Star reel

[sharkman]

Has anyone ever heard of star reels?  If so who makes them?  A local tackle shop is selling the reels, the tackle shop claims they are made by the same manufacturer as penn.  He states the star spinning reels are similar to the penn battle, but half the price.  The individual stated parts on the reels will interchange. I can not find any information on the reels themselves. I do find them on star rod website, but they are sold in combo with rod.  Thanks for the help.

[Irish Jigger]

Red Star? Chinese, could well be made in the Penn factory.
Ocean Star? Chinese,Maxel.
I cannot think of anything worse than a Chinese combo.

[Shark Hunter]

I like Chinese Combo. egg Roll, Fried rice, Wonton soup with barbecue ribs!

[coonhound]

Has anyone ever heard of star reels?  If so who makes them?  A local tackle shop is selling the reels, the tackle shop claims they are made by the same manufacturer as penn.  He states the star spinning reels are similar to the penn battle, but half the price.  The individual stated parts on the reels will interchange. I can not find any information on the reels themselves. I do find them on star rod website, but they are sold in combo with rod.  Thanks for the help.

I think those are the ones being offered by Star Rods in a combo only.  Star Aerial EXS4?



Can't say much about the internals, but the Star has an antireverse switch and a different stem.  I doubt these are rebranded Battles. 

Big Rock Sports acquired Sea Striker and Star Rods back in 2012 and has since been offering these low cost combos under both the Sea Striker and Star name.  Dave Martin is apparently running the new operation and has experience at Zebco and Penn.

http://www.bigrocksports.com/services/big-rock-sports-acquires-sea-striker-international%C2%AE-and-star-rods%C2%AE

[Dynamo]

(Quote): "I cannot think of anything worse than a Chinese combo.  "

To be fair, Chinese factories can put out some good stuff if it wishes. Taiwan is basically a part of China, and guess where the Okuma Makaira comes from. The Star reel might actually not be bad, but I would still get a brand name reel, just to be safe, IMO.

[philaroman]

To be fair, Chinese factories can put out some good stuff if it wishes. Taiwan is basically a part of China, and guess where the Okuma Makaira comes from.

Couldn't agree LESS: Taiwan is basically a free-market, capitalistic society -- the fact that they're geographically close & speak Chinese, is immaterial.  As far as tackle goes, it's WORLDS APART -- it's like comparing genuine Swedish Abu or US Lami, to budget China-made Abu or Lami...  or, 90's Japanese Shimano's to Malaysian ones. 

If you go back far enough, plenty US/Euro Companies outsourced to Japan to save on labor costs, without significant drop in quality -- that's certainly NOT the case with modern-day outsourcing to PRC

[Shark Hunter]

I'm with Phil. Time to Bash!

[philaroman]

oh, Man...  you went from apples & oranges, to apples & bowling balls

"assembled" means "put together" -- i.e., [some] parts are made elsewhere...  usually, key parts, the manufacture of which is not trusted to cheap labor used for slap-together assembly

an Apple, with all those moving parts susceptible to wear & S/W corrosion, doesn't need circuit boards installed to very tight tolerances (esp., since it's obsolete almost as soon as you buy it)

I suppose you could hand down a well-maintained, fully functional 20-y-o Mac/iPod to your grandchildren, but they'd probably get more use & fun out of an abacus (one from before the Revolution would be a fine example of Chinese craft/art/skill)

[Dynamo]

To be honest I'd rather inherit an ipod. Philaroman, agreed about the China /taiwan thing, but I would like to hear some of your experiences with Chinese made tackle to justify calling it junk. I agree that a lot of China made stuff can suck, but so can stuff made in America. On a whole, yes, stuff in China is less quality than stuff made in the States, but give it a break. Its not that bad. I can think of quite a lot of worse things than Chinese made combos. I have had many Chinese made rods and reels and they still catch fish, heck most of them still look new. I service them only once every other year, and they have survived getting messed with by random people messing with my gear, getting dragged in silt and mud by fish, years of beach fishing use, and I still have them and use them frequently. I say 50 bucks well spent on each so called "piece of crap"! You're free to your own opinion, but then again so am I. Good day.