Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Hi guys,

After reading Alan Hawk's very good review here: http://www.alanhawk.com/reviews/lth10.html

I bought one of these reels for Christmas, I'm really happy with how silky smooth the drag is, and how much factory grease is in the reel, it shows they actually care. It's a cheap backup reel and mostly will be used by family and friends when visiting.

That looks like a very nice, back to the basics type of reel.  Live the color too.

yeah really happy with it Bryan, and about $142 delivered, you can't beat that price!

I think this reel is going to have quite an effect on the price of all large spinners that cost more than it. Excellent value!

Sales went through the roof alter Alan Hawk's review!

someone needs to employ Alan under contract and build a bullet proof spinner for a decent price, they'd take over the market overnight!

I've been meaning to pick one of those up. Solid reel at a good price. Thanks for sharing Nicko.

They do look lioe nice reels, and I certsinly repect Mr. Hawks fine review.  I think it should be a great reel at that price point, but you gotta believe the more expensive reels are of a different overall quality.  I know alot of the engineering that goes into higher priced spinners involves, more complex designs, and better overall quslity parts, but they must also use higher quality and closer tollerance machining and casting processes.  Not just more parts   The Van Steel for instance has a crazy strong, but other flaws become apparent.  I think when certain parts are upgraded to increase strength, drag capacity, etc, everthing needs to work in harmony at these greayer forces, and inevitsble something becomes the weakest link.  If reels csn be fished at much greater drag settings then the entire reel was designed for, something will likely wear more quickly and/or fail.  However a pinion bearing and a frame failure are not exactly equal failures.  It will be interesting to see what, if any, problems might show themselves down the road with this reel.   Looking back at a particular model of reel's service history can teach you alot about the reel.  Tough to beat real world use as a testing ground   I hope this reel turns out to ve as solid as it appears   I know tue old penn spinners are solid and reliable.  I know Alan put er through the paces so they are definately worth a try at that price. 

I guess the good thing is Alan does put them through their paces and scores every reel out of 100 regardless of price point, so it gives you a good overall idea of how each reel fairs against the best spinners available.

With him also critically evaluating just about every part of each reel, I'm confident that this cheapie will be helping me catch big fish for years to come. Am I going to fish this over my Stella sw 8000? nope! This reel will be used to troll, float live baits for Spanish (king) mackerel and will be used by guests and visitors. Next trip though I'm going to christen it with a nice big red or three.

The "Other Alan" --

Most of you may already know -- but I'll explain for those who may not know Alan Hawk.

Alan Hawk is an "experts expert" on spinning reels.  Primarily HD Salt models.

His reviews and opinions are waited for by every professional in the angling world -- and taken for the Gospel.

He maintains his own website, purchases reels with his own funds, tests each for 100 hours or more, completely disassembles, analyzes, and points out all weak and strong points -- then gives them a numerical rating -- and explains every detail.  He is completely independent and self-funded because of his passion for the mechanical aspect of HD spinning reels.

He will not allow any sponsers, companies, or individuals to influence his work in any way.

He is sort of like the "Consumers Reports" of  spinning reels -- except he takes it a few steps further since he has an engineer's mind, and lives fishing.

He has made many major companies very upset with some of his brutally honest reviews -- to the point of them suing him many times, unsuccessfully.  Not to mention making threats to him personally.

He has an attorney who stays very busy handling his legal issues -- which Alan just laughs off -- since he has testing, documentation, and contacts with many engineers who will collaborate his testing and conclusions regarding fishing reels.  When documentation and testing is complete -- it is stored & sealed under an escrow arrangement with Alan's attorney.

This is probably overkill -- and Alan is the type of guy who you must be careful asking what time it is -- since he will immediately tell you how to build a watch -- and probably better than the original manufacturer -- with documentation and testing.

All of my long story brings me to this point:

We all owe Alan a lot -- and always learn from him -- he is the Master of HD spinners.

In this day and age of Wal-mart, Big 5, Asian manufacturers, and clever marketing gimmicks -- Alan is a breath of fresh air to our industry.

Best,

Fred

i was always glad we had our own in house legal department!!!!!

Your comments are right on the mark Fred.

It's a shame we don't have more Alan Hawks doing independant, unbiased and unsponsored reviews on more everyday products that we are presented with.

It would certainly make manufacturers more accountable.

I bought one 4 months ago just to go thru it and check it out. The body needs to be lightly greased inside but not much more to do to these reels. Grease the handle and cap openings and put it to work.

You can donate money to Alan Hawk on his website, I've given him a bit of cash as I think he's worth it!

I have one of those reels and it does have the smoothest drag of my spinners. The first day that I used I caught a very large red snapper with it.