare to hear any complaints about it.

PowerDrive vs. Terrova: Terrova will be more battery efficient, Terrova has a newer footpedal design and improved stow-deploy mechanism, Terrova and i-Pilot allow you to use the footpedal or the remote, Terrova is more expensive. The PowerDrive stow-deploy never caused on issues for me and I prefer the smaller PD footpedal, but with the i-Pilot you completely lose the footpedal on the PD. For me that would be a dealbreaker ..... even though I love my i-Pilot and use it a lot, I use the footpedal 3 or 4 times as much as I use the remote.....

12volt vs. 24 volt --- 24 volt costs more and requires a 2nd battery, but it's more efficient so you more than double your run time from the 2nd battery. But if you're never draining down your battery all the way then this isn't really a concern. The power (lbs of thrust) might be more of a concern, having an underpowered trolling motor in wind or current is one of the most frustrating experiences you can have in a boat.

Hope that helps.