Fin Nor LT 100 rated well by Alan Hawk. Ok, its a spinner.

[Three se7ens]

Mine did have the casting flaw in the traverse block, but the spool anodizing was just fine.  I'll post some pics this weekend when I get a little  more time.

6 pages in a few days on here?  This reel really stirred up something...

[mhc]

Wallace, or anyone that has one in there hands,
Is there enough material on the knob end of the handle to drill a 6mm hole for an after market knob?
Thanks, Michael

[Jeri]

this is a damn good subject.$100 worth of fun.
im like alan t  i dont like spinners or star drags(me)
i may build a bent butt rail rod for the {"lethal"(i like the name)
large live bait,25lb drag or more,  and turn the "lethal" into a
"limp"
life is good,cheers


Wait a while, the Lethal Star Drags come out soon, and promise to be a step above the OHC model from Finnor - ceramic bearings as standard - might get close to a lever drag.

Cheers
from sunny Africa.


Jeri

[Three se7ens]

Wallace, or anyone that has one in there hands,
Is there enough material on the knob end of the handle to drill a 6mm hole for an after market knob?
Thanks, Michael

Yes, there is.  It's .54" in diameter and .375" thick where the knob attaches to the handle.

The lethal 100 handle makes a nice upgrade for the smaller lethal and Sportfisher series.  It fit perfectly on my Sportfisher 60.

Jeri, the lethal star drags are already out here.  Www.srmo.com has them for $129.99 plus shipping.

[Porthos]

UPS, about 15 mins ago, delivered my LT100 purchased off of eBay. It's comparable in size to my Okuma CD-90 (which the LT100 will replace).

The back of the spool has the anodizing/manufacturing defect pattern that Alan showed but there's a bit more anodizing than what Alan has on his. The grease amount on the stem joint is almost same as what Alan showed; there is a fair amount of grease in the left handle recess and the matching one on the right (under the body cap); there's also grease visible along the edges of the gearbox cover.

When cranking, it DOES sound like there is a "frog" (albeit, a little one) trapped in the gearbox, but I think it just gives the reel a bit of character. 

Mounted on my Daiwa Saltist STW70MHFS, the whole setup's balance point is 1.25" above the front reel seat hood. The egg-shaped knob is about 3/4 inch longer than the knob on the CD-90, and it fits well in my hands so an after-market knob may not necessary for the time being. Will see how it all works out on the forthcoming 2014 SOA trip.

Will apply pre-service marine grease where necessary and spool with 50lb braid, so it should be ready for action June 16th-21st.

[maxpowers]

Mine just got here also.  It fairly quiet compared to my double dogged tank, etc so that's fine with me.  It seems actually bigger than the 8500 SSV that I have.  It is not as smooth as the 8500 though especially when cranking.  My spool actually did not have any defect and I will be replacing the rubber under-spool with a carbontex drag washer or a teflon washer.  this may fixed the line lay issue that AH mentioned.  The handle fit nicely in my hand but the arm felt strange.  Probably because I have not actually mount it on a rod yet.  I might pick up another ugly stik spinning jigging rod to match with it.

[wallacewt]

hi maxpowers
i also felt the handle arm strange,felt like it was to far away from the reel itself.
dont think you need to change the handle knob,but that is personal.
cheers

[maxpowers]

the drag also ramped up very quickly once you get to the higher range.  between 9 lbs to 15 lbs was maybe 1/4 of the turn on the knob, 15-30 lbs was another quarter and there was only maybe less of a quarter turn to lock down.

Update:  I was able to use a teflon washer from a penn 7500 ssm.  The rubber washer measured .9 mm and i had a 1.1 mm and a .6 mm.  Since the line was laying a bit more on the bottom vs the top I opted to use the .6 mm washer.

[wallacewt]

did it help?what size line.

[maxpowers]

wallace - I am using pe8 lines with (25 yards) of 100 lbs hollow core on top.  I plan to use up to 80 lbs topshot on this reel.

[mhc]

Mine turned up today - I had planned to replace the handle grip but the original is bigger/better than I expected so I'll wait and see as well. There aren't any noticeable defects in the anodizing under the spool on this one.
Michael

[coonhound]

Got a couple in the mail today from Shark River.  Out of the box impressions are a bit mixed.  I'm not real impressed with the drag knob.  One of the two has a loose disc underneath that doesn't seem to cause any problems, but I don't like anything loose- it eventually comes off completely.  The drag knob itself is strange in that the bar affixed to the top isn't symmetrical- one end is slightly taller than the other.  I'm guessing this is a design flaw as I can't figure out the design purpose otherwise.  Neither seems to affect the drag performance... but you like to know the company wasn't completely sloppy.

I know a lot of reels get sold at the counter based on how they look and feel- mainly look.  These reels aren't going to outsell any others in their class in that regard.  Of course, there aren't many offshore-capable spinning reels in the sub $150 range these days.  Penn Conflict 8000?  SSV 7500?  Daiwa Exceler 6500? Even the Spheros is a $200 reel these days.  Anyway, hopefully for Zebco, their internal components live up to Alan Hawk's accolades. 

The handle and knob are nice and the reel is fairly smooth for a $100 spinner.

In two weeks these will get some AJ/Grouper/Snapper work and we'll see how they do. 

[Three se7ens]

The finish certainly doesn't live up to what the gear train is capable of...  I dropped the spool and dinged up the finish on it.  I know anodizing isn't indestructible, but this didn't hold up much better than a decent paint.  For the time being, I chucked the spool in the lathe and sanded then polished the lip. I've been wanting to try cerakote on a spool, and my 9/0 was going to be the ginuea pig, but my fin nor may get bumped to the top of that list just because the anodizing is so soft.


I love the knob, and my other fin nors will be getting a 100 handle when they are available.  The extra length is especially nice over my sportfisher.  

Mine held ~20-30 yds of 60 lb mono topped with 330 yds of 80 lb daiwa saltiga braid.  That's pretty good for a spinner.  

[Porthos]

Marine greased the underside of the spool, the underside of the rotor, and every spot of metal and finish in between that wasn't already factory-greased along the way. Two tiny flakes of the aluminum/anodizing came off from the underside of spool on to my grease brush--the only observable quality issues.

Added additional marine grease to every surface between all the inner surfaces of the roller housing as well as the contact surfaces between the seam of the gearbox cover and the gearbox itself. Hopefully this will minimize the effect of salt spray and splashing on deck--NO intentions of ever dunking this thing.

That was as far as I was willing to delve into the innards of a spinning reel that my inexperience will "allow" me.  

[Three se7ens]

Marine greased the underside of the spool, the underside of the rotor, and every spot of metal and finish in between that wasn't already factory-greased along the way. Two tiny flakes of the aluminum/anodizing came off from the underside of spool on to my grease brush--the only observable quality issues.

Added additional marine grease to every surface between all the inner surfaces of the roller housing as well as the contact surfaces between the seam of the gearbox cover and the gearbox itself. Hopefully this will minimize the effect of salt spray and splashing on deck--NO intentions of ever dunking this thing.

That was as far as I was willing to delve into the innards of a spinning reel that my inexperience will "allow" me.  

As far as spinners go, it doesn't get much simpler and more straight forward than this one.  I wish you could pull the side plate without removing the rotor like the rest of the lethal and Sportfisher models though.