I put this review of my initial purchase and first impressions on another site, and got the usual savaging replies from the Anti-everything but Shimano Brigade. My views are still the same. Look after something it will reward you with a long and useful life if it's well enough constructed. If it breaks take it back!
I needed a medium fixed spool at a reasonable price that would do for my flattie rod and my float rod. Had my eye on this for a while. Got my hands on it in the shop, and as always with the majority of Penn reels, it is pure quality kit. Especially as the cheapest I'd seen it was £44.99, good deal I thought. But as usual with my luck, brought it over to the counter, and the distributers had put the prices up to £60.99, a bit of a difference. Anyway a bit of negotiation with my local shop, and I got it for the £44.00, good on them, and thanks Harry!
It comes with the usual spare spool, one of which I'll load with braid, but until I get some, I've loaded it with 16lb Sakuma.
Now for the test. Took it down to my local pier that night, in a howling gale,wasn't hopeful of a lot of fish, but combined with my Salt flattie rod, a 3 hook flapper and a 3oz lead, the line strips smoothly off the spool. The rewind with the assistance of the 8 bearings can only be described as one of the smoothest I've experienced. The drag is set at the spool, which unfortunately that night was only tested by large lumps of seaweed, but would appear to be well upto the job.
To the eye this reel is very pleasing to look at, in it's adonised gold trimming silver spool and metallic gray body. So far so good in the first couple of hours of use,and I can't wait to get onto the beach with it. This is quality kit, and a real good price if you can get them at £44.99. There is also the option of the 8000 size if you want to add it to your beachcaster, or the 4 and 5000 for light workOn first impressions,still highly recommended!
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