Motorguide Pinpoint 3700 User Manual or Advice Needed

I recently picked up a Pinpoint 3700 trolling motor dirt cheap from a pawn shop. It's in really good condition, and I've figured out how to steer it with the foot pedal in manual mode, so I'm already pretty satisfied it was worth the money. However, it has some auto-tracking features that would make the deal even sweeter, if I knew how to utilize them fully. Unfortunately it didn't come with any type of manual or instructions.

I played around with it a bit, and it seemed like I was able to get it to track creek channels and breaklines pretty well. But when I tried to set it up to track the shoreline, all it did was weave in and out from the bank and spin me in circles. I also noticed it had a tendancy to spin the boat whenever I ran across a flat, hole, or hump.

I did a little online reasearch and found out it was apparently one of the first auto-tracking models put out by Motorguide way back in 2001. Being the first of it's kind, I'm sure it probably has a few bugs and some outdated technology. So it's quite possible it wouldn't work any better even if I knew what I was doing. But it would be nice to make sure I'm operating it properly and taking full advantage of all the it's features.

EDIT The motor is way old, and Motorguide was bought out by Mercury years ago, so I'm doubtful I could get an original copy from the manufacturer. I would also appreciate any advice, tips, or tricks on how to operate this thing, if anyone out there has experience with it.

I found out through my reseach that this motor also has the option of attaching a companion sonar/depthfinder unit. I believe Motorguide paired it with a Pinpoint Model 7520. EDIT.

Re: Motorguide Pinpoint 3700 User Manual or Advice Needed

Howdy, EZ.

:welcome:

With patience you may be able to pick those up on eBay. Please observe our rule against soliciting private transactions in the forum.

Re: Motorguide Pinpoint 3700 User Manual or Advice Needed

Eureka!

I was able to find a Pinpoint 7520 sonar unit on eBay, and it didn't even take all that much patience. Unfortunately it did not come with an owner's manual either. However, it does have very good on-screen help, and menu options for setting up and controlling the motor. It would be nice to have the manuals, but I think I've pretty much figured out how it all works on my own. Sorry that I failed to realize there were rules against soliciting manuals and such.

Thanks for your advice to seek help elsewhere JB. Ultimately that led to the resolution of my problem. It seems that no one here was willing or able to help anyway, so I guess all's well that end's well. With this being an on-line retail store, I can totally understand how providing people with assistance on their old, out-dated equipment that was purchased elsewhere would be a conflict of interest.

Re: Motorguide Pinpoint 3700 User Manual or Advice Needed

You didn't get assistance because very few people use that motor because they are not very reliable. I tried them twice and can assure you never again. At the time there was only 2 places in the states that would even work on them. I will say they had some great features when they worked.

Re: Motorguide Pinpoint 3700 User Manual or Advice Needed

I've been scouring the web for info on this motor since I got it, and it's clear that most share your sentiment. The 3700's are great when they work right, but have a tendancy to break down. All I can say is the one I have appears to work fine, so I'm extremely pleased with it so far. Particularly since I've never had the budget for high end equipment.

After I got it set up properly, it was tracking breaklines and creek channels almost flawlessly all day long. In the past, I spent half my time trying to stay in position, so kicking back with a cold beverage and letting the auto-track do all the work is like a dream come true for me. Plus, the sonar unit is by far the most sensitive I've ever used, and with 5 transducers in the motor, you can see almost everything around you. It's amazing to watch it "draw" a fish or track a 1/2 oz sinker all the way down to 25 ft.

I understand that these motors can be unreliable, but that doesn't seem like a reason to erase all memories of them. From what I can gather, the Pinpoint fishing system was considered to be pretty much state-of-the-art at one time, so it's hard to believe there's no one out there who was proficient at operating one.

Since I finally got some kind of response, and I've got enough experience now to actually ask an intelligent question, I guess I'll try again.

Is there any way to set the depth tracking to the left or right?

This thing seems to have a mind of it's own as far as which way it will choose. I've set the depth with the bank and a clear dropoff on my left. Then had it display "DEPTH TRACKING RIGHT", spin all the way around, and start trolling in the opposite direction. I've tried hitting the arrow button while it's in the process of calculating the depth and that doesn't work.

How do I turn the backlight off on the motor's LCD display?

When I first turned the system on it did not have the motor control buttons on the sonar screen. I found a menu setting that brought the buttons up so I could control the motor via the the sonar. After that I couldn't get the buttons to disappear from the screen, even when I turned the same menu setting off. The Help screen said that the motor buttons will be displayed as long as the motor's LCD backlight is on, regardless of this menu setting. Unfortunately I couldn't find any Help for for turning off the backlight. The motor buttons block off a good portion of the graph, escecially when it's in split-screen mode, so I would like to remove them when I'm done changing the settings.

I realize I'm taking a shot in the dark here. Any help I could get would be greatly appreciated.