Cannon STX Opinion

[Patriot]

I haven't found many reviews on the new STX riggers and I'm sure there are plenty of guys here that have them by now.

Anyone think they're too fast? Any pros or cons?

Thanks in advance

 

Greg

[GAMBLER]

I purchased 2 news ones this season and loved them.  The only issue speed related is on the decend.  When fishing lakers under 2.0 MPH, the ball would drop too fast and tangle the line in the release around the cable.  I had to switch to Scotty pinch pad releases on the 2' cable to stop this from happeneing.   Other than that, they are awesome riggers. 

[Jammer]

I put 3 new Mag 10 STX on the boat this year.  They are definitely very fast and do indeed start and stop so fast that the weight bounces.  I had one snap off a 12 lb ball when I was ticking it down a couple times to drop the weight a few feet.  It broke off the new cable that came with the rigger.  Maybe there was a little kink, not sure, but the reason for the break off was most certainly due to the jerky starts and stops.

Cannon knows about this, and their answer is that the Digitroll models ($500 more than the STX) have soft start and stop.

Having said all that, the riggers are fine and certainly get the job done in a hurry, even with 15 lb Sharks.

 

JAM

Edited November 12, 2014 by Jammer

[TileMan Dan]

Bought four this year. Experience as pretty much been same as Jammer's

[Patriot]

Jerky stops & starts was my biggest concern. How about when it stops at the surface? Is that a quick jerk also. These jerk stops could lead to the loss of a probe.

[finsntins]

same as what every one else said,i ran 16 lb torpedos till i lost a probe on the way down,cable started unwinding and when i stopped the rigger everything went to the bottom.not sure what happened.went back to 13 lbs .after i lost the probe,i put new cable on both riggers,dont remember what brand,bought it at jons lil salmon shop in mexico,never had a problem the rest of the season.when it stops at the water line the boom does some bouncing.dosent seem as noticable when letting it down and stopping.

[Yankee Troller]

They are fast, and they can be jerky. However, I ran 1 for over a month with a 15lb A-TOM-MIK Torpedo, and never had any issues cracking off a weight, and I bottom bounced the heck out of it fishing Lake Trout all September.

[JakeyBaby]

I also have these and love how fast they are! I've heard it helps if you run a snubber between the cable and the ball? Anyone do this?

[FleetTracker]

same as what every one else said,i ran 16 lb torpedos till i lost a probe on the way down,cable started unwinding and when i stopped the rigger everything went to the bottom.not sure what happened.went back to 13 lbs .after i lost the probe,i put new cable on both riggers,dont remember what brand,bought it at jons lil salmon shop in mexico,never had a problem the rest of the season.when it stops at the water line the boom does some bouncing.dosent seem as noticable when letting it down and stopping.

 

Same thing I experienced this Summer using 15lb Sharks... luckily it wasn't on my probe rigger... but yea I was just letting it down and stopped it and bam... no more weight - cable starts drifting back behind the boat.  I know the cable terminators were done right and were in good shape as everything was brand new this season.  I never had a problem the rest of the season though.  I have 3 of these on one boat and 2 on another and this was the only time I experienced an issue out of those 5.  My buddy still thinks it was a Bull Shark   

[TileMan Dan]

Interesting that a few of us had exact same problem with cable break.

[Patriot]

Fast is good but cable breaks? Seems Cannon should have done more R&D before putting them on the market.

[Patriot]

I just read on another site.

 

Cannon had a problem with their boom ends over the winter on the new downriggers. The material swelled and they were too stiff to rotate and could jump off the pulley. If you have one of these, call cannon and they will replace the boom ends,  no charge.

[Yankee Troller]

I just read on another site.

 

Cannon had a problem with their boom ends over the winter on the new downriggers. The material swelled and they were too stiff to rotate and could jump off the pulley. If you have one of these, call cannon and they will replace the boom ends,  no charge.

 

That was 3-4yrs ago when the new design came out. Was fixed immediately. The new pulleys are solid!

[baitrigger]

This is not the first thread on this subject. I bought a new sxt5 last winter and used it once. It did not mix well with the old mag 10s. The speed coming up changed the angle and grabbed the other lines. I was lucky to find a post in classifieds and traded the new rigger for four old reliables. Mags. The way cannon dropped the price on the sxt 5s was to use less expensive parts.The cable that comes with the new modles has been mentioned a few times. If i were to go that route again, changing the cable would be part of my set up. Those probes are expensive.

[Broadhorizons]

I have a 10STX as my center rigger. It gets plenty if action and haven't had any issue yet in 2 seasons. Let it down with the knob and you can slow it as you get to your depth. I run 13# torpedos and a 15# on my probe. It doesn't slow down at all. It isn't normally the probe but if it is, it is WAY faster than the Mag 5HS which is usually the probe rigger.

Maybe if the boom was all the way extended, it would be jerky but short off the transom, I don't notice a jerky stop.

[blrunner]

There is a guy that makes and sells downrigger ball snubbers for this issue, He stays is in the Olcott trailer park during the season. I know a lot of people running these with no issues. These snubbers work great for this problem.

[Gator]

All STX on our boat, nearly three years now without a single problem. I think that we're going to want to change out the cable this year though. Does anyone have specific recommendations for snubbers?

[Markhum2006]

I bought two of these this year and fished for lake trout every weekend. I have had no problems at all but I immediately changed out the generic 150lbs cable with premium cable and I bought downrigger snubbers from Scotty to soften the rising and lowering of the balls. Worked perfectly for me all year and never lost any balls. One thing I learned early on was to speed up the boat a bit (in a straight line) when lowering from the surface down deep to prevent any tangles.

[BrokeOff]

Does anyone have specific recommendations for snubbers?

 

x2

 

these riggers bounce like mad

[finsntins]

drop a 16 lb ball from  any rigger and it is gona bounce,from my experience from this past season of lots and lots of ups and downs,the stxs are a good buy.

[Patriot]

A not so funny thing happened. I wrote to Cannon and they didn't write back.

I can imagine their response would be "that's funny, we never had any complaint"

Its not good when the end user needs to remedy these problems. Sounds to me that there should be some sort of buffering mechanism in place. Or its just too fast

[mr 580]

Amish outfitters has ball Snubbers made with spectra. I used them on my Cannons and they took the snap and bounce out. I didn't see any more blowback with them. Cost on snubbers about 5 bucks a piece.

[Patriot]

ok, so what downrigger cable would be the best to use.

[Egoody]

I've had 2 of the 10STX's for the last 2 years. Initially had a problem with the cable coming off the end boom swivels. I called Cannon and they immediately sent me 2 newly designed ones. No problem since. The only cable I've broken is when I got tangled up in the ball grabber on Champlain. Lost weight & 30 ft of cable. I put a Scotty brand cable on and everything has been fine since. I think the bounce is common with these just because of the speed. You can turn the brake loose a little to let the ball down manually, just don't let it get away from you. I really like these riggers and would recommend these.

Thanks

Boat Safe

Egoody

[TileMan Dan]

I think problem is just a lesser quality cable Cannon puts on these riggers. Putting 180# on mine for the coming year to see how that works. Will keep you posted on its results.

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