Are Shimano reels made by Okuma?

[poledark]

Andy, I think you should know that Shimano are one of the world leaders in engineering and don't just make bike parts! They have designed and manufactured high precision parts which often have to work in very hostile conditions.

 

Just look at the conditions under which their offroad bike gearing has to work, in mud a grit.

 

Their reels do have infinite anti reverse and they are almost perfectly balanced.

 

They do not (or did not until recently) have flashy colours all over them, but the pearl colour of some of their models looks very classy.

My new 6000 reels are pretty garish, almost as bright as an Okuma, but I would prefer them matt black!.

 

You pays yer money and you makes yer choice, but I bought two big Okumas and the line lay was awful. so I took them straight back to the shop and changed them for the Shimanos, and happily paid the extra.

 

Den

[Andy Macfarlane]

I didn't say they just made bike parts. I said machines..you know machinery.

Okumas are garish? Seems to me every reel manufacturer is now making garish reels then. Funny how they set the standard.

As for Shimanos being near perfectly balanced. For that cash I would want perfect and they are no better balanced than Okumas.

Bad line lay. Maybe...what do expect for a 3rd of the price??

Still havn't convinced me. As Peter says

"I suppose there's a tackle tart in us all at some level or other which costs us more money than it should!"

Need I say more.

[Barnese]

I must say I dissagree that okuma's are low budget reels. Of course there are a few reels that they make which are low budget. However, the hyperloop series of rods are low budget. I agree with Andy on this one.

[HOPPY4]

OK, I happen to own both and have read some information that expressly state that many brands of manufactors reels have parts from Okuma and Shimano within them. This being said, I love both firms specific reels, and have yet to find a fault with the Okumas. The Shimano US Baitrunner 6500s have been in my fishing gear selection for more than 8 years and I have used them for all types of fishing. The normal maintenance required for any equipment that you own and use is what is necessary. I do not beleive that I will have any more problems with the Okums than I have with them. Choice of price and availability will be the driving force for each fisherman or woman.

[Tony 1]

Now we are talking budget quality and just to muddy the waters a bit i thought i'd chip in,I own and occasionally use a couple of shimano 6000 aero re reels, I say occcasionally, due to the fact I use braid for most of my specimen hunting I now prefer to use the Diawa 4550 brt due to the twistbuster system which I have found to be second to none when using braid, now you don't get much more budget than that, since discovering this I purchased a pair of Jupiter Z 5500 4 bearings long spool, same twistbuster system for my big water piking £60.00 a pair,a joy to use.

It makes me laugh when I see John wilson on Go fishing landing big Carp/Pike on a reel some bloke's wouldn't give a second look at( yes I know he is paid to use it}but this goes to show are we putting to much store in having the best gear and neglecting a thing you carn't buy watercraft, another example Chris yates his old record carp, cane rod ambidex reel, correct me if I am wrong.

Be honest how many of us who can afford the high end reels, look at the one's in the £30/40 quid range, for some the choice is made for them, but for those who can choose, do we make the choice because it is that much better, or is it because we need to be seen with it,I have seen grown men make decisions on tackle due to fear of ridicule not because it's any better than another bit of kit it's just the brand thier buying, or the standard at the venue.

Andrew said earlier "Maybe it's a VW/Skoda type relationship?"

it may be, lets look at that relationship, who wins the awards in the car mags, on the other hand, when people have looked at unbadged skodas most liked the build qaulity and said they would buy them, but once told what they would be buying they didn,t want to know, I believe the same skoda mentality applies to tackle to a big extent.

 

Regards Tony.

 

A liberated tackle tart

 

[ 08. September 2003, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: Tony C ]

[Andy Macfarlane]

The EXACT same mentality.

[Guest sslatter]

Agree wholeheartedly with those last two posts.

 

A friend of mine swears by Shimanos. He’s spent around £600 on 5 upper-range fixed spools, and is always singing their praises. I say: “What’s the line lay like?” and he replies: “Perfect, every time.” I say: “Does the line bed in after a big fish?” He says: “Never.” I say: “Do you get backspooling problems, line coiling off the spool when slack or when windy, and getting caught under the spool housing?” He says: “No, never.” Friday evening we were out on the pontoon fishing, and he had his Twin Power out. I was watching him, trying to see how his reel didn’t bed the line in after a big fish, how it kept the tension. He cast out, the line went slack as his float settled before he’d closed the spool, and then hey presto, the line coiled off and got caught under the spool housing as he gave it a wind to close it. He tried to hide this fact, but I saw, and he saw that I saw, to his embarrassment. I said: “So you DO get backcoiling problems with them?” He didn’t say anything, he just looked sheepish. Let me add that his spool was perfectly filled NOT overfilled. He just had a problem that every fixed spool that I’ve ever seen or used has. They may have solved most of the associated problems, but they haven’t cracked that one yet. And it’s the same for a £20 Shakespeare, as it is for a £150 Shimano. Maybe if the designers thought about putting a skirt on the bottom of the spool? I don’t know. Which brings me to closed face reels, which don’t get this particular problem, but which have a line bedding problem after playing a big fish, and a backwinding problem due to the (relatively) small in-and-out movement of the central driveshaft. I think the technical term would be a “short stroke”. They don’t pull backwards with ease. If they could solve these problems, they’d have it cracked, and I’d never use a fixed spool again.

[peter mccue]

Got to say this Graham, but I thought line getting trapped under the spool had been consigned to the history books!

 

I remember my old Mitchells & such being a swine for it but my Shimanos have never done it & to be honest, nobody's said anything to me about their particular reels having the problem in recent years.

[dogfish]

Hi

This has strayed a bit from the original point.From my point of view I buy what I want and like.Cost is no concern.I personally mostly use Shimano and Daiwa reels and I tend to buy expensive ones because I want to.Others may choose not to or can not afford it.I spend my money on fishing and fishing gear etc.Some people choose to smoke or gamble or drink etc.

What I buy is not a reflection on quality but of personal choice.A friend of mine has a Shimano Hyperloop barbel rod which cost less than 50 quid,Nothing wrong with it at all.

Not all expensive gear is good look at some of the Crap expensive 'American' flyrods which are around.Not all cheap gear is bad.

Buy what suits you and avoid the hype.

Tight lines

[Guest sslatter]

Dogfish..sorry to have strayed from the original point, but I'd like to answer Peter.

 

Hi Peter..

I'm surprised that you no longer hear of the line-catching-under-the-spool problem. I see it not infrequently when out and about, more so in windy weather, on every type of fixed spool. I too had a Mitchell 300 that was a pig for it, and after I'd posted, I remembered when the same thing happened on my 704, so I was wrong in saying that it never happened with a closed face. I got my friend to admit that it had happened on all of his Shimanos, just like any other fixed spool. Then again, maybe it's a line thing? He uses the same on his fixed spools as me: Ultima or Maxima, depending on whether he's floatfishing or not.