MinnKota Auto Pilots

I have been having problems with my new auto pilot spinning around. Has anyone else experienced this problem?
I am told by my buddies they have the same problem. The folks at minnkota say they see this very seldom. Whats the verdict?

Thanks

Yep…same here. The one I had last year was really bad at that. It stood no chance of maintaining any kind of course at all before it would start spinning. Ive also had MANY troubles with the foot pedals on these things. I cant turn right or left with mine now. So I have to turn it by hand…yeah..thats a blast when youre on a three day guide trip and your pedal breaks on day one and its a shoreline bass trip. Casting for bass with one had and turning the motor with the other makes for poor boat control and not a whole lot of fun. Then the only hope you have is the autopilot feature. Cmon baby…awwwwww its spinning in circles again. Nice.

I had the same problem with my 824 Auto Pilot. It would be on course, then out of the blue it would start spinning around like crazy. The guys at Minn Kota told me that the internal compass had lost its bearing and just needed to be reset. It got to the point where sometimes the AP wouldn’t work at all. I would turn it on, and nothing would happen. I stopped using it all together because it was so unreliable. I just bought a new 65 lb Minn Kota bow mount and opted for the plain Power Drive unit with out AP. it was $200 cheaper and I don’t have to worry about it screwing up all the time.
Good Luck with yours. If you end up throwing it in the lake be sure to mark it with a GPS waypoint. Maybe it will have walleyes on it the next time you’re out!!

Crossin Eyes

Mine goes nuts every now and then, I simply shut off the auto pilot and turn it back on and it works fine. Same problem???

I had a 65AP on my last boat, and it will be the last AP I ever buy. I had the exact same problems on both the last two motors I had. Bad pedals, and the unit spinning uncontrollably… I plan on going cable steering from now on.
Tuck

I’ve had a lot of complaints lately about the AP’s at Gander also. I’ve ran them for years and personally had great luck. The occasional freak out didn’t bother me, but the complaints seem more and more frequent. Did Minn Kota cut some corners on the recent models?? I don’t know. I hate cable drive motors, but it looks like I’ll have to learn to love them. Does the genesis have the same issues???

I haved owned 5 auto pilots. The one I have now has the built in transducer. I would recommend not to buy a auto pilot unless it is at a place where you can return it. I would look into a Pin Point.
Minnkota Makes a spinning auto pilot, be careful when you buy!!!!!

I’ve reaqd a lot of complaints about PinPoints, especially customer service, since they were bought out by Mercury Marine. They were supposedly #1 before this.

Thanks folks I am sorry you are having to experience the same problems I am. However this is good info. (keep it comming).
I am going over to pick mine up at minnkota service dept. this afternoon and am going to give them a copy of our comments.
Maybe it will open thier eyes and they will see there is truely is a problem.

Thank You

Hougie – I had a similar problem with the foot control on my 65PD recently, actually I could only steer left, but not right. I was able to get it working again by taking the foot control apart and cleaning/lubricating the part that slides to depress the actuator. If you want to test it you can just plug it in while its taken apart and manually press the actuator down on the contacts to get it to steer left or right – if it doesn’t work when you do this then you have other problems. Hope that helps

Just thought I would through my two cents in here – The auto pilot feature on my three month old unit is JUNK !!!!! And is a complete waste of money. The only time it comes even close to holding a course is if there absolutly no wind or current moving the boat around. I’ve become so disgusted with it I haven’t turned the A.P. on in the last two months, other than that no other problems with the unit.

*yikes*… I also have an autopilot 65… came with the boat.. the pro I bought it from told me the autopilot seldom works.. often spins in circles and when I asked about repair he did not recomend it because it would most likely do the same thing in less then 6 months… so far Ive not had the problem with the foot pad but a friend of mine who also had one had problems with the unit so much he traded it in for a non autopilot model…… when I asked around I heard nothing good about them.. and have been cosidering writing minnkota and letting them know what Ive heard….. you would think they would be interested in knowing?

I was talked out of the AP by the guys who sold me the boat. After reading this I’m glad. I have the 55 lb Powerdrive and I would highly recommend this trolling motor. Plenty of power and quick reaction to the commands from the foot pedal.

I have had two Minn kotas 65AP and had nothing but excellent luck with them actually I love these motors and have also hooked my old man on them there is nothing better than being able to walk to the back of the boat and keep on course. I know I will keep buying these motors as long as I own a boat.

I have also heard allot of negatives about the AP, although I have never owned one. I have a MotorGuide 743 the only difference in mine from the one shown here is that mine is about 2 years old and is a var speed and not a 5 speed, I would highly recommend the var speed in any brand that you buy. I also like the foot control of the MotorGuide better than the Minnkota, much easier to control IMHO.

I went with the maxxum as i was told they stand up to the test of time better with the cables- the salesman at cabela’s told me if the AP or PD gets wet it can short out the pedal function. Anyway, I like minn kota as a brand and the maxxum works great- it would be nice to have a fool proof method of being able to keep it on line especially when landing a fish or retying, etc while in current.

Thank you all for the replies. I picked my motor up from minnkota. They said the resistors (?) were not set properly. There are 2 resistors that are adjustable and they dialed them in.
I spoke with them about the foot pedal problems some of you wrote about and was told if dirt/sand gets in them it wears on the contact plungers.
They said the best way to clean them is to blow it out with an air hose. I printed our discussion’s and gave it to them. Not as a jab but so they can see what we are seeing in thier products so they hopefully will learn from it and give us better products.
Because in the end when mine worked properly I love it.

Thanks and good fishing.

Backlash,

Good to hear you printed this post out and brought it to them. Alot of times these discussions may not ever leave here and get to the right people. Thanks

Some of you that are having pedal issues, how much for a new pedal? I am wondering about this unit for my new rig and just wondering if I should buy an extra pedal to keep on board in case of a problem in a tourney or long vacation or wherever.
I have always been sold on the Maxxum unit but would really miss the autopilot function of hands and “foot” free fishing.

Unfortunately a new foot pedal is extremely expensive. I don’t remember the exact cost, but it seemed like it was almost half of what the motor cost new. Please correct me if I’m wrong(like that ever happens) If anyone knows the exact cost, let us know. Otherwise I would call Motor Clinic in Bloomington, they are an authorized Minn Kota repair center.

One side note, I was also told by someone at Motor Clinic not to leave the trolling motor plugged in while moving, either on the water or trailering.

I’ll still likely buy the autopilot, just because I love the feature.

Actually, I had to buy a new pedal last fall for my AP. Motor Clinic in Bloomington has them – $60.00. Great people to work with. Ask them about their feelings on Motorguide.. LOL

I’ve also been told that leaving the AP pluged in when not in use will still draw juice from the bateries.

I’ve had my AP for 5 years and never had any problems with the spinning head or compas. I was up on Mile Lacs yesterday in big wind and was very happy with its ability not only to maintain direction, but hold (when it stayed in the water). I have had pedal problems though. I ended up tearing the pedal apart and modifying the switch control slightly. My constant on/off worked only when it wanted to. It was a pain until my modification. I like the motor. Maybe the manufacurer QC on newer models has been negated. I certainly hope not.

nubbinbuck
what are their feelings on Motorguide? I am curious on how they compare Minnkota & Motorguide. Don’t worry you will not hurt my feelings I have an old Minnkota transom mount 28 lb. thrust (which is for sale by the way, check out the classifieds) and my MotorGuide 743, both are very good motors, I have not had any problems with either one of them.

I don’t want to try to quote someone else, but lets just say there are a TON of Motorguides there to be fixed, and reconditioned ones for sale. I am sure, from a business standpoint, that they LOVE Motorguide.