VS 275 Reveiw

[MudRiverDan]

Took my new reel out for a fish last night off the beach and was pretty impressed.
Definitely made the right choice.

Reel is not silky smooth when you pick it up out of the box but when your using it in the surf everything falls into place and you realise when fishing amongst breakers there is no need for silky smooth and the reel feels great!

Casting seems pretty good, never copped one tangle or poor cast in mostly darkness.

Bail less design, had to get used to it but could easily flick the line onto the roller in the dark without looking, since we are pretty much used to the same action of checking the line position when we flick a manual bail.

Drag is heavy and you cannot set it light as if a bait-runner when sitting in a holder unless you have the knob so loose you risk it falling off, which will be a problem for running jewfish that can fumble a bait sitting on a heavy drag setting.

Might see if it can be adjusted... or just live with it.

High retrieve of just under a meter per turn is pretty good as I hate winding like mad in the surf to get a bait back, retrieve rates vary amongst models and this one has a high retrieve, very noticeable.


The bream was too small a fish for the reel though it did manage a run of about 10 meters taking drag with it, but this reel is solid as a rock and is definitely made for large fish.

Good to be able to not worry about sand and water in the dark, a real bonus and feels as robust as an Alvey when it comes to sand and water after a dunk.
Reel has a lot of drain holes in it so it can rinse easily/quickly.

I did have it on a 15 ft rod and it matched up pretty good; it will also go nicely on the 12 ft rod I have on lay-buy.

Definitely a decent result for a test run.

Bream caught on tail half of a pike on a 7/0 Circle hook..

Very pleased with the robust nature of the reel, nothing rudimentary about it at all, it's a precision bit of gear.

Cheers

Dan


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[reggy]

Nice reel....and it is interesting to have something different that is a dedicated tool for a special job. They even look different to a Daiwa or Shimano with that very compact gearbox.
I own more Daiwa and Shimanos than any other brand, but I get a lot of enjoyment from my Avets and Jigging Masters and Banaxes............
cheers
Reggy

[nigelr]

Nice review MRD, sounds like you will have great fun with that reel.
Similar shape to the old French Crack designs.

[MudRiverDan]

One thing I really liked about the reel was I could use it in the surf at night out of the box and it just felt right, no hassles at all, it was as if I had
owned it for years.
Very pleased.

Cheers

Dan

[MudRiverDan]

Nice reel....and it is interesting to have something different that is a dedicated tool for a special job. They even look different to a Daiwa or Shimano with that very compact gearbox.
I own more Daiwa and Shimanos than any other brand, but I get a lot of enjoyment from my Avets and Jigging Masters and Banaxes............
cheers
Reggy

Daiwa and Shimano I think you will find are heavily pushed by marketing.
Go to a distributor/tackle shop and they will flog you a Shimano before a VS based on the marketing.

Dan

[MudRiverDan]

Nice review MRD, sounds like you will have great fun with that reel.
Similar shape to the old French Crack designs.

Yeah very similar indeed, obviously the guy that made the VS owned one and borrowed the design by the looks of it.
Cheers

Dan

[HeadBanger]

Thanks a lot for the review, have been interested in these for a while, and always worried about how 'honest' a review is.

Interesting what you say about the drag as well. High retrieve rate... might have to replace my cheap Abu reel that I use for throwing metals in the surf.

Cheers,
Kaidon

[MudRiverDan]

Thanks a lot for the review, have been interested in these for a while, and always worried about how 'honest' a review is.

Interesting what you say about the drag as well. High retrieve rate... might have to replace my cheap Abu reel that I use for throwing metals in the surf.

Cheers,
Kaidon

It is the 275 model, it is the only model with a high retrieve rate, (same body/gears as the 250 but larger spool I believe, giving it a larger retrieve, sadly spools are not interchangeable between 250 and 275 models).

Feels great, however you could put too much hurt on a large fish if you where not aware of the retrieve causing a bust off.

In saying that any high retrieve reel would have the same effect.

They were designed to target large striper bass in the US with lures.

For rock fishing where you might need to winch a large fish away from the bommies/rocks in a short time without skull dragging the fish the other models like the 300 (bigger gears lower retrieve) or 250 (smaller spool) are recommended.

But its all part of the fun!
These reels where never made for light line and light leaders, so with decent line and leader in the surf you would just let your line, rod and skills make up for it (like most do).

Some Tailor around soon so I will post up a report on how it goes throwing metal sluggs.

If you don't want high retrieve the 250 is a lot cheaper, same gears, smaller spool, lighter but still has a tonne of capacity.

The 300 is a beast and is the largest of the range, was too big for my needs.

cheers

[nigelr]

Yeah mrd the crack was one of the early french reels sold in the US and used in the 50'e and 60's for striped bass fishing before the big green penn 705 became popular.
The french were producing an incredible array of high-quality reels up until the late 60's or so. Now only one manufacturer remains.
Couple of links; the first will give you an idea of the sheer number of manufacturers, the second is the current sole remaining reel maker, still producing a very high quality product..
Cheers and enjoy, I think I'm rather envious, very nice reel!
http://pechantic.pagesperso-orange.fr/moulinets.htm
http://www.peerless-bam.com/?page=home

[reggy]

not to go off subject too much ,but I see Alan Hawk has a Peerless Bam in line for review. Should be very interesting.

[MudRiverDan]

Thanks for the Peerless-Bam link, very Euro looking reels but they have that nice sturdy practical look about them you gotta love, notice a lot of them are bail less too.

One more thing that I feel has to be said about the VS reviews and their honesty from what I can tell.

I read quite a few reviews of the VS before I bought it and one of the most outstanding points was that most that had something bad to say about the reels took them out on a boat......

Now from what I know, these reel were designed specifically for targeting Striper Bass from the shore in the surf.

Why would you take them out on a boat and complain because they don't perform 100% when you hook a 30 kg Wahoo?
Check out the Van Staal site, I can't see any references to boats.

Most people reviewing these reels took them out on a boat which is really not what they were made for.

Another point is these same reviews compare them to the larger Stella range which I am pretty sure are designed for Jigging off boats more than surf applications.

The VS was never there to be another Stella.

From a laymans guess I always thought the Barrel style overhead was the traditional go to when jigging in a boat.

The Stella just packages Boat Jigging toughness in a spin setup for a pretty penny.

I personally would like to see more Surf reviews and less Jigging or trolling reviews.

Cheers

Dan

[Sevric]

Hi Dan,
Your choice of a VS reel seems to suit your application very well. These reels have had a good reputation for many years despite not being quite as refined as the 2 big players up market reels. The big advantage i guess is the fact that they are water and sand proof and for the beach that is a real big thing. At any point did you consider the Daiwa saltiga range for this work or are they not as resistant to the hard life that beach and rock fisho's dish out? In short what was it that tipped you over the edge to purchase a VS? I think your decision to be the correct one but it does interest me. For my limited beach fishing i have been using a 4500 saltiga which is one of my boat reels which works a treat but mind you i do not deliberately drop it into the surf to wash the sand off day after day.
VS seem to be on a winner for the beach fisho's; it is a pity that the big two do not design a reel specifically for this aspect of the sport. Daiwa do design such a reel but unfortunately it is not even water proof and i am unsure their ubeaut magnetic oil idea on some of their other models would hack the pace. Shimano do not even try to water proof their reels which is a bit of a let down considering the price and expertise they have as manufactures.
Well done on your review; it is refreshing to see an honest one.

[MudRiverDan]

Hi Dan,
Your choice of a VS reel seems to suit your application very well. These reels have had a good reputation for many years despite not being quite as refined as the 2 big players up market reels. The big advantage i guess is the fact that they are water and sand proof and for the beach that is a real big thing. At any point did you consider the Daiwa saltiga range for this work or are they not as resistant to the hard life that beach and rock fisho's dish out? In short what was it that tipped you over the edge to purchase a VS? I think your decision to be the correct one but it does interest me. For my limited beach fishing i have been using a 4500 saltiga which is one of my boat reels which works a treat but mind you i do not deliberately drop it into the surf to wash the sand off day after day.
VS seem to be on a winner for the beach fisho's; it is a pity that the big two do not design a reel specifically for this aspect of the sport. Daiwa do design such a reel but unfortunately it is not even water proof and i am unsure their ubeaut magnetic oil idea on some of their other models would hack the pace. Shimano do not even try to water proof their reels which is a bit of a let down considering the price and expertise they have as manufactures.
Well done on your review; it is refreshing to see an honest one.

Mostly bought one because my fishing gear gets a hard time.

Yeah I will also dunk the reel if I have a mishap and get sand or sand wash through it while in the dark, managing a tangle, or re-baiting in a hurry.

I also had an Alvey previously and it started to make my hand ache every time I had to twist the spool in and out of cast position, also did not like the retrieve rate of the Alvey.

I can also throw slugs and lures with this reel.

Cheers

Dan

[MudRiverDan]

Just an update on the drag.

I read a few posts and found that I had to turn the drag up full and compress the washers a bit, squish/seat them into place.
Since from factory it is a bit stiff.

This gave me a lot more room to tighten/loosen the drag and also the drag freed up when on light setting.

Basically just have to use it to break it in a bit now.

Dan

[MudRiverDan]

Took it out the other night and still had heavy drag problems, just too much drag for me, I like to set it light and I use my hand to hold the line when setting the hook, then let the fish go off and tighten the drag accordingly as the fight ensues.

I'm guessing the tight drag is a legacy of the reels first intended use, for pulling large plugs through the surf and handling large striper bass amongst rocks and bommies.

Again the reel performed flawlessly, every cast without a hitch, nice retrieve and the added bonus of salt/sand resistance.

I'm sending it off to a pro to get the drag tuned up a bit...

Dan