Excellent Choice / Great Customer Service
I fish in Northern Idaho (Lakes Pend Orielle, Coeur d'Alene, and Priest) as well as Lake Roosevelt in Eastern Washington - in each, the waters are hundreds of feet deep. This downrigger will send 15 pounds to the bottom and back at a nice rate (200/fpm) without budging. The counter is accurate, according to my fish finder - I have gained a new confidence in my Lowrance HDS's depth soundings, funny as that may seem. Overall, I've found the downrigger easy to manage; however, once while the weight was not free to drop I accidentally hit the down switch causing a terrific wire-nest! Even so, it was easy enough to unwind as the spool comes right off permitting rescue. I now unplug the downrigger whenever the ball isn't hanging off the boom to be safe - it is easy enough to manage the spool when not powered. There's something to be said for power-less down release as with Scotty downriggers. The downrigger will disassemble into its few individual parts - there are no mysterious shims and plastic parts to crack or lose - its simplicity inspires confidence in ownership. Based on other reviews, I chose the side rod holder design so that the boom which flips up and locks in position won't be blocked by the over-the-spool rod holder, something to think about. In all, because of the compactness of this downrigger and its simple maintainability, on top of the excellent and personal customer service I've received from Magnum Metalz, I'm already planning for the next Magnum Metalz downrigger for the port side of my boat! Tight lines!
