Omoto 2 speeds....any good?

[Steve-O]

Does anyone have experience or opinions about the Omoto reels? In particular I'm thinking of getting one of the 2 speed lever drag models like this one. It would be my primary Halibut reel for annual excursions to Southeast Alaska. Fishing from 60-90 feet down to 300' for hali's from chickens to barn doors.


The literature compares it to a Penn Torque without the high price tag.
Comments, thoughts, insults, opinions, etc...welcome.

Steve-O

[Phinaddict]

Hey Steve-o,
I have an Omoto Ulises 100 2 speed... I like it except it is heavy for its size, overbuilt actually. Robust to be sure.
If you get it,  crack it open and give it the ATOO, (Alan Tani Once Over), and it should be good to go. Mine was factory greased drag, (not so good though), and bearings all greased with some kind of clear stuff.. Vaseline maybe?? I redid them and its all good now.

Mine reel is a bit  smaller.  I have spooled with 50 braid over a little bit of 30 mono. It has not had a good workout yet but managed a few small bat rays in S.F. bay and a couple of smaller Roosters on the troll in Mexico....so,  jury is still out if it's "tuna tuff"  or not.

Good machine work, fit and finish.  Price was right.
"Pays your money and takes your chances!" and Grandpa used to say.

[Diesel]

There's a heck of a good discussion that took place on Bloodydecks. The discussion is not about your piticular model but about an interesting underslung reel and Omoto in general. I was surprised how good of remarks the Omoto reels recieved. I've seen them on ebay but always figured they were a cheap knock off not worth the money. After reading up on them, I'd take a chance now. I'm really interested in the VS series.

http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/fishing-reels/135758-omoto-reels-what-hell.html

Their site:

http://www.fishing-tackle.com.tw/about.html

[williewiskers]

I recently purchased two Omoto Poseidon S12 reels, not the two speed tho. The parent company AQ FISHING that owns the brand "Omoto" is and OEM part and whole reel manufacturer for every major reel brand in the world and has been since the 1970's. Their research and manufacturing investment is among the highest in the world. Many of your "high end" reel components likely came from AQ FISHING and were simply assembled in another country. The Poseidon is literally a Torque body with an Int. 12vsx's beefed up drag system. For $129 shipped on eBay direct from AQ FISHING you cant beat them. They'll even factory grease your drag with Cal's if you ask them! They have a US-based warranty repair facility in Florida and I got my reels from overseas in 4 days in the height of the covid shipping delays.

I dont know about their other stuff, but the Poseidon s12 and s16 are overbuilt as hell (therefore they ARE heavy) and for their incredible drag capability the s12 only holds 300m of 65# braid while the s16 holds 60m more. So you almost cant use all that drag power because of line test limits caused by spool capacity - but that's dependent on the way you fish. IMO this reel is a tank and overbuilt for its "likely" purpose and built jsut fine for people whom fish "drag over line capacity" with heavier line.

[Robert Janssen]

Mmyeah... just for the sake of clarity, i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that AQ is not the parent company, Omoto-Kumasama doesn't have a parent company, they weren't even founded in the 1970s, and the Poseidon's drag is not even remotely similar to the 12VSX. But hey, whaddoiknow, right? Maybe i misunderstood something here.

Having said that, they have indeed been OEMing for many others for a long time, and have been very successful at it and do their very best at achieving and maintaining a high standard, so i'm sure the reels are just fine, as well as aforementioned ebay seller.

.

[williewiskers]

According to the international business registrant records AQ Fishing owns the brand name "OMOTO", the same one that produces the Poseidon line. I researched everything about this brand I never heard of before when i saw them on ebay. One of my reels arrived with a slightly rough bearing and I was authorized to take it to a local tackle shop for them to replace under warranty. They said the inside was the same as an International 12VSX and charged accordingly (which I didnt have to pay). It also has the same advertised drag - which it hits with freespool to the tee before losing it. This is the newest version in the Advanz Series - Q12.

Other reel brands they own include WFT and Balzer, but the company has evolved several times over the decades, consolidated, merged and taken different shapes - mostly due to evolving close trade partnerships with the US that increased their export potential all over the world. Omoto probably used to be its own company, I dont know I didnt do a history report on them, but now its a brand under "A Qualie Fishing Marine".

In fact my 30T has a factory "Penn" sticker on the inside of the bottom of the frame with Taiwanese writing on it that I cant read. Its no wonder the Omoto KAM reels look just like the Tournament Series Internationals and the Poseidons look just like round gold Torques and the 12N, Triple, Vantage and VS look just like the last two line of black/yellow/red Penn Torques


Not trying to start and argument, but you kinda stated I was talking out my ####.



The Wiskers

[Robert Janssen]

Yeah... no fighting; we're probably too old for that. Even if i did sort of insinuate this was baloney. Sorry 'bout that.

The thing is though, that i've met the owner and founder of Omoto. His background, or what he told me anyway, is that of an engineer, who worked with both Okuma and another company before starting Omoto, where as far as i know he still presides. The company has grown and done very well. Now granted, i met him quite some time ago and maybe he sold the entire company and retired early.

But, the idea that a company nobody has heard of somehow owns Omoto and now WFT and Balzer without anyone in the press having mentioned it, ever, seems way, way, waaay hard to believe, since it would in fact be a very big deal.

Really, the only internetal mention of A Qualie is in an online article from 2012, saying that Omoto now sells stuff on Ebay.

So what i think might be going on, is that a misunderstanding, or a few misunderstandings may have taken place. Like, Omoto allowed someone to start a small business selling their stuff, and gave them the rights to the name within a certain market. Said company perhaps exaggerates this at times.

Now, about the reels: both Balzer and WFT as well as an American company called Qualia sell reels OEMed by Omoto, as many others do. The Poseidon reels and the KAM reels (also sold for a short time as Mitchell) bear no mechanical similarity to Penn International reels. None. Compare reels here or look at schematics. They may look somewhat similar from the outside, but all lever drag reels do to an extent. That is where the similarity ends.

Your Penn 30T with a Taiwanese sticker is very interesting! I would like to hear an explanation for that from one of our resident Penn experts. And i would be interested to know more about the A Qualie company— feel free to PM me if you like.

 In any case, Omoto seems to be doing well and i wish them luck in the future.

EDIT, AFTERTHOUGHT, ADDENDUM:
Wait wait hold on— is that where this is going? Qualia? I just googled the reel you mentioned, it is a Qualia. Is this the company of which you speak?
I have met them too. Solid guys with a long solid background in the tackle business. One of them died a few years back, perhaps causing a change in the company. Is that it?

.

[williewiskers]

Yea, as of 6 mos ago when I bought my Omoto Poseidon reels the brand "Omoto", among others, was registered as being owned by "A Qualia Fishing Marine" or "AQ Fishing" for short.

[boon]

Which Poseidon looks like which Torque? Maybe if I had about half a dozen beers and squinted at the two across a room.

The good: The machining is really nice, on par with basically anything you can come up with. Accordingly the gearing is pretty good too. Also the drag, carbon fibre, great.
The bad: The metal they're made of and the anodizing. The things are like aspirins. If you show them a picture of salt water they start fizzing. Also the minor finish things... the "posts" that limit the drag lever travel are literally covered by snipped off bits of clear tubing that usually isn't even cut straight. Screams quality to me. Also all the small bits and pieces in them like c-clips and some of the fasteners tend to rust since they're apparently not stainless?? I opened a Poseidon up a while ago and half the bits inside the right side plate were rusting... why are there parts in a nominally offshore saltwater reel that can rust? Oh and the KAMs were unmitigated disasters.

The Q12 has been around for a good 10 years now too... and is fundamentally different internally to a VSX12. They are completely different reels.

[boon]

Re. the sticker, it says "Penn Quality Assurance" or words to that effect, lots of asian market reels have it.

Here's two very much Made in the USA but sold in Japan Penn Internationals with that sticker:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373283424939
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373424722242

[williewiskers]

Looks just like the Trq100LD.

I don't know about some time ago, but every last piece is stainless inside this Omoto Poseidon S12 Adavanz Series Q12.

Furthermore its the ONLY reel ive ever seen precisely hit it strike and full drag expectation perfectly with absolute freespool at the point 1-nanometer before freespool is affected. They both did this which tells me the engineering is laser solid. Penn reels come with a "range" rating and a lot of the time they fight you like hell to even tell you a drag rating because they would be held to it. Even Cal's says, "due to minor variations in manufacturing no two reels will produce the same amount of max drag". I don't have a vsx12; I do have a new vsx16 I won in a raffle - which I haven't taken apart because I don't have the tool and I read you break things if you do it wrong.

The published (and real) max drag with freespool of 30.8# falls precisely between the published numbers for the Trq100LD and the VSX12. Its impossible for a company in Taiwan to rip-off a Penn reel exactly due to strong trade ties, but it sure looks like they took the best engineering of the Torque and the VSX and combined them. I don't know about "old Poseidons", but this one is goes in the boat mounted on a 7' 30-80" Tsunami Sapphire Pro right next to my 16vsx on a 5-1/2" 50-100# Sealine Standup. Theyre both the strongest reels-to-weight ratio I have and the most versatile due to their size. At $129 shipped I cant rationalize an argument against the S12, its exceeded my expectations as an engineer in every way.

Would I buy a Trq100LD or 300LD or vsx12 if I was presented with a good deal used, yes. Would I buy one new - no. I would buy another Poseidon in the appropriate size.


Interesting about the Asian Market Sticker, I wonder if they were actually made in the US, most things sold domestically in the asian markets are not imported.


The Wiskers

[boon]

Look... I want to say this diplomatically. Omoto/Qualia reels categorically do not share any sort of DNA with those reels. To suggest they do on the basis of a vague cosmetic similarity is inaccurate and is not really in the vein of accurate reel information that this forum is renowned for.

Open the two up side by side and you'll see how utterly different they are. Even just take the left side plate off your VSX and your Omoto and a lot will become clear, that doesn't require any special tooling.

[Cor]

I'll add my small bit of knowledge, though I think it has largely been covered above.

The old Shimano 20/40 was an extremely popular reel here, and still is.   In my book they work very well, are easy and simple to maintain and nearly unbreakable.

Omoto made and sold copies here.   They retailed for 40% less than the original Shimano variant and I never heard but one complaint and those that had them were very happy with the cash saving.  It was even rumoured that some parts were interchangeable.

[Jim Fujitani]

I've owned an Omoto Poseidon S12II for over 4 1/2 years (but not used for the last 3, just haven't been SDLR). 

I bought it used, on BD, from the original owner, who had listed it for a couple weeks with no action on the listing.  I admittedly made a low-ball offer, on a lark, and he accepted it.  I've had it serviced twice by my usual reel tech (the only two speeds that I will work on myself are my TLD 20's and 30). 

I have had no complaints, having used the Omoto on school YFT and YT on 7 day trips.