Help me compare a cannon vs scotty downrigger

irvinparrett

Cadet
Joined
Apr 13, 2012
Messages
7
Wish to purchase 2 downriggers with 2 poles.
Scotty? High Performance Electric Downrigger - #2116 36" - 60" Boom
vs.
Cannon Digi Troll 5 Downrigger
Has anyone experienced any problems with either one.
What are your likes and dislikes
Do you recommend anotherone than I have listed. I need to have 2 poles on each downrigger. And also need to have depth ability of 400'
Thanks I appreciate your opinions.
 

Thalasso

Commander
Joined
Jan 18, 2011
Messages
2,876
Re: Help me compare a cannon vs scotty downrigger

Wish to purchase 2 downriggers with 2 poles.
Scotty? High Performance Electric Downrigger - #2116 36" - 60" Boom
vs.
Cannon Digi Troll 5 Downrigger
Has anyone experienced any problems with either one.
What are your likes and dislikes
Do you recommend anotherone than I have listed. I need to have 2 poles on each downrigger. And also need to have depth ability of 400'
Thanks I appreciate your opinions.

I have 2 Scotty's and have had them for 13 yr's. Never had one bit of problems with them. What is nice is you can lift the arms to get the weight off and attach your clips. I think the cannons you have to reach out and bring the cable to you.Don't like that in rough water.As for 400ft depth i don't know about that. My walleye fishing wasn't at those depths. There is alot of cable on the spool.Another thing i liked about the Scotty is the low profile vs the enourmus height of the Cannons and a few others
 

Rumley

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Dec 5, 2009
Messages
105
Re: Help me compare a cannon vs scotty downrigger

I have used big jons, Scottie's, cannons and walkers. If I was outfitting my boat with a set it would be scotties without a doubt because they are the easiest to use. As well they free spool down opposed to power down so 1/2 the amount of motor use and they will get down to the bottom the quickest. I got used to the big johns after a while and began to really like them but I wouldn't reccomend them. Cannons were decent and a hated the walkers, they just seemed cheap.
 

QC

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
22,783
Re: Help me compare a cannon vs scotty downrigger

Moving this to Freshwater Fishing section. Good luck with the ultimate goal!
 

PKomrowski

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Jun 26, 2010
Messages
81
Re: Help me compare a cannon vs scotty downrigger

I to will say I have scottys, they just plain work good. I have had penns in the past, and they were not bad, as well as the cannon, but I like the scottys best. On some of these toys after the novelty wears off your left with a feeling, and after owning some new scottys i would say that feeling is "im glad I got them, I still realy like them" if that helps.
 

sprintst

Commander
Joined
Apr 18, 2009
Messages
2,066
Re: Help me compare a cannon vs scotty downrigger

Good to know guys. I picked up a like new used Scotty downrigger recently so it's looks like I made a decent choice.
 

jt57

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 2, 2004
Messages
101
Re: Help me compare a cannon vs scotty downrigger

I have Cannon Mag 5's on my boat. My fishing buddy has Scotty 1106's on his boat. So I have experience with both types. There are things I like and dislike about both d/r's. I don't like the brake system on the Scotty's compared to the Cannons.It's easier to just hit the down button on the cannon's. I do like the jog switch on the Scotty's. The Cannons can be a pita when wanting to raise the weight just a few feet. I like the fact that on the Scotty's a braided d'r line can be use,and the auto-stop is not affected. Can't do that on the Cannon's On the Scotty's the d/r can be raised and locked into place. Makes it easier around the docks.As for fit and finish and quality, I have to say that both types are well made. For me it would be a coin toss as to what type of d/r to buy,between these two.
 

Jlawsen

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
810
Re: Help me compare a cannon vs scotty downrigger

By far, the Cannon is the more sophisticated DR. The complaint about the booms not being retractable like the Scottys is valid but you get around that with a swivel base. What I don't like about Cannon is the arogance with their interface. Johnson has decicded to only offer a chartplotter interface for their Humming Bird units. That leaves a big chunk of the cool features useless for us Lowrance users. Why pay for them if you can't use them and you don't when you go with the Scotty's.

If you're not using a Cannon or a Scotty, you might just as well mount a pulley on a broom stick and spool up a trailer winch. That's about the best as I can do when comparing the others.
 
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