Advice on a reel

[PaTTyT]

Hey guys, i just bought a Daiwa Sol spin rod (7ft 10lb/20lb) and im wondering what reel to get for it. I have three options


TDSol 4000

Heartland 4000XA

or the Seagate 3500PE


Im kinda leaning towards the Seagate, but i dont know a great deal about them. All the specs point to it being a pretty solid reel. Does anyone know the max drag on the Sols/Heartlands?

Anyways guys, look forward to your responces.

Thanks in advance.

P

[Angla]

What are you looking to catch in what depth and what sort of tackle? do you like line or braid?

I personally like the little Shimano Sienna 4000 for snapper fishing with either SP's or paternosta rigs. Loaded with 15 Kg braid and topped off with 10 metres of 15 Kg mono (Double grinner knot). This gives good stretch for fighting close to the boat and the braid gives good feel and strike in deeper water to 50 metres. My rods are 7 foot 3-6kg or 4-7kg which gives good casting ability for the plastics and also great ability to keep pressure on the fish

Cheers
Chris

[PaTTyT]

Thanks for the responce.

I will be using it mostly for snapper in about 8 to 18 metres of water. But ill also be using it for smaller pelagics when i head north. Most of my fishing will be with braid, using baits and soft plastics.

Iv heard the Sienna's are top reels, but id like to stick to the Daiwa's as iv used them all my life.

cheers

[Brent_P]

The Heartland XA and TD Sol 4000 have an 8kg maximum drag, according to Daiwa - I have a Heartland 3000 (7kg maximum drag), but I've never tested the drag to 7kg, and I wouldn't use that much drag on that reel, because I'd probably damage the main gear.

The Heartland and Sol are basically the same reel, except that the Heartland has one more ball bearing and all bearings are CRBB ("Corrosion Resistant Ball Bearings"), whereas the Sol has 3 CRBB's and 3 stainless steel bearings. I don't know if the Heartland XA has the same line roller bearing issue as the Sol, since I've only used my 3000 twice since I bought it.

One advantage of the Sol is that it has a titanium nitride spool lip. The product description of the Heartland says it does too (on websites and in the Daiwa catalogue), but it doesn't - the spool lip is just blue anodised aluminium. The Sol also has what appears to be a metal bail arm (I mean the part that's attached to the rotor, not the "bail wire"), but the Heartland's is graphite.

Anyway, both reels are solid and super smooth. If the line roller starts making grinding noises after a year or two, you can take the bearing out and replace it with a ceramic hybrid bearing, at a cost of about $15. I've had a Daiwa Caldia Kix 4000 (the same reel again as the other two, with 5 BB's) for a few years now, and I've caught Mack Tuna to 7-8kg on it, and it's still smooth, though I haven't used it anywhere near as much as some of my other gear.

I don't know about the Seagate, except that I think the 3500PE might be a sort of "Asian market" Exceller DA, at least the body of the reel looks identical. The maximum drag is 2kg lower than the Heartland/Sol/Caldia Kix/Advantage, which tells you something. I bought an Exceller 3000 mail-order a few years back, but I sold it before using it because I thought it felt like its tolerances were quite loose, even for a cheap reel, and the reel felt quite flimsy, even though the body is metal. Just my opinion, and the Seagate may be entirely different to the Exceller internally, I don't know, but I think the Heartland and Sol are good reels, as long as you aren't going to use more than about 4kgs of drag, which should be plenty for snapper.

Brent.

[PaTTyT]

Thanks mate!! Really helpful stuff..

A good mate of mine has a Heartland 3000, awesome reel! Seen alot of really nice fish get caught on it.

Im probably leaning more towards the Hearland now, however iv heard some good stuff about the Caldia Kix. So im might look into those as well. To many choice, haha.

[dan204]

Be aware for pelagic spinning the retrieval rate on these reels aren't ideal.
I've had a few Sols of late and have found them quite good on the lighter stuff, however after 6 months my 3000 is starting to get a few problems. Running moderate drag on it parts are starting to come loose.....
Don't get me wrong I love my Daiwa for bream spinning, but anything offshore I use Shimano.
If your spending that sort of dosh look at the 4000 sustain or stradic. For barra/snapper/Jew lure fishing I can not fault them. The sustain will be a bit smoother because of the 'floating spool'(shaft bearing)
For the dollars I think they are a much better reel.