New Penn Reel

[Tile]

I think that Penn is planning a Baja wide to complement the narrow Baja currently in production and give the whole series a cosmetic upgrade. The model number might be 113HW Baja Special.

[maxpowers]

I guess I'm weird, still have a bit to go to get to 50 and would barely recognize a purple lever thing as something you try and catch fish with.
Ron

Has nothing to do with being purple (however, people complain all the time that Penn's are gold and they want silver). It has to do with the overall appearance of the product and the Baja Special looks just like a Senator from the 1940's.

1940's bling when out with Studebakers.

When's the last time you bought a Baja Special?

John,

I have a Fathom 40 and it felt flimsy.  Not sure if the smaller ones felt more solid.

The reason I ask is that we all sit here and sing their praises day in and day out and yet we ourselves probably make a different choice when we spend our $$$. 

Something a little lighter...something with an instant AR...something in a faster retrieve...ie a Fathom.

[Ron Jones]

I've never bought a Baja, to new fangled. Senators and Jigmasters have worked forever and we here are making them much better. I have a few Diawa's, all star drag. Some of them have IARs but that os only because I haven't figured out how to put a couple dogs in yet.
Ron

[doradoben]

You make some very good points, John. Penn probably would have sold more Baja Specials if they had originally been in introduced with red side plates. I bought one in the last year. I've mostly avoided reels with IR bearings in favor of Pro Gears, Squidders, 501's and Newells, but you can probably guess my age. 

[johndtuttle]

You make some very good points, John. Penn probably would have sold more Baja Specials if they had originally been in introduced with red side plates. I bought one in the last year. I've mostly avoided reels with IR bearings in favor of Pro Gears, Squidders, 501's and Newells, but you can probably guess my age. 

Well, that's the rub Ben, we start favoring substance over style as we get older. Hell, I still think my first car a '67 Bug is the greatest car ever made .

Unfortunately, the average consumer favors style over substance. Substance is too hard to figure out (ie internals).

[kmstorm64]

Other technologies have made some Penns reels obsolete in many ways, that being line technology.  Braid has made many Reel companies go back to the drawing board and make smaller reels with tighter tolerances to handle the much finer lines of braid.  Drag technology is improving, and now Alan is vindicated in that more and more reels are coming with prelubricated drags.  Rod technology is improving and making many of these reels seem like boat anchors attached to them.

[johndtuttle]

Other technologies have made some Penns reels obsolete in many ways, that being line technology.  Braid has made many Reel companies go back to the drawing board and make smaller reels with tighter tolerances to handle the much finer lines of braid.  Drag technology is improving, and now Alan is vindicated in that more and more reels are coming with prelubricated drags.  Rod technology is improving and making many of these reels seem like boat anchors attached to them.

Right...

Well, see that is the thing. We can say the "state of the art" for performance is not a Penn Senator...

O wait, what is "performance"

Is it casting distance, light weight, max drag, braid friendly (spool and AR design)...etc...??

Or is it longevity, ease of maintenance, availability of parts, cheap and reliable mono friendly, cranking power, simplicity and reliability?

I used to only chase rainbows. Then parts availability for my other than current model Shimanos started drying up.

And realized I had been sold a Bill of Goods.

Don't kid yourself that you might have bought something that has made a Senator obsolete. What you have bought in all likelihood is a disposable reel that can perform amazingly well, for a time... I still use them and buy them, but I am realistic that you simply will not have a functional reel in 5-10 years from most companies when there are no parts because there has been a model change.

I ain't making this up. Shimano says they will provide parts for 5 years after a reel is discontinued. Ask someone that needs a part for his old Stella FA what he thinks about the reel he bought that was supposedly "built for a lifetime".

It's a paperweight.

[Ron Jones]

Yep,
I have a Newelled 501 that when done will be a 80 pound line rate reel if I want. It will have a high retrieve ratio and all kinds of stainless innards. Total investment will be $200.00 with line and it will last forever and parts will be available forever. Nothing obsolete about that.

Like I said, this new reel is basically a slightly faster 268 with a nice frame. It will be a nice reel but it will have nothing on a Tibbed/Newelled 113HLW with all the upgrades that are happening on here. I'll stick with the old trusty.
Ron

[doradoben]

Again, I'm on the same page with John. What he is describing is planned obsolescence. Shimano is not an isolated example. Regular introductions of new series drives profits and stock prices, but it also starts the clock ticking on the model that you currently own. The only reason that Penn WAS different is because they were family owned, had a solid lineup of products and operated in a marketplace that was devoid of serious competitors. That is far from the case, now. Fortunately for some, there is a large availability of repair parts and modification procedures that make some of the old Penns and reels based on them, not nearly as obsolete as they could have been.  

[maxpowers]

Yep,
I have a Newelled 501 that when done will be a 80 pound line rate reel if I want. It will have a high retrieve ratio and all kinds of stainless innards. Total investment will be $200.00 with line and it will last forever and parts will be available forever. Nothing obsolete about that.

Like I said, this new reel is basically a slightly faster 268 with a nice frame. It will be a nice reel but it will have nothing on a Tibbed/Newelled 113HLW with all the upgrades that are happening on here. I'll stick with the old trusty.
Ron

Be careful about this as the spool shaft will be the weakest component once all the upgrades are in.