Penn Surfmaster 850 Fixed Spool

Hi guys, I was looking at buying one of these reels for the shore, what are they like for distance and using braid? Anyone any faults with them?

Howya markj
I have the Surfmaster 850 and i love it. I cant fault it but i have heard of some people saying the line has gone under the spool on them but it hasn't happened to me yet! I haven't used braid on it myself but i'm actually thinking about it putting braid on it myself as the line lay is very good...It will need alot of braid though as it holds 390m of .35lb mono line maybe the 750 might suit you better.Someone else might will tell you different from me but i dont think you can go wrong with this reel especially at the prices they go for now :)

Well I wanted a good strong reel, something for a bit of distance and which would have two spools, one for braid and one for mono. A good all rounder that can also tackle a range of species, and the price aswell, its quite and seems to be of good quality.

Hey!
My mate bought a pair of these when they came out. He uses 30lb braid on them.
Has so far had no problems, they are strong, light and for the price great value I think.

He fishes twice a week but just rinses them under the tap when back home and they are lasting well.

He has hauled Ray to 10lb and fishes from rocks, clean sand, shingle . . and ha shad no problems.

They have big spools, he half fills with line and half with braid . . those things would swallow an awful lot of braid on its own.

I have the 850, and agree with everything Al says. I've had no problems at all with it, but I haven't tried it with braid yet.

They have big spools, he half fills with line and half with braid . . those things would swallow an awful lot of braid on its own.

I was going to suggest that myself but i dont know an awful lot about braid as i haven't used it before i thought that there might be a chance of the braid cutting through the mono or something...dont know why but as i said i never used it before! I just didn't want to be the one to blame if he lost a fish like this :D But now i know someone else uses it with no problems i think i'll do that myself :)

I bought the 850 today for £49, great value as i seen it in a tackle shop only an hour previous, for £90. Can't wait to start using it, gonna load it with 18lb mono, maybe fill the spare spool with something stronger, or perhaps, braid.

Cheers guys, very helpful, just what I was after, so I just went and bought one of ebay, brand new from Spotty dog tackle for £39.99.
From the reviews it cant be bad for that price.......Thanks to everyone for their info...