penn international 50 vsx vs okuma makaira 50 ii sea

[tunachaser]

hello every one
please i want help to choose on of these two reels( penn international 50 vsx and okuma makaira 50 ii sea) i'm gonna use it for chunking live bait for BFT (up to 500 lbs) i've used penn many years ago i have manhy of them but none from the new v series i was managing to get the vsx but i found this makaira , i did a lot of research and it seems to be much beter than the penn on papers and i can get it cheaper than the penn by 100$ my only concern is the quality of this reel (materials , finishing and durability) can this reel even stand the stated drag numbers??
i saw alan's tutorials for the regular mak 50ii and the vsx50 the mak looks good but i think that the penn is more solid, any help wil be appreciated


mohammad

[alantani]

i have the penn and the gold makaira and will fish with both in a week.  they should both be fine, but i will have some first hand information for you in a week. 

[Dominick]

I own a Penn 50 VSX and have never used a Makaira.  I really like the Penn so I would recommend it.  Dominick

[josa1]

I have the Makaira 30II SEa and a 50VSX.  They're about the same size and line capacity, and, they fish about the same.  I really like both and believe you've done well to narrow down to these two.

My biggest fish on the 30 so far was a 217 pounds YFT....the reel worked flawlessly.

My biggest on the 50 VSX about 180 so far, it was very strong.

Difficult but fun choice!  You won't be sorry with either I don't believe.

josa1

[tunachaser]

i have the penn and the gold makaira and will fish with both in a week.  they should both be fine, but i will have some first hand information for you in a week. 

thanks for the quick reply
i hope u will catch some cows on all your reels
i'm waiting for you feedback

[SoCalAngler]

Strait out of the box I'd give the knod to the SEA because of its freespool to fish live bait and to allow a good drift on the chunck. If you degrease and lube the Penn's spool bearings freespool should be about the same. Now if you want to do some after market mods to the reels Cal at Cal's Two Speed does them for both reels so that should not be a issue.

[fastfishin85]

im not saying eithers better than the other,but i believe the makaira comes with a 5 yr warranty which is pretty nice,havent fished either so thats about all the info i can give ya

[tunachaser]

I own a Penn 50 VSX and have never used a Makaira.  I really like the Penn so I would recommend it.  Dominick

thanks for you recommendation

[tunachaser]

I have the Makaira 30II SEa and a 50VSX.  They're about the same size and line capacity, and, they fish about the same.  I really like both and believe you've done well to narrow down to these two.

My biggest fish on the 30 so far was a 217 pounds YFT....the reel worked flawlessly.

My biggest on the 50 VSX about 180 so far, it was very strong.

Difficult but fun choice!  You won't be sorry with either I don't believe.

josa1

thank you josa
the makaira specs are really impressive their 20 is nearly equal to other's 30 , and their 30 is like many 50s from other manufacturers  also their 50s drag range with the use of braid can be equal to a 130 but all of that is on papers , my real concern is about th quality the 50 sea weighs about 14 ounces less than the 50vsx and when i saw alan's tutorials for both i noticed that the side plates are much thinner on the makaira than the penn , its good to hear some rel life experiences which is better than the specs on papers

mohamed

[tunachaser]

Strait out of the box I'd give the knod to the SEA because of its freespool to fish live bait and to allow a good drift on the chunck. If you degrease and lube the Penn's spool bearings freespool should be about the same. Now if you want to do some after market mods to the reels Cal at Cal's Two Speed does them for both reels so that should not be a issue.

thank you my only concern is abot the quality of the makaira , unfortunately i ca't get aftermarket mods from  Cal's Two Speed here in egypt sending those reels to the u.s and getting them back can cost me as much as a new reel

[tunachaser]

im not saying eithers better than the other,but i believe the makaira comes with a 5 yr warranty which is pretty nice,havent fished either so thats about all the info i can give ya

thank you
thats a great issue to put in consideration

[alantani]

i've been very pleased with the quality of the makaira.  a great deal of attention was paid to making the reel resistant to corrosion. 

[tunachaser]

i've been very pleased with the quality of the makaira.  a great deal of attention was paid to making the reel resistant to corrosion. 

thanks alan
but do you think the sideplates and the frame of tha makaira are strong like penns i saw you tutorials i 've read the comments about the makairaa one of them was that the rightside plate is much thinner than penns, is it even important??
i'll probably get the makaira for its price and i like the gunmetal finish too much

[alantani]

none of the side plates on any reel in this class will ever fail!   

[tunachaser]

none of the side plates on any reel in this class will ever fail!   

thank you very much alan for your help
i've ordered tha makaira and i'll recieve it on sunday
cant wait to test it in real fights