We had Cannons on our Grady - they worked great - never had an autostop problem unless I screwed it up when respooling wire and didn't get a good connection with the autostop sensor connection on the spool. We fished in every weather imaginable including 10 footers for the Blue Water Classic, snow, ice, rain.
Things I didn't like about the Cannons. No way to remove the spool so if you backlash the wire, you either get lucky and get it unsnarled or you cut it away and start over. The other thing I don't like about the cannons are the sub-par rod holders, a fantastic rigger like the cannon without adjustable rod holders is a shame. Got to put the vector plate and vector rod holders on them to bring them up to par.
But I will say running and testing the new ones on The Saint, using the integration with the Humminbird Cannon Link was very cool - and the new riggers are defintely fast.
I sold two scotty's that we won at 333 - they looked like fine riggers but I was very happy with my Vectors. I've never been on a boat with scottys or used them so I have no personal expereince with them. They have not been well accepted on Lake M as far as I can tell for whatever reason - perhaps the side spool - and they have a fairly large footprint. I will say I wasn't particularly impressed with the rod holders on the Scottys either but that was looking at them after taking them out of the box.
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Billy, I meant it was my Bad. Greg, The Vectors are nice, but being owned by a company that has there products made in China and not the USA Doesnt sit well with me. Besides I heard the asking price is way out of line. Big Papa Sports
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Big Papa...gotcha. No worries...like I said, to each his own...and I really like the Vector rod holders. Can't comment on anything made by Fishlander...not something we see out this way too much.
Here we go , Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge , I personally have Walkers on my boat , have for over 20 years now and I love them , no problems and I love the Duo-Temp Sense on them. I have used and liked the Fishlanders but having personally used the Vectors for a couple years now on Gregs boat , I have to admit that if I were looking to change riggers on my boat I would really be leaning towards the Vectors , they are rock soild and super fast ( too fast some times)and I love the adjustability of the rod holders , I don't really like that the Co. is China owned now but look at all the electronics on your boat and let me know where it is built. I have fished with Cannons in the past , no real problems with them but I don't like the high profile of the Cannon booms or the rod holders , same problems with the Fishlanders , I don't care for the high profile of the booms. The Scottys are ugly in my opinion , but have never used them so I can't judge them by reliability but looks do play a part in anything I buy and I know there are a lot of Scottys out there and people love them , I do like the Scotty release's though.
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Well Rick, Mine say Raymarine of America so hopefully that somes that up. And the good thing is we are all intitled to our own opinions I hope. Big Papa Sports
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Vector is owned by Nature Vision of Brainerd, MN but it has been said that the manufacturing of the Vector downrigger has now moved to China. Defintely seems to be a trend with moving manufacturing offshore when companies get purchased - Rapala moving LJ production to China, etc...
Our Vectors were made in Illinois so they got that going for them. If you can find North American manufactured products - support them with your dollars - if you want to keep them building in North America.
And my favorite Scotty product of the year are the little scotty net minder clips for you net handle.
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Well Bob , don't forget who I am employeed by , I know for a fact that the Raymarine products on yours and mine boat are made overseas , they maybe assembled and serviced here in the USA but the internal electrical componets and circuit boards are for the most part not built in the USA. As far as supporting American built companys I am all for that but it is getting harder and harder to find American built products no matter what item you are looking for. Where is the products you sell at work made Bob ? Are they a quality product? As I said , it is getting hard to find products made in the USA. If I have my choice I will buy USA , but normally we don't have a lot of choice and have to buy what we like or want regardless of where they are made. Just like you said Bob about opnions , they are like something else and we all have one.
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When I fished with Werner in July, I had the chance to work with Scotty riggers for the first time. They are very nice...and the tilt arm feature works much better than that of the Big Jon riggers IMHO.
Fished with Salmonhead several times and had the chance to use the Fishlander riggers. Paul probably wore out the motors though! Very nice..but sllllooooooow...wait 'till Pauly gets some faster riggers...it'll go right along with his line-setting speed!!! LOL
Bird Dog's Big Jon's are nice, but as mentioned above, the tilt function seems extreme for the booms with 12# weights. Ever notice the slight bend in the booms on nearly all the Big Jons you see on boats? Weird..
Fishing with Greg on his boat in September, I was impressed with the speed and construction of the Vectors. Scary fast...in fact, thank God for autostop...LOL
Have used Cannons over the years with Trollinator, and I always thought the electrics were slow. Seems they've addressed that issue for '07.
Looking forward to trying out Steve's new Proos riggers in the spring.
BFG
Official Ohio Delegate to Team Heavy Super-Sized Fishing Specialists bfg@educatedangler.com
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Vectors don't have auto-stop, but their clutches are smooth enough that you don't really need it. I'm totally happy with my hot pink Vectors. Of course they are one of the last sets made before the sale to Nature Vision.
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It is sad to see a good guy leave the business. I spoke with him and we shared ideas when I Owned Raider Spoons. That is a good guy in my book. One of the best in the business. Besides Tom Allen form Atommik Trolling Flies, I can't think of a better guy.
As for riggers. I am a scotty fan. Never had a problem and will run them till I do. Not going to share bad stories about other riggers because it doesn't mean they are bad....I just had bad luck with them. F
For the record...I did like the Fishlanders....had them for a year and they were flawless.
Robbie
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