What are you meaning by “definitive answer” ET?
If the Minn Kota Engineers say that the 1197c Si is compatible than it should be. I’m guessing that they have looked at the communications specs of this unit and saw that it would work, otherwise it would not be listed.
If you are looking for someone who has used an 1197c Si unit with an iPilot Link, I don’t think that you will find them; at least not yet as the iPilot Link has not been released to the public yet. The Minn Kota web site still shows: “Available: December 2012”.