Revo Toro Beast Preview: A Revolution in Large Bait Casting

[johndtuttle]

That drag drum better be heat resistant because it's acting as an insulator for the washers!  I like the design and I'll look at getting one once they're available.  The NaCl 60 is too wide for me but the Beast looks just right!

Yea, that was one of my first questions for the Engineers at Abu...However, the amount of heat it sees is probably pretty low as the carbon fiber washers are always insulating the Drum from the Stainless washers. The carbon fiber washers are quite thick and their probably is little heat on the other side of them.

Dunno for sure! I hope to find a Tuna to take a nice long run on one soon.

FWIW this reel and the Revo Toro S replace the Toro NaCl so Abu agrees!

[johndtuttle]

Boy howdy!  John is definitely mod material. 

I haven't even gotten my Lexa's wet and he springs this on me though.  I'm gonna pretend I have never heard of this Beast?

Same here...well kinda.. I have a yet to be fished Okuma Komodo 264. I have played with it a bit and will be carrying it to Alaska next month for its workout if I don't get into some big carp this weekend with it.

Maybe a Beast is in my future, maybe not. All my LP reels are either Okuma or Abu's and I came close to tossing a coin on the NaCL vs the Komodo. A little more thinking and the Komodo got the nod without flipping a coin. SS internals, drag power like no LP baitcaster should have and free spool to die for. No mag-cast control either....it's all thumb and one of my first casts took the line down to the last 3 wraps on the arbor.

The extra wide NACL spool was not appealing to me despite the Komodo's  aspect of lack of line capacity.  Over 300 feet of 65# works for my needs.


JDT- thanks for posting this on the Revo Beast. I like the IAR/drag innovation and the choice of handles.

BTW- any dollar figure to stick on the Beast, yet? I haven't looked around, yet, but I'm guessing 3 and half bills if not closer to 4.


EDIT- just found that it is $350 MSRP and line capacity is 100 yards of 65# POWER PRO Slick...about the same capacity in that line weight as the Komodo.

There is also the Revo Toro S that uses most of the same internals as the Beast with a MSRP of $249. Comes with only one handle etc but will be a great way to get introduced to the new ergoomcs without going all in.

In the "60" size the Toro Beast and S should have a little more capacity than the Komodo.

[johndtuttle]

great preview, it surely got my attention this new reel from Abu, which I have to say Im a fanboy
love my 6500c3, my 7000c and my 5000c

"too bad" the reel market is moving forward faster than my wallet, I havent save enough to get me a tranx or a fathom 2-speed, or a new calcutta 400D, when the new abu 6500 beast comes to play, as well as this revo toro beast.

this is like seeing the new offerings for modern sport cars.

Whenever I get inside something like this I always marvel at the obvious time to engineer and commitment to build the precision parts inside these reels. I can only imagine what it takes to make the mold for something like the Clutch Plate, and make it perfectly.

I also feel I need to pet my old Jigmaster 501 and tell her everything will be just fine, she may not get out to play much anymore but I still love her  .

Obviously old workhorses are all that is strictly required to catch a fish with rod and reel...but for all day casting the "sports cars" come into their own and all the features put into them make the performance amazing for casting, casting, casting which I normally do until I can cast no more from the workout. Every tiny little feature really adds up in that case.

You don't need a very advanced reel to soak bait. But if you are gonna cast all day these reels have gained the reputation they have for a reason. 

[steelfish]

yep, I totally understand, but my wife doest 

I love my lexa 300hsp, the calcutta 400TE to cast light irons and spoons all day
love the 113h with few tweaks, the baja special and TLD II for trolling and bait fishing
and the fathom 40 star and trini 16 are always ready to cast the heavy irons and jigs.

a nice mix (IMO) between old muscle cars and new sport cars..

[Robert Janssen]

That is quite a big step up for Abu. I like the giant drag. Not sure why it needs to be in a plastic cassette (cost, i suppose), but cool anyways.

I was well aware of the fact that an IAR locks axially as well as radially. I just didn't realize it was actually something anyone was concerned about. Glad to see the Abu guys thinking & making new stuff.

Incidentally,

Abu Garcia just recently patented the concept http://www.google.com/patents/US8807471....

Well, sort of... that patent is actually for what appears to be the Penn Squall, which explains why the application was filed 3½ years ago, and issued a year ago. (One of the engineers is from Abu; the other has been with Penn for a long time. The third engineer is someone else entirely). I suppose they can help each other at Pure Fishing nowadays. That is a pretty big development. If I recall Patrik S's own words from some time ago, Abu was quite restrictive with patents. Maybe that has changed along with the corporate structure.

.

[johndtuttle]

That is quite a big step up for Abu. I like the giant drag. Not sure why it needs to be in a plastic cassette (cost, i suppose), but cool anyways.

I was well aware of the fact that an IAR locks axially as well as radially. I just didn't realize it was actually something anyone was concerned about. Glad to see the Abu guys thinking & making new stuff.

Incidentally,

Abu Garcia just recently patented the concept http://www.google.com/patents/US8807471....

Well, sort of... that patent is actually for what appears to be the Penn Squall, which explains why the application was filed 3½ years ago, and issued a year ago. (One of the engineers is from Abu; the other has been with Penn for a long time. The third engineer is someone else entirely). I suppose they can help each other at Pure Fishing nowadays. That is a pretty big development. If I recall Patrik S's own words from some time ago, Abu was quite restrictive with patents. Maybe that has changed along with the corporate structure.

I asked about the choice of the Drum and the answer I was given was that it simplified assembly (meaning what all parts were going to be needed to make it work). The Drum fulfills several functions including a keying of the Carbon washers (to make both surfaces functional) as well as providing a washer under the Drag Bushing if I recall correctly. This may have cured several engineering problems in one step and helped lighten the gear too.

This is the sort of thing I tend to take at face value given the difficuclty of getting something this complex made.  Just like any other innovation we'll have to see how it functions over time. I blindly assume it is perfect and go use it until something comes up .

The Squall uses the standard arrangement of sleeve to drag, IIRC, I think the "generic" star drag reel in the Patent is just that or may have been something that Penn considered and then decided to go the simpler way to keep costs down. I too am glad to see that things are still being refined at Abu Garcia. There is a fine tradition of innovation there.

[Alto Mare]

Thanks for showing this to us John, great job as usual. The insert is very interesting, could you show a shot of the under side, but only if the reel is still apart.
Thanks!

[johndtuttle]

Thanks for showing this to us John, great job as usual. The insert is very interesting, could you show a shot of the under side, but only if the reel is still apart.
Thanks!

Thanks Sal .

The reel is back together now but I made this image to help:



The ABCD slots correspond to "posts" (molded short pins) on the backside of the Drum to key it to the main gear. Other than the posts it is a smooth surface. The other small cuts in the Main Gear shown in red are key slots for the Level Wind Gear (that mates underneath). You can just see the white synthetic material in the slots if you look carefully.

Needless to say, for other drum type inserts this sort of simple keying might be useful to your projects modding drag stacks. If short pins were pressed into the back of a drum (like dog posts into a bridge) and holes drilled in the gear they would mate perfectly securely.

[Alto Mare]

Thanks John! I like it, but being made of plastic, I'm not sure the pins would hold up on other reels with higher drag settings.
I'm sure they will do just fine on this reel.

Not related to this reel, but very similar, as for holding the insert from the bottom.
My good friend Tom (Irish Jigger ) made me this a couple of years back:



Thank you John.
Sal

[Tightlines667]

Interesting stuff.  If tye washers are not fitted tightly to the  drive shaft, it should allow for effective drag adjustment under pressure, provided an arb bearing or something else doesn't 'grab' the shaft.

[MarkT]

Sal, that looks like the same concept! But ya know, that Abu insert isn't plastic, it's a "composite material". Yeah, I hear graphite, or composite, and think "plastic". But don't you know, plastics are the future, at least if you remember the "The Graduate".

[Alto Mare]

Sal, that looks like the same concept! But ya know, that Abu insert isn't plastic, it's a "composite material". Yeah, I hear graphite, or composite, and think "plastic". But don't you know, plastics are the future, at least if you remember the "The Graduate".

You are correct!
Fibre-reinforced plastic is much stronger than plastic.

[johndtuttle]

Interesting stuff.  If the washers are not fitted tightly to the  drive shaft, it should allow for effective drag adjustment under pressure, provided an arb bearing or something else doesn't 'grab' the shaft.

The IAR Sleeve of course is keyed to the Shaft, but the Clutch grabs it and not the Shaft. The Shaft slides freely inside the IAR Sleeve to adjust the drag. 

[Dr. Jekyll - AKA MeL B]

probably missed it but anyway is it synchronised levelwind system? thanks...

[Lunker Larry]

Excellent breakdown on this reel. Muskie guys are forever buying new reels so I am sure this one will be a hit.
thanks John