Minn kota Riptide 55 SE or 55 co pilot

If you trolling motor through any wind, current, or tides and want to hold in the same spot I pilot is the way to go. If you get current remote control model with just co pilot and wait until Jan or so when I pilot link is released you should be able to pick up a gen 2 i pilot control board for way cheaper than they are now.

I have i pilot now and will never buy another trolling motor without it.

 

If you get a co pilot now you can add i pilot later. I would guess the current i pilot will be on sale for 200-300 in Jan.

 

i had nothing but problems with mine, swapped it out 3 times with no good luck,,,finally threw in the dumpster and went back to the motorguide hand control,,no issues

 

Got the Ipilot with my Copperhead, works great!  Love it!   

 

Well the steering part is not hard to navigate tight creeks and oyster bars with the remote. The SE is hand controlled so you will use one hand for steering either way. Floating over oyster bars you can lift the TM straight up and turn it by hand. Is that as easy as a scissor type mount no, is it that hard to do no. This is what I do when fishing creeks around Crescent Beach FL. Anyone familiar with the area can tell you those creeks are oyster/shell bar filled.

If my boating and fishing were spent 95%+ of the time in the situation you described I'd pick a cable steer foot control over the SE. You asked about choosing between SE and a CoPilot models though and in this one situation the SE would be a bit more convenient to lift many times in a fishing session.

 

If you don't want to spend the money on an iPilot don't ever try one on a boat or even fish on a boat that has one. I will never have another trolling motor that doesn't have the automatic heading mode and spot lock. Fighting the wind with one hand while trying to fish is for the birds. I was out Saturday in 15mph winds working a bank with a fly rod with another angler on the platform doing the same. A simple touch of the remote every 100 feet or so to keep following the bank is all that was needed. The TM did the rest. It would have been pretty much impossible with a tiller handle.

Don't think of it as an expensive trolling motor. It's really like having someone sitting there full time running the motor for you while you fish. I feel like I should give it a name.

 

You got that right Marshfly. He pretty much described the one and only one situation where hand steer bow mount has a very slight advantage over i pilot. However when the tide starts rolling there in or out having spot lock hold you on a productive creek corner fishing an eddy over a oyster bar or creek mouth with no worries is priceless.

 

It is a matter of personal preference. I have a remote and will go manual when it dies. KISS is for me.

 

Do you have a simple Remote or the iPilot? The two are not even in the same class. A remote that just does speed and turns the motor is one thing. Being able to point the boat on a compass heading at a specific groundspeed is something totally different.

 

I have the simple remote. Nothing wrong with it or the iPilot.