Though I don't use downrigger's much anymore, I did use them alot in the early 90's when I began guiding, what I saw was that for everyday use Penn was the best, Cannon's were decent but a distant second, and Scotty's, well I'll just leave it at, there fine for the weekend warrior, but I would definitely keep alot of those spare "free" parts with me if I had them on a charter boat.