Just a note- V-brakes are cantilever brakes. They just have linear pull rather than a straddle cable.
If you don't change the straddle cable length, then most modern "canti" brakes are exactly as easy to set up as V-brakes; they have the exact same method of mounting the pad to the brake arm, the brake arm is mounted to the same stud with the same pivot. The older versions with the unthreaded clamped bar mount were the difficult ones.