Banax reels ?s

[Brewer]

I just recently was given 3 Banax 400Ws i think thr reel name is Soujourn something like that. these 3 reels seem very well made. these reels are salmon sized, they were used by a guide on the rogue river. i believe they are manufactured in malasia i think.... has anyone here ever tried getting parts for banax reels? where's the closest option?  any thoughts? the parts i really need are the worm gear and the pawl.

[alantani]

did a quick google search and didn't see anyone local.  i'll keep looking. 

[Ellis Feibush]

Hi Brewer,
Banax reels are out of business. I bought (and still own) one of their first 15# maroon baitcasters purchased for $79.- and they work just fine provided you maintain them properly. In general the tolerances on my reel aren't the tightest so be careful when you wash them, slow trickle of water. If water or soap gets inside these reels it causes fishing reel chaos. Do take them apart at least once a season depending on how much use they get. Be sure to lube the right side bearing as that's the first one that will go on you. My reel has plastic sideplates on it. (They are so well made I didn't know this for about a year and half) until I over-tightened a finger type sideplate retaining screw and saw the side plate sink in a bit. Measure the od and id of your drag washers and get a set of washers from Dawn's Carbontex washer list. Lube the main gear and you're in business. These reels perform very well, but must be maintained. At the time they were available, it was rumored they were a subcontractor, manufacturing some of the reels for Daiwa but I don't know if this was just a sales hype rumor or a fact. Good luck with your reels.

[CapeFish]

We still get them in South Africa, they are not common though. They had a fairly pricey model that looked like a mix between a Trinidad and Saltiga and they have grinders that are fairly popular with the freshwater folk but no threat to the big names.

[Brewer]

just found this another BB on salt reels.


Originally Posted by Sudsy 
That's true, a company called Bando did (does?) contact OEM work for both Diawa (millionaire series) and ABU. They also put out reels directly under the brand name Banex. I have one of these reels and a lot of the parts are interchangeable with my ABU's. Good, solid and inexpensive - just very hard to find in the US, especially the larger 6500/7000 size reels.

Here's a reveiw (the prices listed are in Aussie dollars, so divide by 2 for US currency):

APS - TOPCATCH TACKLE
John Softly, Brisbane.

<snip unrelated stuff>

Banax reels are manufactured in Korea by Bando Leports Limited who were originally OEM manufacturers. That means that they were contracted by major reel companies to manufacture reels or reel parts to a specification - a custom which is common practice across the whole spectrum of manufactured products. The Bando reels, which APS originally marketed in Australia, were imported when the company decided go it alone and manufacture under their own brand.

Korean industry grew, as did manufacturing costs, and many Korean OEM manufacturers lost business to countries with cheaper labour, such as China. This caused Bando Leports Ltd to change direction which ultimately lead to the introduction of Banax reels. The full range of Banax reels are manufactured by the company, in house, utilising sophisticated German machinery for gear cutting and other operations.

The facility in Korea has ISO 9001 certification, something which no other reel company, to my knowledge, has achieved.

ISO 9001 is a rigorous standard set by the Organisation for Standardisation and applies to facilities that design, develop, produce, install and service products. Certification is carried out by accredited organisations (in Banax's case a German organisation) and requires exacting documentation and demonstrations in practice over time. Facilities become certified when their quality system is shown to meet the ISO 9000 standard in terms of documentation and performance. When certification is obtained, the certifying body conducts unannounced audits of the facility approximately twice a year and oversees changes in the facility's quality system to ensure that it continues to meet the requirements of the Standard.

The advantages to you, the customer, are obvious. The quality control and customer service is as good as you can get and most companies with ISO certification are so proud of the fact that they take out web sites to tell the world.

Banax reels featuring hard gears, such as brass or duralumin, are said to have a zero gear fail rate and this is borne out by the number of reels returned for repair with stripped or malfunctioning gears - virtually nil.

Until I received sample reels to evaluate for this article, Banax reels were an unknown quantity. I'm inclined to make any reel purchase decision prior to entering the retail shop. This decision is based on what I want from a specific reel, word of mouth from other fishos, magazine articles and advertising. I have always been happy with my reel purchases but because I have pre conceived ideas prior to entering the retail store I am at times ignorant as to what other alternatives there are. I must have been lucky because when you analyse it word of mouth isn't exactly reliable, magazine articles can be biased due to the fact that there are freebies involved, and the advertising blurb will only tell you the good things about a reel.

The Banax reels loaned me for this article were the Sounion S 304 baitcaster, the Stormax SI 5000 threadline and the OW 7300 trolling reel.

They were all demo models from the Queensland representative and their exteriors indicated as much. The interiors, however, were immaculate and this is where the surprise lay in store. Bear in mind when reading the following that the three reels were from the middle to upper end of the market (RRP $215.38, $301.53 and $290.77 respectively) and, as in all things, you get what you pay for.

The engineering of the S 304 hit me as soon as the end plate was taken off. The drive and pinion gears are of machine cut brass, the teeth - very crisp. Gear ratio is 5.2:1 and the forged aluminium spool runs on ball races. Ultra lock (infinite anti reverse) is positive and strong and the drag looks as if it will handle anything you are likely to encounter.

Drags really have to be field tested and reels from Asia (usually those at the lower end of the market) can be suspect in this department. The drag of this particular reel differs from the same model which goes into the States and Europe in that the drag is beefed up (six washers) to allow for the bigger Aussie species. This would indicate that the drag is as strong and as smooth as it looks.

The frame is one piece, die cast, anodised aluminium, covers are of the same material, spool to frame tolerance is excellent, the centrifugal brake system is the usual fibre block type and the thumb bar is a positive half bar fitted on the rear cross bar. All in all a very nice 6000 size reel and I can find nothing about it that I can berate.

The Stormax SI 5000 threadline displays the same degree of engineering and, if anything, is stronger than the baitcaster. The seven washer drag is a stopper and it has to be on a reel with a capacity of almost 300 metres of ten kilos. It is a big reel weighing in at 800 grams and the photograph of the reel stripped down will give you an indication of the strength of the stainless shaft.

I was not happy that I had to remove the rotor in order to gain access to the gears but once inside the strip down is child's play. (The new version of this reel has easier access and the rotor remains in place when dismantling for service). Threadlines can be so overloaded with features these days that a service is outside the scope of the average guy (or gal) and the choice is either send it out for a service or forget it. Keep sending it out and it costs dollars; keep forgetting it and the reel will eventually seize up. There would be no service (or spare parts) problems with either of the three reels discussed here and, for me, this exercise has been an education. I would have bet money that there wasn't a quality reel on the Australian market that I hadn't had in my sticky little hands and delved into it's inner workings. Wrong again!

The trolling reel I must mention, before I close, is somewhat strange in that it's a classic example of fitting a quart into a pint pot. The main gear won't fit into the frame so an extension is fitted, which is a half moon projection on the lower front right hand side of the frame, to keep the size down to manageable proportions. I didn't have it long enough to strip it down but I know it's a Banax, it ain't cheap so it'll be good.

[Brewer]

whats very strange is the 3 reels are labor payment for cleaning 5 abu 6500s. kinda doing this as a favor through my fatherinlaw. so i was wondering if i'm royally getting skrewed on the deal.   so im thinking i need to really clean the three a figure out whick one is in very worst condition and use as a parting out for the other 2. from the cut and paste above the Banax reels seem to be a very high quality as far as tolerences go.

[Brewer]

found this just now. from another reelsite back east i think. i found something interesting. i'll paste what this guy said.

"They are a parts manufacturer for Abu and most of the parts in my Banax are interchangeable with the Abu 6500."

wow i find this very interesting. i'll look into this. if this is true. then the reel that needs a pawl and w.g. this might be a unexpected easy fix.

[Tile]

I own a Banax OW 7300 reel (bought it at the end of 2009) and I used it for distance casting and fished with it on the river Danube. So far I had no trouble with it.

[alantani]

yes, i could see where the parts might be interchangeable with the ambassaduers. 

[Tile]

When I will do an inspection of the reel I will take some pictures of its inner workings.

[Tile]

I saw 2 SX reels from Banax at the local tackle shop (they belong to the owner of the shop). Both of them are in active duty because they're well designed and built from the right materials. My multiplier (the OW7300) is still working like a champ and will be subject for a drag upgrade (carbonfiber washers).

[alantani]

take pictures!

[Tile]

The reel will go through the annual service routine soon and I will order a piece of carbonfiber sheet to replace the original fiber washer and one or both teflon washers to increase its drag range.

[Brewer]

Well after starting this thread some time ago I finally tore into these reels.

The insides of the Sounion is a very quality reel.  The only major flaw was the stock drag washers. 2 of the four washers are Teflon.  And yes the Smoothie Ambass. drags fit perfectly inside. I was going to take more pics but felt that there was nothing about the tear down that unique.

[mhc]

I have 3 Banax reels, an SX3000, an SX 5000 and just got a Kingpin5000.
They are tough, reliable and very moderately priced reels.
The SX series are used here in Australia by a lot of Charter boats. very similar design to Penn Spinfisher ss series.

Basto, How is the banax Kingpin5000 performing?