I purchased a set of Cannon Digi-Troll 10 TS back in 2015, I really wanted them to track the bottom so I could set my lures 3' off bottom and troll while they would automatically raise and lower via dedicated transducer. At the time I had a Lowrance 527 Fishfinder/GPS installed on my Grady. The downriggers were also able to run off of certain Humminbird models using the head unit's transducer with a Humminbird-CannonLink and some of the downriggers functions could be controlled up at the helm using the Humminbird fishfinder.
I decided to purchase the dedicated Cannon transducer and install it on the transom because 1) Already owned a Lowrance 2) The Humminbird-Cannon Link was discontinued a few years prior, and I couldn't source one from anywhere and 3) The Humminbird units the Cannon's were compatible with were not top of the line or current models. That was surprising to me since Johnson, Humminbird, and Cannon were all under the Johnson Companies umbrella by then.
After the transducer install I had problems. The Digi-Trolls were getting erratic bottom depth reads, and would either both raise the 10 pound weights I use, or worse lower past the bottom depth and creating a birdsnest in the wire cable = nightmare!
I researched the heck outta this online, and found some others that were experiencing the same problems, and seemed nobody figured out a reliable solution. Spent many hours on the phone with Cannon tech support. I kept suspecting it was a problem with the transducer feed, but customer service said that it was something else....
Fast forward to joining a forum on the East Coast who had a member that seemed to have figured out something but was a bit myopic about disclosing the solution, so I reached out to him. We connected by phone soon after. He told me there were a lot of unhappy customers with same problems. Seems that Cannon bought a bankrupt transducer company prior and decided to repurpose the unreliable transducers into the Digi-Troll system. Person I spoke with had to go through 4 transducers before one worked okay. I replaced transducer and system finally worked. Hoorah!! But after a fishing season, started getting false readings again, so I gave up and have been living with getting close to the bottom and adjusting the downriggers manually.
When the Digi-Troll system works as intended, the results are simply awesome. Picked up so many fish resting on the bottom. But seems like the transducer loses the bottom if it's soft, or I troll over a school of bait fish-forget about it
I have been searching for years for a used Humminbird-Cannonlink, and found a new unused one on eBay (from a Florida pawn shop of all places). Snagged that, and a used Humminbird fishfinder I found on eBay, new transducer for Humminbird and GPS puck. Not crazy about the electronics being dated, but more importantly now I can hopefully run the system from the helm, meaning raising or lowering the downriggers, setting bottom tracking, etc. through the Humminbird 1158c Fishfinder. And since the transducer should be tracking the bottom without false readings I should once again be a successful bottom troller
Wondering if anyone else that owns the Digi-Trolls experienced these issues?
Installing new system is next!
I decided to purchase the dedicated Cannon transducer and install it on the transom because 1) Already owned a Lowrance 2) The Humminbird-Cannon Link was discontinued a few years prior, and I couldn't source one from anywhere and 3) The Humminbird units the Cannon's were compatible with were not top of the line or current models. That was surprising to me since Johnson, Humminbird, and Cannon were all under the Johnson Companies umbrella by then.
After the transducer install I had problems. The Digi-Trolls were getting erratic bottom depth reads, and would either both raise the 10 pound weights I use, or worse lower past the bottom depth and creating a birdsnest in the wire cable = nightmare!
I researched the heck outta this online, and found some others that were experiencing the same problems, and seemed nobody figured out a reliable solution. Spent many hours on the phone with Cannon tech support. I kept suspecting it was a problem with the transducer feed, but customer service said that it was something else....
Fast forward to joining a forum on the East Coast who had a member that seemed to have figured out something but was a bit myopic about disclosing the solution, so I reached out to him. We connected by phone soon after. He told me there were a lot of unhappy customers with same problems. Seems that Cannon bought a bankrupt transducer company prior and decided to repurpose the unreliable transducers into the Digi-Troll system. Person I spoke with had to go through 4 transducers before one worked okay. I replaced transducer and system finally worked. Hoorah!! But after a fishing season, started getting false readings again, so I gave up and have been living with getting close to the bottom and adjusting the downriggers manually.
When the Digi-Troll system works as intended, the results are simply awesome. Picked up so many fish resting on the bottom. But seems like the transducer loses the bottom if it's soft, or I troll over a school of bait fish-forget about it
I have been searching for years for a used Humminbird-Cannonlink, and found a new unused one on eBay (from a Florida pawn shop of all places). Snagged that, and a used Humminbird fishfinder I found on eBay, new transducer for Humminbird and GPS puck. Not crazy about the electronics being dated, but more importantly now I can hopefully run the system from the helm, meaning raising or lowering the downriggers, setting bottom tracking, etc. through the Humminbird 1158c Fishfinder. And since the transducer should be tracking the bottom without false readings I should once again be a successful bottom troller
Wondering if anyone else that owns the Digi-Trolls experienced these issues?
Installing new system is next!
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