Decision time. BG2500 vs SS700. Please help!

[philaroman]

silent A/R is just a few extra parts to make the dog(pawl) get out of the way when you reel forward
it engages as soon as rotor moves backwards...  I guess old SS went clunk, clunk & modern doesn't

[JasonGotaProblem]

silent A/R is just a few extra parts to make the dog(pawl) get out of the way when you reel forward
it engages as soon as rotor moves backwards...  I guess old SS went clunk, clunk & modern doesn't

It's been a long week. I read silent and my brain thought instant. You should here my shiny penns with the double sprung 16 teeth AR. Definitely not silent.

Maybe I'll just sell a bit more hot sauce and get both. I really want both.

[philaroman]

when background noise is screeching gulls & crashing waves, clunk-clunk is fine...  actually, reassuring
but when loudest ambient sound is beating dragonfly wings, it's an intrusion -- nice to have a small quiet reel
get the 700, now & make do w/ Spheros, 'til price-drop / save for...  wait for it...  Imagonnaquotemyself:

simple, get BG-MQ 2500 (22# drag, 8.3 oz.)...  which weighs less than BG 1500

https://daiwaproductshowcase.com/products/bg-mq

[JasonGotaProblem]

Just to be clear, apparently I'm not crazy. I did see it. Is it wrong? Quite likely. Did I see it? Yes.

[JasonGotaProblem]

So i wrote a dumb post last night after stupidly reading and believing line cap numbers from that same amazon listing that said this reel has dual instant anti. And for some reason i didn't second guess it. It was 2am and I wasn't thinking clearly. But it is true that there's damn near no parts out there to service this thing in the 700 size, while fleabay has at least 3 pages of parts for the 1300 filtered by "north America only."

Mystic has parts for old penns. eReplacementparts has shimano stuff. For daiwa there seems to be a dude with a middle finger on one hand and holding up a sign with the other that says "buy a new reel!"

That's not a deal breaker but it is a legit consideration.

The 700 is 2oz lighter, and will hold ~150yds of 10 lb braid compared to the claimed 185 yds for the 1300. Double the drag though, which to me just means it'll be smoother at the likely 6# of it I'd be likely to use on either. I feel like now there's 3 up for consideration so I'm further from an answer not closer.

[0119]

Daiwa has always bent over backwards for me. The majority of time they haven't even charged me.

[philaroman]

here's a thought: for the price of a new 1300,
you could get TWO good used ones, PLUS
a lighter, simpler, non-folding handle

[JasonGotaProblem]

Daiwa has always bent over backwards for me. The majority of time they haven't even charged me.

Not saying you're wrong but thats the first time I've heard that.

here's a thought: for the price of a new 1300,
you could get TWO good used ones, PLUS
a lighter, simpler, non-folding handle

Now you're speaking my language.

Has anyone heard of the SS no. 1?  Any good? I assume it's related and a predecessor. There's one for sale on the cheap locally. This would be in addition to the current discussion not as a door #4 here.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Also the next question: what rod do I want for this? I'm thinking fast taper 6' with a split cork grip

[philaroman]

I believe GS-0,1,2...  are oldest Gold Series
guessing SS-1 is a really old 1000-size
BTW, there are later GS reels w/ LongCast spools
have fun w/ that information  

never fished a mangrove -- are there overhead/side clearance issues, like a trout stream?
otherwise, for "sporty" w/ 10# braid, I'd want longest, lightest, mod/fast I could get away with
if I couldn't find an Inshore light enough, I'd be lookin' at 7'6"-9'6" L/ML Steelhead

[JasonGotaProblem]

I believe GS-0,1,2...  are oldest Gold Series
guessing SS-1 is a really old 1000-size
BTW, there are later GS reels w/ LongCast spools
have fun w/ that information  

never fished a mangrove -- are there overhead/side clearance issues, like a trout stream?
otherwise, for "sporty" w/ 10# braid, I'd want longest, lightest, mod/fast I could get away with
if I couldn't find an Inshore light enough, I'd be lookin' at 7'6"-9'6" L/ML Steelhead

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole last night on mudhole.com, and I think this will be my first rod that I build. I'm looking at a 6'-6" 6-12# fast taper bass blank. I'm looking at $120ish for a rig with all Fuji components. This will mostly be for salty applications but I want the option to bass fish if the opportunity arises.

Mangroves are very amorphous. There's spots with streams through mangroves where space is very limited (but fish are plentiful) and lots of areas where mangroves are at the edges of large open expanses. In tighter areas this wouldn't be my rod choice bc a bull red will just get you snagged immediately, I run heavier drag in those areas for a higher success rate. I want "sporty" not "lose all my terminal tackle." I know that's a thin line to walk sometimes.

[philaroman]

"In tighter areas this wouldn't be my rod choice"

so, why so short?   are you short? 

clearance issues aside, if I'm wading & it's too cumbersome to clear wrap-ups/debris from the tip
w/out dipping the reel, then the rod is too long, otherwise longer is better IMO

I understand going lighter than traditional Inshore 7'-8', but why go shorter? 
still good for bass off the bank, albeit not fo crowded bass boat

[JasonGotaProblem]

"In tighter areas this wouldn't be my rod choice"

so, why so short?   are you short? 

clearance issues aside, if I'm wading & it's too cumbersome to clear wrap-ups/debris from the tip
w/out dipping the reel, then the rod is too long, otherwise longer is better IMO

I understand going lighter than traditional Inshore 7'-8', but why go shorter? 
still good for bass off the bank, albeit not fo crowded bass boat

I'm 6'5" 250 lbs. Not a little fella by any measure.
I'm trying to come up with a logical explanation for my current preference, but in reality I think I'm being guided by nostalgia. When I was younger I had a lil 5' rod (split cork grip and all) with some small disposable reel, and I feel like I had more fun with that than a lot of my larger more logical setups. It was great for getting under docks at weird angles, etc. There's a lot of mangrove snapper (gray snapper to those of you up north, same fish) that hang out down there. I love eating them but pulling them up on a 4000 reel with 20-30# braid just feels like cheating.

I think I'm subconsciously trying to get that old rig-concept back in a higher quality form, but 5' just seems unreasonably short. I may end up with a 7 footer anyway because I am a logical person at heart. But the smaller one does seem appealing.

[0119]

never fished a mangrove -- are there overhead/side clearance issues, like a trout stream?


Mangroves are very amorphous. There's spots with streams through mangroves where space is very limited (but fish are plentiful) and lots of areas where mangroves are at the edges of large open expanses.

I want "sporty" not "lose all my terminal tackle." I know that's a thin line to walk sometimes.
[/quote]
I fish an expanse of salt marsh. It's a combo of dry land and man made mosuito control ditches from the 50's. The mangroves are high along the edges, the ditches 4 feet wide if your lucky. Flipping is the only reason way to fish them to me. I use a 5'4" Falcon Peacock series rod and Ambassadeur 4500C baitcasters with 12# line. The ditches often open up to ponds about 1-2 acres. I used to take a Ambassadeur 2500C with 2# mono on a Loomis 7 foot Kokonee rod. We'd catch hundreds of Snook and Tarpon to 10#s on Pins Minnows and marabou crappie jigs. I love fishing the mangrove backwaters and often thought I'd try making a ultralight casting rod out of a fly rod blank.

[JasonGotaProblem]

So in addition to the ss700 that I suspect is coming my way for Christmas, a seller just accepted an offer for an ss850 that was not properly identified by the seller. Had it been properly listed i would likely not have gotten it for as cheap as I did because someone would have beaten me to it. Now i just gotta pray that USPS pleasantly surprises me.

Rough around the edges and definitely in need of some TLC, but that just means I won't be tempted to make it a shelf queen. This ones gonna get fished.

Does anyone know if they have the same size bearings and/or drag as the 700? Gotta start planning my upgrades.