Have you ever heard the expression: “the poor man pays twice”?

This often applies to the purchase of cheap, department store type, obscure name brands of reels. Many of these reels are made in batch lots by just a few manufacturers (usually based in “you know where”) often as a cheap, one off run, and sold under various obscure brands. The parts are often stamped from inferior quality materials, and the production runs are usually short, with all available parts being used to build reels for sale (i.e. no spares!) at the lowest price point that can be attained, thereby maximizing the nett profit for the distributor.

I usually refuse to accept these reels for the same reasons as above: rubbish metal, no parts, no schematics or backup from the distributor. This can even be a problem with reels from well known Australian distributors; in my experience I am often unable to source parts for reels more than a few years old that have been sent in for repair. Ironically, if the reels had been serviced before this stage, they may not have needed those parts. The parts that are required are often those that all the other reels in the series broke/wore out in a similar fashion, so if you are the last in line they are all N.L.A. (no longer available) and you are S.O.o.L.

The cheap reels have their place: if your mate drops your Stella over the side you may end up being charged with G.B.H. If it’s a Wangchung Whale Catcher 90,000SW you won’t be so upset; but expect to only get one or three seasons out of them, and please don’t be offended if I won’t even attempt to fix the deafening grinding sound it now makes. Maybe buy two or three of them while you can? If you stick to the well known brands you will have the best chance of being able to source the parts down the track.