Best and Worst Value, reels edition

DougieK
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Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by DougieK » Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:08 pm

So I'm stuck inside today and thought I'd being a conversation about what the best and worst value for money products you've ever bought are, starting with reels.

My best value for money reel is without doubt my pair of Fin Nor Lethal 100's, bought for $109 new and $100 off a forum member respectively. I found out about these reels on www.alanhawk.com, which is an incredible resource. I landed my first and biggest kingfish on one of these, and given the way I treat my gear they have held up incredibly well. Pretty much bullet proof and an incredibly good buy if you can still get one.

The worst value for money reel I own is an okuma trio 55. I bought this when I first set out on LBG adventures knowing nothing about capacity or drags, spooling it with poor quality 35lb braid and getting utterly smoked at the Prom a few times in a row because the drag literally didn't work. The plastic is painted to appear like graphite but isn't, and the bail arm kept falling out of the hole connecting it to the line roller, resulting in braid everywhere when I failed to click it over. I think I caught one fish total on this reel.

So I ask the question, what is the best value for money reel you own, and what is the worst?
Chasing LBG and sharing a love for the Martial Arts, everywhere, all the time.


LBG Season 2023/4 :

Kingfish : 61

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Boonanza
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Re: Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by Boonanza » Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:23 pm

I haven't spoken to you for a while Dougie I hope you are well mate :thumbsup:
My best value reel is definately the Shimano Sienna FD they are a cracking little reel and almost unbreakable for $40 they are a standout. The later models are no where near as good. Worst would be the Shimano Stradic Ci4 I purchased one a few years ago and the quality is not 5 times better than a Sienna but 5 times the price. If you want a bulletproof reel go a Penn Slammer.
A smart person knows what to say. A wise person knows whether to say it.

DougieK
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Re: Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by DougieK » Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:27 pm

Boonanza wrote:
Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:23 pm
My best value reel is definately the Shimano Sienna FD they are a cracking little reel and almost unbreakable for $40 they are a standout.
I probably caught 1000 squid on the previous model one of those in size 2500. Outstandingly good value.
Chasing LBG and sharing a love for the Martial Arts, everywhere, all the time.


LBG Season 2023/4 :

Kingfish : 61

Aaron75
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Re: Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by Aaron75 » Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:43 pm

I agree on the Sienna. For under $50 they are head and shoulders above the rest of the crap in that price range IMO.

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Re: Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by Lightningx » Sat Sep 14, 2019 5:06 pm

Everyone jumped in ahead of me on this one.
I’m the same love my siennas and have many of them. Great reels for the price :thumbsup:
Can’t go wrong with them :)

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Re: Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by Sinsemilla » Sat Sep 14, 2019 6:56 pm

I agree with everyone on the Siennas. I upgraded the bearings on a Sienna i had to good quality stainless steel bearings which cost around 20 bucks just to see what they'd do.. Heaps smoother and the thing won't die. I also changed out the drag washers which made it smoother again. For around $100 all up you can't go wrong.

Also i bought the first model magseal Daiwa Caldia in the 2500 size second hand for just under $180. It's been through hell and never missed a beat. I've taken it apart myself to see what the magseal is all about.. Really you can just oil the anti reverse like a normal reel and it's fine. I found that special oil they use gunks up a bit if you leave it for ages. Doing the magseal area with normal reel oil actually made it smoother to be honest.

Worst value for money reel would be my Daiwa Luvias.. It's a bloody nice reel and feels awesome and is silky smooth but really it doesn't do anything better than a daiwa reel in the $200 dollar range or my Shimano ci4 stradics which i got for $190..

Cheers, Anth

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Re: Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by ben475 » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:09 am

sienna's on sale for $38.
abu garcia blackmax spin for $49.

the penn spinfisher ssm reels when on sale for $79 seem like good value too.

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Re: Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by smile0784 » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:23 am

I bought a used abu 10,000 from.ebay in America for $85 au delivered
They said was immaculate condition but something was wrong with the cos and something just was slightly off wasn't perfectly smooth

My best reels are the stradic 2500 and 4000 and the tlds 50.

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Re: Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by mingle » Sun Sep 15, 2019 6:29 pm

Penn Slammers & Spinfisher SSMs - solid and reliable.
Fin-Nor Lethal (all sizes) - also solid, smooth and reliable.
Fin-Nor Offshore - some might say they're a bit agricultural, but they're some of the most robust reels you can get.
Shimano FX-2000 & 4000 - cheap as chips, but I've caught more on these two reels than all of my others, combined.
Sienna FDs were good, but the later ones (FE, etc) aren't nearly as good.

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Re: Best and Worst Value, reels edition

Post by Stumpjumper » Sun Sep 15, 2019 7:26 pm

Way back a lot of years ago I bought a pair of the original Shimano Sustain 1000's, the FA model I think they were. Fair bit of coin back in the day but awesome reels that performed great over almost two decades for me.

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