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Random Quote: Fishing keeps us-part of us anyway-boys forever. Geoffery Norman
I am looking to purchase a set of downriggers but not sure I want to go with electric so I am leaning toward a manual set.
What is your preferance between Cannon and Big Jon and why?
I would say go with the electrics. Most people end up with electrics sooner or later so why waist the time and money. I have had both Cannons and Big Jon and liked them both. I am now running the Big Jon pro tournaments and they are nice I like the tip up booms on the Big Jon's it makes it a little easier to get the booms out of the way and a bit easier to hook the line to the ball. Both are nice, I don't think you could go wrong ether way. If you go with the manuals mount them on tracks so you don't have to drill new holes when you go to electrics. Some of the manuals have a different mounting pattern.
Electric vs. manual depends on where you are fishing (depth of water), how often you'll fish and your stamina. Manual riggers aren't bad until the fish go deep and you need to crank it up from 100' down a few times.
I like the cannon manual riggers. Easy one handed operation and very durable. I've never used big jon manuals.
I've fished a lot of different boats. Most of the boat's I've fished or mated for run big jons. I personally don't like the spring arms at all. They break if you're not carefull where you stop the ball. The motors are so slow. I usually forget they are on the way up. Not a huge deal if they have auto stop, but that doesn't come standard and requires you to crimp on stop points. You can't run auto stop on a rigger with a temp probe though (where you need it most). Their speed riggers are much faster, but expensive. I do like the tip up booms on the big jons. Their rod holders are also better than the cannons.
Cannons have solid booms that don't bounce around. Their new riggers are fast 250 fpm vs. 90 fpm for big jon. They come standard with auto stop that works with a probe rigger. They also come with a ball hook. If you install your riggers with swivel bases any cannon mount will fit the swivel base. Older cannons mag 10 electrics (pre 2007) were very slow. The digitrolls, mag 20's and mag 15's have always been fast.
Vectors are super nice, they have better rod holders than the big jons. They're almost as fast as the cannons. The booms tip up for storage. They don't have auto stop, but they have a very smooth clutch that will slip if you forget to stop them instead of blowing the breaker like a big jon. Biggest problem is they are $700 each now. They sold for about $400 a few years ago.
I can't comment much on other models...... fishlander, walker, scotty, etc. Fishlanders are not much different than a big jon though other than they have lighted counters.
First off, if you do any amount of fishing I would not go w/ manual riggers of any make. The cycle time is just to long and you can be doing other productive things while the rigger is doing it's thing.
Besides, if you fish alone, and don't have auto pilot, controling the boat will be a real pain.
I've owned Big Jons without an auto stop option and they were dependable but slow and I was always poping the breaker when I forgot they were winding up, or when fish were on and we were pulling lines to manuver.
I LOVE my Cannon Digitrolls...I would not go back to Big Jons.
In my neck of the woods, Scotty riggers do not have a good rep.
I have had electric Scotty downriggers for 2 fishing seasons. No trouble what so ever. They are quite fast and can pull up a 20 lb ball with much less electricity than other brands. The newer Canon digitrolls may use less power now than the older Canons. I'm sure most manufactures' newer products are very good. Go with the ones that you can get the best deal and service on.
My Scotties have automatic stops so when you are reeling in a fish you just have to push a button and up comes the ball automatically. No muss no fuss, the downrigger is ready to go again when you are. These Scotties have tilt up booms and swivel bases.
DON'T BUY MANUALS OF ANY KIND unless you like lots of exercise. With electrics, it is not a chore to pull your line to check your bait or to change lure colors. With manuals, you will put off checking bait because it is too much work.
I agree with the go electrics from the others. Depending on where you are fishing, on how big your weights will be I would rec. either Cannons or Scotty's. Big Jon makes good riggers, but if you are using heavy weights, they can and do break arms if it gets rough. I run Cannons and love them. I have fished boats with Scotty's and fishlanders, if something ever happened to cannon, then I would go to Scotty. Good Luck.
Rich
I have four Cannon downriggers. Two are electric, and two are manual. Like ggill said, the nice aspect about electrics is that you can hit the switch to raise them, and that frees you up to do other things. For instance, sometimes on Lake Ontrario, when a big king is on the line and you need to get some of the other lines and downrigger cables out of the way, it's nice to hit the switches so the downriggers can reel themselves in, while your reeling lines in. The manuals are fine for walleye fishing and / or when your not running too deep. Manuals will get you by just fine, but electrics are nice.
I have not had any problems with the Cannons. Last year, I fabricated two planer board masts. I purchased Big Jon reels and pulleys for the masts. The pulleys stick, the reels squeal and do not operate smoothly. I'm very unimpressed with Big Jons products and don't foresee myself purchasing anything from them in the future.
__________________ Grady White SeaFarer 226 w/Yamaha F225 - SOLD
I have 4 Cannon Mag 10's HS and they're great. I use 13 lb weights and they bring them up fast with no problems and the auto stop feature works perfect. I would buy some Retro Ease weight retreivers to help pull the weight in from the extended arm so you don't have to lean out over the water too far to extend or retreive the weight.
ggill, in defense of Big Jon, comparing Cannon digi-trolls to anything Big Jon has to offer is not a fair comparison. Most of us do not have 6k to spend on downriggers. Over the past 25 years trolling the great lakes, I have had manual and elec. Cannons / manual and elec. Big Jons and have had only positive experiences with both manufacturers products. Features may vary from rigger to rigger but I think
you would be happy with either. I recently installed a new set (4) of Big Jon
tournament pro's on my boat (2nd set of tournament pro's / 20th big john rigger
that I've owned and I'm not a pro/ charter captain so i have to pay for my stuff).
Two of my reasons for buying Big Jon is keeping the money in my state (Mich.)
where they are manufactured and the outstanding service they offer.
if money was not an issue, i would have digi-trolls (hope John Williams does'nt
see this reply lol.). Whichever you choose, Cannon, Big Jon, manual, or elec. (save
yourself the hassle, buy elec.), you'll have a quality product on your boat.
Iv' e had both electric Big Jon and Cannons. I prefer the Cannons. They are more beefy. Vectors may be the best made. Vector makes rod holders for Cannon downriggers and they are well worth it. I would suggest getting those instead of the Cannons.
I also love the Cannon auto stop. The Cannon Mag 5 is the same as the Mag 10 except the Mag 10 has a telescopic boom. You can save some money if you don't need that boom.
I like the composite material they are made of. I was able to mount a Depth Raider right on the top. I spliced right into the downrigger power. The installation is compact and clean. I have my temp and speed at the ball right on the downrigger.
The one thing I hate about the Cannons is their front pulley. If your wire starts to kink it can jump the pulley. If any one out there has a suggestion to that I'm all ears.
Wow allot of people are saying that the Big Jons booms brake? Well I have only seen one boom brake and that was a cannon mag 10 on the boat next to me at the dock when he hit it on the dock wile backing out. I have never in over 15 years of fishing lake Michigan and Huron seen or heard of a Big Jon boom braking. They are made of solid aluminum I would think that they would bend before baking? I am not saying they don't brake but I have never heard of it. I run the pro tournaments and they come stock with the auto-stops for about 500 each. I run one of them with a coated cable and depth raider with the crimped on stop with no problems at all.
ggill, in defense of Big Jon, comparing Cannon digi-trolls to anything Big Jon has to offer is not a fair comparison. Most of us do not have 6k to spend on downriggers. Over the past 25 years trolling the great lakes, I have had manual and elec. Cannons / manual and elec. Big Jons and have had only positive experiences with both manufacturers products. Features may vary from rigger to rigger but I think
you would be happy with either. I recently installed a new set (4) of Big Jon
tournament pro's on my boat (2nd set of tournament pro's / 20th big john rigger
that I've owned and I'm not a pro/ charter captain so i have to pay for my stuff).
Two of my reasons for buying Big Jon is keeping the money in my state (Mich.)
where they are manufactured and the outstanding service they offer.
if money was not an issue, i would have digi-trolls (hope John Williams does'nt
see this reply lol.). Whichever you choose, Cannon, Big Jon, manual, or elec. (save
yourself the hassle, buy elec.), you'll have a quality product on your boat.
Good post Jaime, I agree.
I didn't mean to come across as a Big Jon basher, they served me well, and are still going strong for the guy I sold my last boat to.
The issues with Big Jon boom arms breaking, I believe are isolated to the older
units. I had a couple arms break over the years but was due to the threads
stopping right at the support block. Recently Big Jon changed the design to
allowing the arm to screw into the blocks beyond the threads, making that
stress point stronger. I've been running the new tournament pros now for
3 years and no problems.
I run 2 manual Cannon downriggers. I spent the money saved on other important stuff (got better electronics and so forth). My main goal is walley with an occasional trip for Salmon and Lake Trout. For my use, the manuals are fine. I'm not out to catch limits of fish all the time, therefore I can spend the extra time using manuals. If you want top line stuff, go with electric ones. They are much easier to use, but since I use them on lesser occasions then say inline or large planer boards and reels etc, they worked fine for me.
Best adivce I can give, is how do you plan on using them.? If you're gonig to use them all the time, get electric ones. If you only use them occasionaly, you can get away with manuals.
hope this helps
'Todd
__________________
1999 230 Wellcraft Fisherman and 2000 Lund 18 Alaskan
I run eight Cannon electrics on my boats,(6 mag10's,and 2 marlins) and they have been pretty much trouble free for more than fifteen years.
I had to replace a couple of switches,and a couple pulleys,and boom ends,but these riggers get lots and lots of use.
Now having said that,i just bought four Scotty's for my new boat.I got a chance to fish on a few boats with them,and liked them very much.I like the tip up feature and the mechanism for the adjustment on the booms much more than the Cannons.
They also have a lower amp draw,and the stop beads for the cable shut off is very simple,and doesn't depend on a complicated printed circut board thats expensive to replace,as on the Cannons.
I've used about five major brands of riggers over my lifetime,and i think all were pretty good.Much of it boils down to personal preference.
If it's in your budget,get the electrics,no matter what brand you decide on.You'll end up wanting electrics anyway,especially after the first season of getting a good arm workout.You might as well bite the bullet and buy them now.
I can't speak for big jon's but I started out with a pair of manual cannon's that came with my original boat. After one season I sold them and went with mag 10's. Never regretted it. As soon as a fish hit's , i grab the rod and then hit the toggle switch and as I'm fighting the fish the cannon ball is on it's way up. To me, the manual's are a p.i.b. My cannon's have performed flawlessly for 5 season's.
Can any of you guys tell me what a fair price would be for a pair of used Mag 10's that were only used twice in freshwater? They are the riggers only with the extra rod holders, no other extras. I plan to list them soon but I'm not sure what to ask for them, if I remember right they were about $500 each new. Thanks in advance.
Last year Cannon went to a faster motor than they used previously so yours may have the older slower motor and so worth less than the new ones which can be had for around $450 on sale. I think around $300 would be fair for yours if they're in good condition?
Cannon vs. Big Jon Downriggers. 
