minn kota ulterra or motorguide xi5

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davew said:
so -- this discussion has me thinking ---- how do you guys use the Terrova / ulterra / XI5? -- I have the Terrova, and I find that 99% of the time, I use it just like my old foot controlled only unit. Most of my fishing at powell is for small mouth / large mouth near shore. So for me, I plug in the foot controller, and use it to stay the distance away from shore that I like. I like the foot controller because I can maneuver with my foot -- The only time I use the hand held controller is when I am going across a larger bay. So what features am I missing, that others are using all the time?
( I have used the anchor button to try and stay over a group of stripers -- didn't help much because seemed the group was always moving)
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I spot lock over stripers or where they have been in the past (I keep a log) and start my chum line. It's important to stay in the area of the chum which makes the spot lock important. I also fish Lake Pleasant and I have a handful of my favorite spots and use the same approach.
I guess it depends on how you want or like to fish. If you want to beat the bank the foot pedal would be the best method. If you want to suspend over striper spots, use the spot lock.
 
I love my Ulterra and have it linked to my dash Hummingbird. I use the remote and Hummingbird to deploy the motor as I come up to a spot. Like mentioned before I also love spot locking on schools of Stripers. The spot lock works really well in windy conditions when drop-shotting for bass. So as you can see I love mine. The one downside is if you want to run a SI/DI scan off of the motor. I had to come up with an engineering project to mount the sending unit. Here is my video.
 
birdsnest said:
Purhasing one or the other, which is best. Leaning towards minn kota auto deploy. Any input
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Don’t overlook the ultrex. I have had it with the new gps Bluetooth set up and love it. I use the link system all of the time on my birds. For a bass guy the foot controller has better feedback on motor position than the electric steal of the the Ulterra or Xi5. My understanding is the the MK spot lock system is tighter the the MG. I use to be a MG fan but they lost my trust on the early auto systems. That being said the early MK genesis sucked also still have on a jet boat and have to take the head off to reset. Be carful with the spot lock in tight high wall canyons. It loses sats and goes into a search mode will put you on a wall. My .02
 
davew said:
so -- this discussion has me thinking ---- how do you guys use the Terrova / ulterra / XI5? -- I have the Terrova, and I find that 99% of the time, I use it just like my old foot controlled only unit. Most of my fishing at powell is for small mouth / large mouth near shore. So for me, I plug in the foot controller, and use it to stay the distance away from shore that I like. I like the foot controller because I can maneuver with my foot -- The only time I use the hand held controller is when I am going across a larger bay. So what features am I missing, that others are using all the time?
( I have used the anchor button to try and stay over a group of stripers -- didn't help much because seemed the group was always moving)
Click to expand...

I use it similarly, I use the foot pedal 95% of the time but always have the remote on me. I am usually always the boat controller so when I need to go help net or tie something else on I can keep us moving down the bank with the remote without being up front. One feature I use probably more than anything is auto pilot, love that! I also use the spot lock a lot, usually hit it when we hook into an Eye or Crappie, then try to see if there are a few more with it. One way we use spotlock is to have the TM down while putting around looking for Stripers at the console graph, when you come over something you want to spoon just hit the anchor button and put it in neutral.
 
Dungee Fishing said:
I use it similarly, I use the foot pedal 95% of the time but always have the remote on me. I am usually always the boat controller so when I need to go help net or tie something else on I can keep us moving down the bank with the remote without being up front. One feature I use probably more than anything is auto pilot, love that! I also use the spot lock a lot, usually hit it when we hook into an Eye or Crappie, then try to see if there are a few more with it. One way we use spotlock is to have the TM down while putting around looking for Stripers at the console graph, when you come over something you want to spoon just hit the anchor button and put it in neutral.
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How do you use the auto pilot? does it just keep a straight line? what situations do you use it in? never thought about using spot lock when helping someone in back of boat --- that has a lot of merit --- thanks
 
Yes, so after you hit the auto pilot button it will keep on the same trajectory that the motor head is pointed at the time you hit the button.
 
davew said:
How do you use the auto pilot? does it just keep a straight line? what situations do you use it in? never thought about using spot lock when helping someone in back of boat --- that has a lot of merit --- thanks
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Auto pilot will do a couple things, It will keep you on a straight course. It can also record a route, say you're following a contour around the shore, hit record and when you finish your pass hit stop, then goto and it will retrace your route. On my Terrova you can use it with the cruise control and maintain a steady speed and course. You can make adjustments with the right, left arrows and it will adjust and hold that course. I use that feature the most while trolling open water with my kicker motor powering the boat, Il deploy the electric and run it on 2 or so just to steer. Its great not being tethered to the wheel or the tiller. Move around and set lines, land fish, whatever. Also nice if you have a train wreck you can point it away from the rocks until you get things straightened out!!
 
Coho975 said:
Also nice if you have a train wreck you can point it away from the rocks until you get things straightened out!!
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What do you mean "train wreck"? Fishing with 6 and 9 year old anglers, I've never had a problem that took more than an hour to untangle. Honestly, I'm the one who hangs up/tangles/drags more than the inexperienced ones. They don't worry so much about getting down on the bottom, where I make it my goal.
 
I have a question. I was told that if you leave your electric motor down and troll with your kicker motor it will turn the prop on your electric as it goes through the water and the prop is pulling on the motor head rather than pushing on the motor head as when using your electric to move the boat. They said the seal is designed to be pushed against and not pulled against. They said that leaving your electric down while moving with your kicker or regular motor will destroy your seal and cause water to get into the motor head coils.

Has anyone had this problem?
 
davew said:
How do you use the auto pilot? does it just keep a straight line? what situations do you use it in? never thought about using spot lock when helping someone in back of boat --- that has a lot of merit --- thanks
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I use mine when trolling as the steering motor. FYI - I have had mine two years with trolling on a kicker and the big motor with no problem.. I also use the autopilot when casting long straight shore lines or walls. I can point it in a direction, hit the Autopilot and start fishing.
 
Not Yet You Bet said:
I have a question. I was told that if you leave your electric motor down and troll with your kicker motor it will turn the prop on your electric as it goes through the water and the prop is pulling on the motor head rather than pushing on the motor head as when using your electric to move the boat. They said the seal is designed to be pushed against and not pulled against. They said that leaving your electric down while moving with your kicker or regular motor will destroy your seal and cause water to get into the motor head coils.

Has anyone had this problem?
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There is a thrust bearing in the front of the motor designed to bear the force while the motor is ON and pushing. There is only a seal in the rear of the drive that quickly wears when dragging the motor while it is OFF. When using it for steering while trolling the motor is ON and thrusting forward as you need to match the speed of the kicker in order for it to "grab" and steer. Its really not doing much work though, just small corrections (unless its really windy). I've trolled kokes for hundreds of hours like this, its a very common practice up here. Just don't drag it around while its OFF, even for a short ways.
 
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Coho975 said:
There is a thrust bearing in the front of the motor designed to bear the force while the motor is ON and pushing. There is only a seal in the rear of the drive that quickly wears when dragging the motor while it is OFF. When using it for steering while trolling the motor is ON and thrusting forward as you need to match the speed of the kicker in order for it to "grab" and steer. Its really not doing much work though, just small corrections (unless its really windy). I've trolled kokes for hundreds of hours like this, its a very common practice up here. Just don't drag it around while its OFF, even for a short ways.
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Then what I was told is true. Thanks for the explanation. One time I forgot my motor down and took off with the big motor. I did not realize I had forgot to stow it until water started coming up over the front. I wondered what that did to my motor. It seems to work OK, but that can not be good for it.
 
linnell said:
I found a picture of my Terrova shaft after a most unfortunate self deployment while we were on planeView attachment 3915
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Wow, was the motor still in the water while you were on plane? What speed were you running and for how long before you relized what happened? I have found those shafts to be pretty durable while under power of the trolling motor banging into rocks and such.
 
Meatwagon said:
Wow, was the motor still in the water while you were on plane? What speed were you running and for how long before you relized what happened? I have found those shafts to be pretty durable while under power of the trolling motor banging into rocks and such.
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I was already on plane, hit a rather small wake and the motor jumped into the lake, so I realized it happened while it happened. Had to take the mount apart on the water to get the boat back on the trailer
 
I think a quick release base would be a good choice for the auto deploy just in case. Realize that would not help linnell but would let you get the trolling motor in the boat.
 
birdsnest said:
I think a quick release base would be a good choice for the auto deploy just in case. Realize that would not help linnell but would let you get the trolling motor in the boat.
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Fortunately, the mount came apart in a couple minutes and we were fishing 20 miles from home, so it didn't ruin a Powell trip
 
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