Richard Isaacs
Senior Member & Supporter
I’m starting a post about a range of reels that im sure every specialist angler knows all too well.
They are usually loved for their retro looks or hated for their dated appearance. They usually get a plus for a smooth clutch and a minus for the unbalanced rotor.
I bought a couple of the much older Japanese versions recently and to say it’s being quite educational for me is a gross understatement.
I see some things a little differently to a lot of people and pick up on tiny details that either impress or disappoint me but more often than not these details get unnoticed by most and after spending some time studying these reels fully, I believe im in a firm position to write about them in a way that they probably haven’t been written about much before.
Firstly let’s get some home truths out the way. I’ve read a thousand posts claiming they are “dated and behind the times” “lacking the modern features of new reels” and I believed this to be true based on looks and feel but should you take it a little further and actually understand this ionic reel you’ll see that in many ways not only are they way ahead of their time on some features but completely on their own on others.
Starting off small alot of the internal screws holding the guts together inside this thing are counter sunk. Everything locates itself really nicely when tightening down and ends up back in its perfect position without the need to hold parts in line or place.
Something that a lot of other reels don’t always have but it’s a massive quality feature in something like this with lots of small parts working together.
It’s mentioned a lot that the oscillation on these is achieved via it’s own worm drive which is true and certainly something that is missing from a lot of high end modern reels (use gears instead now due to complexity of the machined drive probably)
But what’s not mentioned a lot is the fact that this worm drive is shielded in a half case on one side to prevent any crap entering the tracks. I’ve never seen that before….. it’s brilliant! So worm drive oscillation which offers quality line lay that geared oscillation can’t achieve and the fact it’s shielded….
How many people actually lubricate their reels? Not many I know and that’s down to the fact that we are worried about wrecking them because it requires taking them apart…….. well not the SS. Something else I’ve not seen before and it’s absolutely genius. You can fully lubricate both the oscillation worm drive and the main worm and gear and completely remove the main shaft from under the rear cover……,, that’s 2 screws and you can practically service the entire reel… genius.
The anti reverse always bothered me on these. It still does to be fair because there is a lot of lash in it but having seen it and understood it I’m kinda warming up to it simply because the design. They’ve put it in the reels body which is unusual and attached it to the main drive.
It doesn’t lock up on plastic teeth inside the rotor it uses metal teeth and it looks so strong it simply won’t slip. The free play will always be there with a geared design and I prefer the bearings used on modern reels but again it’s a design all on its own.
All Bearings are shielded on one side. It’s the exposed side to stop crap getting in which is normal for most reels but they are completely open on the opposite, non exposed side which is not common at all so you can actually work lubricant into the races and actually service them properly. It’s a tiny thing but it’s brilliant.
So I’m not gonna babble on about how good the clutch is or the line lay etc as we know all this and everyone else has covered that, but do we know that the main gear on the drive in this reel is precision machined and not die cast like a lot of modern reels meaning the tolerance on the teeth will be so accurate and suffer less wear or feel.
I dismissed this reel for years based on its wobbly rotor. And I was also guilty of thinking it’s behind the times but it’s not…… I just didn’t understand it fully until very recently. It’s an incredibly clever design in many ways
Don’t get me wrong it could be alot better but definitely think again if you believe your modern shimano is way ahead of the old SS cos trust me …….. it ain’t !
They are usually loved for their retro looks or hated for their dated appearance. They usually get a plus for a smooth clutch and a minus for the unbalanced rotor.
I bought a couple of the much older Japanese versions recently and to say it’s being quite educational for me is a gross understatement.
I see some things a little differently to a lot of people and pick up on tiny details that either impress or disappoint me but more often than not these details get unnoticed by most and after spending some time studying these reels fully, I believe im in a firm position to write about them in a way that they probably haven’t been written about much before.
Firstly let’s get some home truths out the way. I’ve read a thousand posts claiming they are “dated and behind the times” “lacking the modern features of new reels” and I believed this to be true based on looks and feel but should you take it a little further and actually understand this ionic reel you’ll see that in many ways not only are they way ahead of their time on some features but completely on their own on others.
Starting off small alot of the internal screws holding the guts together inside this thing are counter sunk. Everything locates itself really nicely when tightening down and ends up back in its perfect position without the need to hold parts in line or place.
Something that a lot of other reels don’t always have but it’s a massive quality feature in something like this with lots of small parts working together.
It’s mentioned a lot that the oscillation on these is achieved via it’s own worm drive which is true and certainly something that is missing from a lot of high end modern reels (use gears instead now due to complexity of the machined drive probably)
But what’s not mentioned a lot is the fact that this worm drive is shielded in a half case on one side to prevent any crap entering the tracks. I’ve never seen that before….. it’s brilliant! So worm drive oscillation which offers quality line lay that geared oscillation can’t achieve and the fact it’s shielded….
How many people actually lubricate their reels? Not many I know and that’s down to the fact that we are worried about wrecking them because it requires taking them apart…….. well not the SS. Something else I’ve not seen before and it’s absolutely genius. You can fully lubricate both the oscillation worm drive and the main worm and gear and completely remove the main shaft from under the rear cover……,, that’s 2 screws and you can practically service the entire reel… genius.
The anti reverse always bothered me on these. It still does to be fair because there is a lot of lash in it but having seen it and understood it I’m kinda warming up to it simply because the design. They’ve put it in the reels body which is unusual and attached it to the main drive.
It doesn’t lock up on plastic teeth inside the rotor it uses metal teeth and it looks so strong it simply won’t slip. The free play will always be there with a geared design and I prefer the bearings used on modern reels but again it’s a design all on its own.
All Bearings are shielded on one side. It’s the exposed side to stop crap getting in which is normal for most reels but they are completely open on the opposite, non exposed side which is not common at all so you can actually work lubricant into the races and actually service them properly. It’s a tiny thing but it’s brilliant.
So I’m not gonna babble on about how good the clutch is or the line lay etc as we know all this and everyone else has covered that, but do we know that the main gear on the drive in this reel is precision machined and not die cast like a lot of modern reels meaning the tolerance on the teeth will be so accurate and suffer less wear or feel.
I dismissed this reel for years based on its wobbly rotor. And I was also guilty of thinking it’s behind the times but it’s not…… I just didn’t understand it fully until very recently. It’s an incredibly clever design in many ways
Don’t get me wrong it could be alot better but definitely think again if you believe your modern shimano is way ahead of the old SS cos trust me …….. it ain’t !