Minnkota Power Drive V2 with Ipilot

Looked through the history on here and see some remarks into the ipilot for power drive.

Questions I have from watching reviews are as follow and if anyone has one or has any insight please let me know.

Monday I was going to try and track down a sales rep and ask same questions.

Battery life — I heard the ipilot system takes more charge and drains trolling battery faster is that true?

How well does the spot lock feature work?

I have the copilot system now so I would sell that.

Thanks in advance.

I bought the powerdrive V2 without the ipilot first, then after a year, added on the ipilot. It is a true game changer system. I use every feature and would be lost without it now. I have the older version of the ipilot before they upgraded the spot lock and added on bluetooth. The spot lock on mine is very reliable and I use it all the time, but it does have to adjust for drift a lot. A friend has the updated ipilot on his terrova and it is much more consistent. The biggest drawback to the powerdrive with ipilot is that you can’t use the foot pedal any more. As a bass guy, I do miss it at times, but not nearly enough to switch back. As for battery draw, the thing to note is that as long as the motor is connected to the battery, they ipilot is draining battery. So if you have it plugged in while driving to the lake, you are using battery. Simply unplug the motor and it no longer draws. I don’t connect mine until Im in line to launch. I have a 50# motor and it is underpowered for my boat. If I am walleye fishing on big water, I will run low on power after a full day of fishing. But If I’m bass fishing on Tonka or something, I never use up more than half the battery in a days fishing.
Dan

Dan Baker. What size boat do you have?

I agree with Dan 100%

Joshua wrote:

Dan Baker. What size boat do you have?

I have it on a Bayliner 175. On ten, it will pull at about 1.7mph. It was really a budget decision. It was one of the ones sold at Cabelas exclusively. Totally worth the $550. Then the ipilot add on was $450.
Dan

I have a PD V2 with the Ipilot/link added as an after thought. My Power Drive is labeled as a Pontoon model.

According to the specs it has 68 lb of thrust and a 48 inch shaft and runs on 24 volts. I bought the trolling motor and the IPilot/link used and have less that $500 in it. The trolling motor came with 2 interstate grp 27 deep cycle batteries and a Minnkota dual analog charger (craigslist find). I bought the Ipilot/Link off ebay.

I have it mounted on a Lund Pike 16 Dlx. The shaft is a little short for rough waters but for my style of fishing it is great. It will top out pulling the boat at 3.3 mph.

Would I do it again? YES.

A New Terova or Ultera with Ipilot/link would be better, but at 5 time the cost, it is a too rich for my blood.

Fish On…..

What is the difference between the top of the line Power Drive and the Terrova….pros and cons? I have a Lund Pro V 1775 tiller I would mount one of them on. I’ve been looking at the Terrova/IPilot with link/, but they are expensive.

Al Case wrote:

What is the difference between the top of the line Power Drive and the Terrova….pros and cons? I have a Lund Pro V 1775 tiller I would mount one of them on. I’ve been looking at the Terrova/IPilot with link/, but they are expensive.

The PD with iPilot does not include a foot pedal, and a foot pedal cannot be used if iPilot is equipped. Terrova comes with a nice foot pedal and can be used with iPilot equipped. Most people seem to prefer the remote (as do I) but if you muskie fish it’s almost a necessity that you use a foot pedal over the remote.
The stow and deploy is different between the PD and Terrova, with the Terrova being easier. The Terrova has a spring lift-assist that is really nice.
Biggest PD is 24v 70lbs. Biggest Terrova is 36v 112lbs.

Thanks, blank.
Great information. The 70 lb thrust max makes up my mind to go for the Terrova…as well as the spring assist, since I’m no spring chicken anymore. I also noticed that the Power Drive shaft length does not go to 60 inches, only 50 and 54 inche shafts.
I appreciate the reply and info.

Guys thanks for the feedback. I have decided to go ahead and order the ipilot head. My local boat guy sold it to me for $410 + tax so that was a fair price from what I am seeing from the major carriers. once I have it in the water for a little while I will get back to you all with my thoughts.

Have a great 4th of july.

lrott2003 wrote:

Guys thanks for the feedback. I have decided to go ahead and order the ipilot head. My local boat guy sold it to me for $410 + tax so that was a fair price from what I am seeing from the major carriers. once I have it in the water for a little while I will get back to you all with my thoughts.

Have a great 4th of july.

Great price! and your gonna love it!

Well I have found out that my powerdrive is not a V2 and the ipilot upgrade will not work…. grrrr….

Guess it is Co-Pilot until further notice.

If anyone knows someone looking for this system I am trying to help out the owner of this shop he would sell for $410. Message me if you have any questions.

So with the iPilot add on…..do you link it to locator, like a Helix 7 SI/GPS?

Can you set a certain speed? Can it be set to follow a contour line (maintain depth)? Can speed and contour be set at the same time?

Thanks, really intrigued by this.

From the MinnKota website:
https://minnkotamotors.johnsonoutdoors.com/freshwater-trolling-motors/powerdrive

You can choose options.

Look at what you are buying carefully. When I go and look for IPilot add on’s for “PowerDrives” I can NOT find any with Link functions.

As far as I am concerned without IPilot/link it is a waste of money.

Without link you loose all the connection with your Humminbird and Map related functions.

Yeah I did some research yesterday. The link for iPilot on powerdrives is listed as discontinued on MinnKotas website.