Penn Squall 16vs 2 Speed LD

[ohfishalee]

Anyone know if they are all made in China and has anyone opened one of these up yet to see what's inside?

[floating doc]

I can't answer your specific questions, but the price is good, and if you're planning to fish with lighter drag settings the graphite frame might not be a problem. 

[johndtuttle]

Anyone know if they are all made in China and has anyone opened one of these up yet to see what's inside?

yes, all the reels made in this class by every maker are made in their respective offshore factories.

The internals are basically the same as the higher end Made in USA torque series with some cost savings in what I would term as the "traditional" areas where a bushing will do instead of a bearing etc. They still have nice stainless gears and silent dogs.

I am going to do a first look and tutorial of these soon but am hoping to have some time on the water with it first.



best

[maxpowers]

I opened my up and tried to service it.

everything is heavy duty inside but I could not get the spool bearings out.  I also ended up putting the 2 speed shifter on and missed a part which ended up costing me a new shift button as it locked in place really tight and I had to pry it out.  Just an FYI in case if you did service it and forgot the little spring that goes inside the gear sleeve.

[ohfishalee]

thanks for the insights thus far. I have one already and ordered another as soon as I received it. I did so based on Penn's legendary reputation and experiential data that supports Penn's solid build history.  Not all of Penn's reels have been fault free but neither have anyone else's have they - so I am gambling based on the past quality of all my other Penns (30TW, 50TW, 50VSW, 16VS, 16VSX and now SQL16VS). It looks like a good reel that I hope to get wet this weekend.

[ohfishalee]

Has anyone else got any reviews?

[ohfishalee]

I have tested this reel and find that it doesn't allow the line to smoothly come off the reel in freespool with the clicker on. Not a bad thing by any means as it is great for chumming but you just need to pull the line off when using a lightweight lure 3-5oz.

Caught a 23lb Blackfin and a couple 30lb Wahoos with no problems.

SO far - good value for money.

The tools that came with it aren't so good. At least the star driver is very cheap. All others are standard and otherwise ok

[johndtuttle]

Thanks for that update. 

[Bryan Young]

I have tested this reel and find that it doesn't allow the line to smoothly come off the reel in freespool with the clicker on. Not a bad thing by any means as it is great for chumming but you just need to pull the line off when using a lightweight lure 3-5oz.

I don't quite understand...the clicker adds resistance and I don't know many reels that will allow line to come off smoothly with the clicker on.

[ohfishalee]

ok, rephrase - not smooth but not so abruptly.......it isn't a bad thing except when setting the rods when trolling