Cannon or Penn downriggers?

[rolmops]

I have been servicing and fixing my downriggers over the past few days and at this point I have  6 good working ones. 2 Cannon mag15s and 4 Penn 825s.

I rebuilt all the motors and everything works fine.

I would like your ideas and preferences between  Cannon and Penn and why you have these opinions so I can make a better informed decision as to which 2 I should put on my boat next year. Thank you.

[spoonfed-1]

Scottys and done

[UNREEL]

[HB2]

All this stuff ( riggers ,rods , reels ,electronics ) are tools to catch fish, that's how I look at it . All this stuff does the same thing . Some better than others . 

 

I would pick the ones that you have the most confidence in . The ones that are most reliable , and user friendly for you . 

 

You say you have 4 Penns and will be mounting 2 . I would go that route, if you like them . If one goes down , just grab another and fix the bad one later . Everything breaks eventually . 

 

 

[Shakemsam]

I ran Penn 625 manuals for years. That big dial for depth was the nuts. Quality was tops as well. I was considering the 825s but went with a new pair of Walkers due to how compact they are. If you like the Penn's, go with them!

[rolmops]

There is one thing about the Penn down riggers that nobody seems to use. The second switch.  The second switch has wires coming out of the downrigger and can be run to the dash so the riggers can be raised or lowered  from the the dash board as well. The switch is connected to to a solenoid like setup on the circuit board so it only activates the motor ,but it does not feed it. I really like that idea and installed momentary switches on the dash. Now when moving into shallower water I don't have to go to the back of the boat to raise the riggers.

I am curious as to why no other downriggers have this simple gimmick. Is there a reason that I am not aware of?

[Shakemsam]

15 hours ago, rolmops said:

There is one thing about the Penn down riggers that nobody seems to use. The second switch.  The second switch has wires coming out of the downrigger and can be run to the dash so the riggers can be raised or lowered  from the the dash board as well. The switch is connected to to a solenoid like setup on the circuit board so it only activates the motor ,but it does not feed it. I really like that idea and installed momentary switches on the dash. Now when moving into shallower water I don't have to go to the back of the boat to raise the riggers.

I am curious as to why no other downriggers have this simple gimmick. Is there a reason that I am not aware of?

I can see the convenience of that, but I would still have to get up adjust the lines.

[rolmops]

Yes , but I would still have the lines, it would give me a few seconds to prevent an expensive mishap.

[RH93]

I love my penn 820. Im looking at buying two more. My only complaint is that its almost impossible to find the electrical sockets to plug them into. I had to alter mine to use your generic two pin trolling motor connector.

 

They are built like tanks. Can still find parts for them. Except for the side cover gasket, new ones are impossible to find. 

 

Penn all the way. 

[RodBuster]

Maybe a little late to this party but here are some shortcomings of the MAG HS Units:

1. The circuit boards are low quality, with no protection against moisture. They do have a light coating of some silicone, which is so thin it doesn't do anything. The Penn boards have a potted circuit board.

2. The relays on the circuit boards are of poor quality. it's well documented on this site.

3. The circuit boards aren't fastened to anything. Not a huge deal, but just a cheap way to do it.  Pen boards are screwed down with SS screws.

4. The switch location on the HS is in a position that one can easily bump it. It the rigger is not being used and you hit the switch to lower it will be a nasty backlash.  The Penn switch has a shroud and is on the side.

5. The clutch on the HS is ass backwards. Intuitively, to tighten its clockwise. HS is counterclockwise. 

6. A clutch works by surfaces meshing together. It's all about surface area. The HS has a clutch surface area about the size of a penny. The Penn is at least 3 inches in diameter.

7. Not an HS issue, but the newer ones that have the plastic rod holders have an issue with the amount of material that supports the rod holder. If you take them apart you will see a very small washer on the inside, which causes the plastic to crack. a fellow boat owner showed me two that cracked on his boat. 

 

On a side bar I called Cannon and asked if they would send me the schematic for the circuit board, and pointed out they fail so often Id like to troubleshoot on my own.  They said we can't send you that info as it is "proprietary".  If i wanted to copy their design and i was in the business of making circuit boards it would be pretty easy to copy. 

 

I'm just wondering if they ever put their product through any testing. Most of these things are pretty simple.

 

 

[cassey4322]

Scottys had for 25 years never a problem just changed cable few times