were looking to get 2 or 3 of these for out boat along with a better fish finder (our boat has a cheap Garmin that likes to freeze up and just is not a good unit)
seams that to run the cannons, a hummingbird is needed, are Hummingbirds good units?
was reading on that cannon that it has a built in Positive charge system so there wouldn't be a need for us to buy a electrolysis unit which would be nice, one finder screen is already to much dashboard clutter for me anyways. so not having to have another one for the lectro would be nice.
we also like that you can set it to automatically keep a set distance above the bottom
Anyways, just looking to see if any one on here has used on or had any experience or reviews on them?
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Humminbirds are great units. I have two of them.
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I've always been a Lowrance guy myself, but after running into the Hummingbird rep at Sportsmans Warehouse I think I'm going to try a hummingbird next time around. I hope that isn't too far in the future but I am a little concerned about the reviews on refresh rates on the 500 series of hummingbirds. They say they are pretty slow and you can't graph very well over 10mph. Anybody care to confirm or deny that? I'm hoping it isn't true because I like to use my finder on the ice as well and it has to be fast to show me that stuff. Anyway just my thoughts. J
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hey trubbs I think the digi trolls are over rated for there bottom tracking features, I don't get how you keep your rods set while they are going up and down. I do however think that the cannon mag10s are a great down rigger and highly recommend them.
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[quote mtncat1]hey trubbs I think the digi trolls are over rated for there bottom tracking features, I don't get how you keep your rods set while they are going up and down. I do however think that the cannon mag10s are a great down rigger and highly recommend them.[/quote]
Ill have to look into them when I get home & can use my Computer.
If you don't mind,
What's really different about them?
What do you like about them that would be some of the key things you'd mention?
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Hey SkunkedAgain,
I have a Humminbird 571 and the refresh rate is great. I can graph bottom with good quality at 44 mph on my boat. I used to be a Humminbird, then Lowrance person, and now I'm back to the Bird. I love it. I have finally figured out the downimaging and it has been great as well. Sorry to hijack the original thread.
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Great news, you never know what to believe on comments, so I appreciate your thoughts on that. There are times when I would love to have that down imaging. That's really what drives my wanting a new finder. Thanks for your info and by the way I'm the one that should be sorry for the hi jack. Sorry. J
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When I was looking for down riggers (DR), I also was thinking about the Digi Troll. I wanted the bottom tracking and jigging features these DR offered. These DR are really expensive. I did some looking around and found that I could buy a humming bird 797c fish finder and the Mag 10 DR and do the same thing as the Digi Troll and save money. You can control the DR's with this fish finder. This is what I ended up buying.
The bottom tracking feature is not what I expected. If you could find a relatively flat bottom lake they would be great. Most of the reservoirs I fish have have a lot of submerged hills and valleys. The bottom tracking reacts quickly to the contour change & when you go off a submerged cliff or drop off, the DR ball drops immediately and your tackle gets hooked on the ground at the top of the cliff. I guess my problem was, I always tried to track within 5 or 10 feet of the bottom.
The jigging feature is nice:however, is a draw on the battery especially if you have 2 or more DR's jigging drawing on the battery.
I have not had any problems with the hummingbird fish finder. It has a lot of features that I never use. I thought the side view would be helpful; however, I never use it.
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the mag 5 and 10 are the same down rigger with the same specs.the difference between the two are how there set up, 10s have a extendable boom an swivel base, 5s don't. I like the retrieve speed of the cannons, they have a newly designed roller on the end of the boom that eliminates the possibility of the cable jumping the roller. also they are very quit and smooth to operate, all in a nice package. digi trolls are very expensive around 1500 bucks a pop.where as you can get the mag 5s for 400.00 and the mag 10s for 560.00 each. I don't really see the value in the digi trolls 3 times the cost for a couple of features that you will rarely use. hope this helps you.[laugh]
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Thanks for the comments on the finder, I've been wanting the side view feature, but have really had a hard time justifying the extra $300 to get it. If it turns out that it isn't used that much these other finders are really closer to what I dare spend on a finder. Thanks. J
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In addition, my hummingbird will not graph the bottom or fish when I travel over 10 mph.
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Thanks, for that info, it must be the side finder that eats up the refresh rate... I have a buddy that has I think the 798 with side view and GPS and down image. He really likes being able to look at the fish along the banks at Willard so he knows where to go and he claims it works really well to help you know where the fish are hanging.. I think we might hit Willard together on Friday, if so he was going to bring his finder along so I'll get to see how it works... I guess I need Scott T to let me know what the 571 has for features as well... I probably would be like you and not use the side finder very often... I have an Eagle on my boat that has the wide view feature and I never use that either so maybe I need to learn from my mistakes and not buy more than I'll be able to figure out how to run... I really like my current Lowrance graph except it is hard to tell weeds and floaters from fish... For some reason this graph has never shown fish as the classic arc, they have just been a group of pixels and I've had to interpret what they meant. So I'd like to upgrade a bit and having the gps in the finder has some real benefits if I can learn how to use it. Sorry there I go again... J
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I looked at my equipment this past weekend - I have Cannon Mag 20DT down riggers. They can be operated by the Humming bird 797c fish finder - I like that feature, specially on a windy day when I fish alone.
I loose the ability to graph fish > 5 mph and loose the bottom >10 mph. I might have done a piss poor job of installing?
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Not many times you fish faster than 5 mph so it should work okay. Thanks for your info. Later J
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[quote OCF]When I was looking for down riggers (DR), I also was thinking about the Digi Troll. I wanted the bottom tracking and jigging features these DR offered. These DR are really expensive. I did some looking around and found that I could buy a humming bird 797c fish finder and the Mag 10 DR and do the same thing as the Digi Troll and save money. You can control the DR's with this fish finder. This is what I ended up buying.
The bottom tracking feature is not what I expected. If you could find a relatively flat bottom lake they would be great. Most of the reservoirs I fish have have a lot of submerged hills and valleys. The bottom tracking reacts quickly to the contour change & when you go off a submerged cliff or drop off, the DR ball drops immediately and your tackle gets hooked on the ground at the top of the cliff. I guess my problem was, I always tried to track within 5 or 10 feet of the bottom.
The jigging feature is nice:however, is a draw on the battery especially if you have 2 or more DR's jigging drawing on the battery.
I have not had any problems with the hummingbird fish finder. It has a lot of features that I never use. I thought the side view would be helpful; however, I never use it.[/quote]
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I did some looking around and found that I could buy a humming bird 797c fish finder and the Mag 10 DR and do the same thing as the Digi Troll and save money. You can control the DR's with this fish finder. [/quote]
do you have any more Info on this? I just bought two (2) new to me Mag 10's off ebay for $500 with weights and swivel bases. I remembered way back when i posted this originally the comment on mag10's being ran off a sonar unit but all the info I find says only mag 20's, digi 5's & 10's
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Sorry for the confusion, If you look up two post from your last one I made a correction. I have two Cannon Mag 20DT down riggers that I use with the Hummingbird fish finder. It has been a number of years since I have shopped for down riggers, so I am not sure if the newer Mag 10's have the function to be connected to the hummingbird fish finder or not?
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Yep seen that right after I posted, sorry about that.
I don't think they do, kinda sucks but Oh well, I'll still get good use out of them.
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To get a digi troll to work with a humminbird fish finder you need a humminbird cannonlink and humminbird stoped making the cannonlink, they are hard to find.
so the only way you can bottom track is with a digi troll 10 and buying a transducer.
I have one and it works good for bottom tracking. but is it worth the money?
The Digi-Troll 10 MSRP $1,399.99
Digi-Troll Transducer
MSRP $94.99
Digi-Troll 5 MSRP $899.99 will not bottom track with out the cannonlink.
Magnum 10STX MSRP $599.99
Magnum 5ST MSRP $429.99
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Thats where im at now liketrolling, trying to weigh the Pros VS Cons with the prices. at this point anything is better then the Digitroll 2's my dad bought last year (for some reason though they were new units even after i explained to him the 2 means theyre older then dirt) the dont count wire out even close to accurately, SUPPER SLOW to retrieve back to surface.
Id really like to get some bottom tracking DT's so I can get better with laker fishing without loosing balls (I lost 3 12lb balls this year on the bottom by red cliffs
. )
I found a decent deal on some Older mag 20's but reading on the Cannon-link it only works with Mag 20 DT's which have been discontinued. Probably going to have to poney up and just bite the bullet on some nice new DT's
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