Genesis or Autopilot

[Jeff]

Hello All,
I have some questions I hope you can answer. Looking for a new bowmount and I was wondering which one to go with the Autopilot or the Genesis. The Genesis looks cool but I'm not sure on the power trim and deploy. How well does this work? One concern that I have is that the power deploy and trim uses more battery power to work. What happens when batteries get low does this function still work? Is there a manual feature if batts are dead? What happens if the deploy button gets bumped when your running down the lake at 50 mph or can you lock that out? I'm not sure about the genesis pedal either as the ordinary autopilot has one of the most simple pedals on the market. I also like that the top of the motor on the ordinary autopilot turns with the motor shaft as I would always know which way the motor is pointing without having to look at an arrow on top of the motor.
Sorry for all the questions but I appreciate your advice.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Fshngyd]

Go to the archives, and it will tell you about some of the debate on this subject.
Aside from that, I had one for a month or so and liked the "idea" of the motor, but mine malfunctioned to many times for me to feel comfortable about using it. I can tell you that in order to deploy or stow the motor, you have to hold down on the switch for like 3 seconds continuously, which is a great safety feature, but is sometimes hard to do in rough water, balancing on one foot and all. I believe you can stow the motor manually, but did not have it long enough to find out for sure. The control is much bigger than the regular AP, and I did not care for it, being I was so used to the other control. And yes it is hard to know which direction you are pointed with the head not moving, primarily in low light or at night.
I have used the AP on all of my boats, probably since inception of the AP, and it was very difficult to get used to the new Genesis, I think it is a great motor, and would like to try them again......someday!!

[Jeff]

Thanks for the reply and I did do some searching on the subject but didn't find much.... Maybe I didn't search the archives maybe just current posts not sure how the search feature works.
Thanks again

[DUDE]

I think you answered your own question with all of the doubt you have about it. I wouldn't buy something just because it looked cool. Buy things that meet your needs, I have autopilot bow mount and use it very sparingly. But I have talked to people who have had nothing but problems with ther autopilot. I haven't had any problems, but like I said I haven't used it much.

[Fishingdog]

I presently own an autopilot and have for years, since inception. I have never had a problem with that feature. There have been some minor pedal issues but not related to the AP.

I have 3 young boys and I am always looking for ways to increase my fishing pleasure while fishing with my kids. The auto stow and deploy looks great and I am very interested on any comments. By previous responses to this topic, it does not sound like it is a very popular product. Either that, or the people who own them do not comment. Very little information has been posted on this and I have been on WC for 3-4 years now.

I do know that Cabela's offers a reconditioned unit and they are backordered for approximately 10-11 weeks. That either tells me that they are having fewer problems with them because not as many recons are available, or they do not sell that many.

Please post good or bad if you own a Genesis.

[Keith Kavajecz]

I have fished the Genesis since it first came out (in fact a couple of motors were pro-types). Like any sophisticated piece of equipment, it had it's growing pains. Last year (2001) was the first year I ran it for the entire season on the PWT. At first I was skeptical enough about it's durability that I carried along a spare Maxxum 74. I happy to report I never used the Maxxum.

The biggest problem I encountered (and you will too) is that there is a long belt that goes up the entire shaft of the motor. This belt is used to stow and deploy the motor. As you use it, this belt can stretch - you can tell this because all of a sudden the motor starts making a ratcheting noise when it goes up or down. The solution is simple, as there is a phillips screw located on the bottom of the head to easily tighten this belt. After the first time you'll have to use it a long time before it needs tightening again.

Some features you will really like (beyond the back saving stow and deploy) are that the pedal runs just like a cable driven pedal. That is you can steer the motor after a while by "feel" - your brain learns what position your foot has to be in to turn left, right, go forward or back. Also because there are no cables - everything runs with a power drive motor - there is no feedback in the pedal.

Lots of people who fish rivers and vertical jig have asked if the motor drive is fast enough to respond to changing wind conditions - answer is yes. Just a hair slower than cable drive, but plenty fast to expertly control the boat.

The unit comes with a gauge that tells you how much battery time you have left based the current speed you are using. I have wore that right down to .1 hours (25 mph holding on the tip of NE 8 mile on Mil Lacs for 6 hours), and it still stowed for me.

I don't know if the is a manual override (I never needed it). I do know the motor comes with a quick disconnect bracket, so if worst came to worst you could disconnect it and lay it on the floor. Again, I've never had to do that.

The unit has autopilot - which because of bracket strength concerns in the past I never got run. For those of you who haven't used it it's great!!! The nicest thing is that, if I for some reason have to get off the motor (re-bait, net, re-tie...), I can turn on the autopilot, and walk away. The boat will stay pointing in the same direction - that's really great on a windy day.

Enough said. I like it, I'll be running one next year, and I won't be carrying a spare.

Good Walleye Fishing

Keith

[Jeff]

Thanks for all your replies!

[Bryan]

Fished with a partner last year who was running the Genesis. I loved all the features that it had. Pedal was extremely easy to use although it looks complex. The stow/deploy feature uses very little battery life and operates as smooth as silk. This years model has the universal soner feature that allows for the tranducer cable to feed up through the shaft of the motor, so no wires to tangle and looks very neat. The units are however very costly. All things considered, I guess I thought enough of them to have purchased a 2002 model for my own boat last week.
Later: Bryan

[Fishingdog]

Thanks for the input Keith. You are a huge asset to us walleye fanatics. I truly respect what you have to say since I know you spend endless hours on the water and I am sure you are probably one of the best quality control representative for Minn Kota due to the extreme conditions that you professional walleye pros fish. I think I will start putting money in the piggy bank to get a new Genesis!

And by the way, keep up the great work! You put on a seminar second to none!