Trinidad TN30 Fails

[BigEnuf]

Background - the TN30 is only 18 months old. I fish the waters off DI point and Fraser Island. The reel does do a bit of work in paticular when we get sharked. I was fishing for Hussar and had just picked one up bringing it up approx 5m. I then decided to drop it back down to see if I could load the other hook up. Just as I was moving the spool release catch from lock to freespool - I got sharked - I can now no longer put the reel into freespool. The latch is broken.

When I started to look for the warranty card I was shocked to see only 12 months. I thought they had extended warranty. I would be interested to hear from any one who has had experience with these reels - or can give me a telephone number of a Shimano rep that will help.

[raefpud]

Thats a big call to say that the reel failed - if the reel has been working for you for the last 18 months without any problems then you can garantee that your reel hasnt failed you, i think you may have accidently failed it - The timing of your disengaging and the shark smashing you is just bad luck. Imagine changing gears in your manual car without using the clutch, i guess the damage could be something like that. And just to keep the bad rolling, you probably wont get onto a shimano rep directly, you probably will have to go through a tackle shop and have them make the contact - you could probably post directly to Dunphy shimano, but be prepared for a wait. I am a bit suprised to hear that warranty is only 1 year. Go to your tackle store and be nice a bout it and dont lie about your problem and I am sure they will help you out the best they can. if it cost you $50 then its better than buying a new reel - cheers Raef

[BigEnuf]

My initial reaction was similar - gearbox with no clutch. However, this reel is specifically designed for reef work and high speed jigging. In many reef situations you are constantly sending out more line - It is only a matter of time before you are hit mid release. I have been hit on the way down and the way up. Yes - probably bad luck but inevitable. I'll be a nice a pie when I go down this afternoon. Next move is probably a Boss.

[BigEnuf]

Good news - our friends at Shimano have come to the party. In fact my faith in Simano has been restored. They have expressed real concern that the reel failed in this manner and are investigating. They have also agreed to express the repair so I can use the reel next week. I am still interested to hear of any other experiences with this reel.

[Volcano]

Thats great news.
Always good to see a supplier acknowledge a problem - or at least be prepared to investigate an incident.

[Spaniard_King]

Good to here some good news on warranty issues

Garry

[matthill80]

buy a saltiga z40 ahahha

i have and love it

but good to see shimano sticking by their warranty a few years ago they wouldnt want to know u


cheers matt

[Punkin]

I thought they (shimano) changed to ten year warranty to compete with the Okuma warranties a couplea years back?

[BigEnuf]

I thought they had extended warrenty tooo. But would seem that they qualify breakages so if human intervention was involved then they don't have to pay. Even in my case they suggested they did not "have" to fix it becasue of human intervention. They suggested they were being nice guys

[BigEnuf]

Hey Matt - So the Saltiga goes well. The gear ratio of the saltiga is my only concern - 4.9:1. I've been considering the Accurate with a 6.1:1 rate. The Trinidad is great with 6.2:1. The american made Accuartes have come down in price - in the 2006 Wellsys the Magnum 870XM is only $687 - will have to go on santa's list.

[BigEnuf]

The drags on 2 of my three TN30's have failed again. The 2 reels have been back to their maker 3 times now - I wait to see if the fix-it boys will come good.

I'm still keen to hear from anyone else that is using these reel for reef fishing - could be that these reel are just not build for Reds