I have a powerdrive v2 on my 16 foot alumacraft. It came with the boat — not my first choice of TM, but the motor is like new and handles my lightweight boat well, so I’m going to work with it a while. This motor is compatible with Ipilot link, but Minn-Kota has discontinued the conversion kit. I can piece together a kit with different OEM parts from two different sources for about $750, but before I do that I want to consider the Pronav Angler system as a possible alternative. I’m wondering if anyone here has any experience with this unit?
They recently had a video with Jay Siemens that caught my eye. System cost is about the same as above. It uses a phone app as the chart plotter with navionics and satellite imagery. So you can zoom in and chart your route along a certain contour or break. It takes longer than telling your Humminbird to follow a certain contour, but you can also do it sitting on your couch instead ahead of time. When you’re connected to the app, your phone still uses the external GPS source from the Pronav, NOT the crappy built-in GPS on the phone itself.
From what I can gather, the two systems offer a lot of the same features — spot lock and jog, autopilot, following routes and saving tracks and waypoints etc. The Pronav doesn’t look quite as precise in terms of being able to follow a specific map contour, but I’m leaning toward a Garmin sonar unit which isn’t link-compatible either.
Another positive to the Pronav system for me would be the ability to keep the foot pedal connected.
That said, I’m nervous. It seems this system was first reintroduced a few years ago and hasn’t gotten a ton of traction? I like that they’re revamping and adding more competitive features but it still seems relatively unknown? It’s tempting to go with the name recognition of MK.
