Angler-Friendly Electronics: Humminbird, Minn Kota, Talon, and Your One-Boat

The concept of One-Boat is to get all of the electronic pieces-parts on the same page.

Something called One-Boat Network is on the horizon, and it stands to make fishing more effective on your boat. The concept follows a trend we’ve been seeing more and more of lately: MFDs serving as a full-blown “brain,” for your boat. Everything gets digitally routed through them, ranging from the fishfinder to engine data (and in a few cases, even engine control). But Humminbird, Minn Kota, and Talon have a rather unique opportunity to fold their controls into one bailiwick, since they’re owned by the same company, and can be designed to work hand-in-hand with one another.

The concept of One-Boat is to get all of the electronic pieces-parts on the same page.

This means that the shallow water anchor on a One-Boat boat can talk to the MFD at the helm and the trolling motor on the bow, and those items can talk right back. This may seem like no big deal, but think about what it means in practice: you can lower that Talon without leaving the helm, via the Humminbird. You can use your Minn Kota Spot-Lock, leave the spot, then later return to it using the Humminbird. You can use your i-Pilot Link remote to interface with all the systems, and you can tap in with your phone via Bluetooth. You can use the system to navigate automatically, re-position the boat, anchor, pull the anchor, and so on. The real beauty here is that you don’t need to run back to the stern, or dart up to the bow. You can do pretty much any of these things, from pretty much anywhere on the boat.

Just how much will taking advantage of One-Boat cost you? Here, things get a bit sketchy. While retrofits are certainly possible, we’d expect a number of these systems to start showing up on brand new boats, where it’s always difficult to nail down a solid price figure. Beyond that, there’s a wide range of products with varying prices that one-Boat is applicable to. For the Humminbirds, for example, second generation Bluetooth-equipped HELIX and SOLIX models can get into the act. When it comes to your trolling motor, Ultrex, Ulterra, Terrova, Riptide Ulterra, and Riptide Terrova motors are all applicable.

Is One-Boat worthy of being called next-gen networking? Maybe. But one thing is for sure: systems like this do enhance your control of the boat and its electronics systems, which in the long run, will help you catch more fish.