C
Cold
Member
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2009
- Messages
- 222
Agreed, kray. I think the vast majority of the reel (and to a lesser extent rod) opinions among anglers comes from their deeply subjective personal experience.
For example, all else equal (and I mean ALL else), Lamson is at a disadvantage for me, personally, because after buying a Litespeed a few years back, I found it had a bad bearing. Contacted Lamson for a replacement and it was bad too, right from the beginning. Then they sent me 3 more, and 1 of those 3 was bad too. Luckily, of the two good ones, one has been absolutely trouble free ever since. That being said, the customer service was top notch, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat worried about that bearing every time I have the reel out.
On the note of sealed drags, I'm kind of leaning toward the opinion that a "sealed drag" is a misnomer, since it's pretty much impossible to maintain a true seal between two surfaces where one must move while the other remains stationary. At that point, it's simply down to degrees of impermeability. I've read plenty of accounts from saltwater anglers about their Lamsons (and other reels, but I suppose I'm picking on them a bit due to their getting top marks for a sealed drag in this review) allowing their fair share of brine to get into the inner workings of the drag, and leaving dirt and salt under the seal, requiring a bit of maintenance to clean them out. In fact some of the guys on salt boards even prefer the explicitly *not* sealed drag designs because, in their opinion, any "sealed" drag just makes it harder to get OUT whatever the seal will inevitably let in.
I think my own opinion resides somewhere between that and "they claim it's fully sealed, so I never have to worry about it"...I just try to keep my reels out of the drink as much as possible and keep them reasonably clean, with a good rinse in purified tap water if they happen to get really grungy on any given outing. That MO has served me well thus far, with the bearing issue being the only thing that's ever given me occasion to contact the manufacturer for assistance.
For example, all else equal (and I mean ALL else), Lamson is at a disadvantage for me, personally, because after buying a Litespeed a few years back, I found it had a bad bearing. Contacted Lamson for a replacement and it was bad too, right from the beginning. Then they sent me 3 more, and 1 of those 3 was bad too. Luckily, of the two good ones, one has been absolutely trouble free ever since. That being said, the customer service was top notch, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat worried about that bearing every time I have the reel out.
On the note of sealed drags, I'm kind of leaning toward the opinion that a "sealed drag" is a misnomer, since it's pretty much impossible to maintain a true seal between two surfaces where one must move while the other remains stationary. At that point, it's simply down to degrees of impermeability. I've read plenty of accounts from saltwater anglers about their Lamsons (and other reels, but I suppose I'm picking on them a bit due to their getting top marks for a sealed drag in this review) allowing their fair share of brine to get into the inner workings of the drag, and leaving dirt and salt under the seal, requiring a bit of maintenance to clean them out. In fact some of the guys on salt boards even prefer the explicitly *not* sealed drag designs because, in their opinion, any "sealed" drag just makes it harder to get OUT whatever the seal will inevitably let in.
I think my own opinion resides somewhere between that and "they claim it's fully sealed, so I never have to worry about it"...I just try to keep my reels out of the drink as much as possible and keep them reasonably clean, with a good rinse in purified tap water if they happen to get really grungy on any given outing. That MO has served me well thus far, with the bearing issue being the only thing that's ever given me occasion to contact the manufacturer for assistance.
