Hey Mojo,
You're not the last one. Just the latest...
The swivel mounts bind when you hang a ball from the boom.
The closed design keeps moisture on the spool, rotting your cable.
You can't see the depth counter until you stand on top of the 'rigger.
Hands free lowering of the ball is not a possibility.
All of this on top of the fact that we're talking about the s l o w e s t rigger on the market.
They are dependable though.... but far from convenient & handy.
When I switched to Cannon I did a side by side retrieve speed test from 150 feet. Cannon was 10 seconds faster. It might not sound like much but when the big one is coming to the net I want the wire out of the water.
The clincher was the fact that Cannon's Positive Ion Control is a built in black box that attaches directly to the cable end rather than a sleeve that merely rides the rust... I realized that there is a better, faster American made downrigger out there with a counter you can see without falling overboard.