Did Shimano ever make any "clunker" reels?? 2024
Bassnajr reply :
Hey all....
Like many folks on this board I am a Shimano man. However, I don't know much about "vintage" Shimano reels. Did Shimano ever make a reel (excuse that!) clunker of a baitcasting reel...something to stay away from???
Alan (bassnajr)
bilgerat reply :
My first baitcaster from around '87 was a Bantam, which was actually a decent reel for it's time.
My affair with Shimano ended years ago after bail and binding issues with some of their spinning reels - Aeros and Saharas. The fact that they insisted there was no binding issues in spite of the fact people everywhere having the issue lost points with me.
To be fair, they have shipped small parts to me at no charge when I needed them to complete repairs on a reel.
Every company has a clunker in their lineup.
dodgeguy reply :
they made a bunch of spinning reels in the late 90's and early 2000's that had a binding when wet issue and swear there was nothing wrong.i had a stradic that did it and i know of plenty of others who had it happen.these were all loyal shimano guys who switched to diawa after shimano gave them no satisfaction.
Bassnajr reply :
I should be more specific...
"Higher End" Shimano reels. The Stradic, I consider pretty high end...wow! I have a few of the white ones no problems yet.
0119 reply :
That probaly depends on what type of fishing you do. Lots of inshore fisherman would tell you the Chronarch Mg was junk. Saltwater approved but with lots of frames dissolving from the inside out, protective coating or not. For me the Curado E is a clunker stripped of every nano ounce of weight to a point it cant handle any fish but bass. How about the Corvalus which suffered a recall back in the 90's.
hmongkidBee reply :
QuoteFor me the Curado E is a clunker stripped of every nano ounce of weight to a point it cant handle any fish but bass.
the curado E is a very versatile reel. I've used it in offshore fishing for mackeral, bonito, sandbass, etc and it's never let me down. The drag is exceptionally smooth. Just make sure you're using the E5 and not the E7 reel.
Kevinator1 reply :
All brands have had a few clunkers. The only thing I don't like is when there are multiple complaints and a company still says that there is no problem. Seems like all companies are like that now. No wonder our economy is in the toilet. I would be a very loyal customer to any company that stands up and says yes we made some mistakes but we will take care of them. As far as reels, I believe you get what you pay for. Anything under $50 bucks usually has inferior parts. :'(
SirSnookalot reply :
I think Shimano is fine for freshwater, however there are better options out there better prices. As for salt, I doubt I would go Shimano again, saltwater approved means nothing to me. Their true saltwater spinning reels are fairly rugged but not very smooth, spheros, thunnus and baitrunners, stella sw is pretty decent but it should be for $900. In all fairness I have yet to try the new thunnus c14 or sargossa, sargossa felt nice in the store but most reels do. I have a 8000 spheros on blue water shimano tallus ( used only 3 or 4 times) which I will be giving away in the near future to one of my buddies that could use a beefier outfit, we had to run down a 20 -25# bonita with it, my similar sized Abu handled them much better.
Lcomfort reply :
you mean did Shimano ever make a reel that WAS'NT a clunker?
LMAO Im a Daiwa guy, Im just playing hope everyone got a chuckle out of it and no one gets mad.
As you know Shimano makes a lot of fine reels, But to get to your Question YES they did as many said They had a HUGE problem with Spinning reels binding up when wet and like others said they would swear on there mothers nothing was wrong and you was lying if you told them there was a problem. It wasnt one reel it was LOTS of reels and it was a lot of different models that it was happening to.
As far as I know they havent never made any casting reels that was jusk totally junk.
Bluebasser86 reply :
I had a Shimano Calyx several years ago. It was my first "expensive" baitcaster. I think it was 79.99 and I'd bought it for my big trip to Canada with my dad. It made it through that trip but it didn't make it past many more before the thumb bar stuck and the levelwind quit at the same time. Thankfully I worked at Cabela's at the time and new the Shimano rep because he gave me credit towards a new reel and I got my first green Curado. That was the first time I realized that spending the extra money was worth it to get better performance from my gear.
MarkM reply :
I bought one of the Shimano Bantams that had a lever that switched the retrieve speed from a speed reel (6:1?) to a crankin' reel (4.7:1?). It worked OK, but was pretty rough.
Sam reply :
Solstace 200FE.
it will break on you due to a faulty design. 
Sam reply :
Make that the 2000 FE.
Hey, it is 2:24 AM so give a guy a break.
ChiCityBasser reply :
The latest version of the Sahara
Raul reply :
Every compay has made POS reels, Abu ? had the EON and Törno, those were POS ( I had them ), Daiwa ? man that coputerized reel from the early 90 's was pure junk ( a friend of mine had it ), Shimano ? oh well, Shimano also has junk specially in the low end spectrum of spinning reels.
So for example you can 't always say you get what you pay for even though it 's a good guideline, I have a very old Bantam B mag 1000 that was inexpensive and didn 't even came in a box ( clam package ), it 's not the nicest looking, it 's not the greatest caster, it 's not the lightest but I 've beat the crap oout of that reel for more than a decade and it 's still working.
0119 reply :
The Eon could have been the greatest reel of all time. What a series of great ideas, so poorly executed. Raul like your Shimano Bantam, I have my first Daiwa spinning reel, a silver series 5000. Ultra simple, super smooth and still running smoothly to this day having never needing a spare part since I bought it in 1976.
Raul reply :
QuoteThe Eon could have been the greatest reel of all time. What a series of great ideas, so poorly executed.
Man you do know the words, fantastic description, "great ideas excecuted poorly", gonna add that to my repertoire, can 't help it, my language is sometimes quite simple, I just say it 's POS.
Grey Wolf reply :
SYMETRE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Every time I use it in a heavy rain it stops working , so I just use it on sunny days.
B-Dozer reply :
QuoteMy first baitcaster from around '87 was a Bantam, which was actually a decent reel for it's time.My affair with Shimano ended years ago after bail and binding issues with some of their spinning reels - Aeros and Saharas. The fact that they insisted there was no binding issues in spite of the fact people everywhere having the issue lost points with me.
To be fair, they have shipped small parts to me at no charge when I needed them to complete repairs on a reel.
Every company has a clunker in their lineup.
After reading this I remembered I had a Shimano Bantam MagPlus 150X I bought new in the 80s? So today I put it on an old "clunker" rod I had around just for fun. That thing casted a mile with the mag turned to 0. No birdsnest either! Think it's going to be my new frog reel.
Dockhead reply :
I had a Shimano Corsair that was horrible from day 2.
I enjoy many Shimano products these days, but that was a bad experience. I actually was able to return it to the store since it had problems pretty much from the get-go.
I don't think that reel was around for very long, so I assume I was not the only one who had troubles.
Dave P reply :
Didn't they have one in the 80's or early 90's that had a flippin switch on it? It was either them or Diawa. At any rate it was a POS...
B-Dozer reply :
QuoteDidn't they have one in the 80's or early 90's that had a flippin switch on it? It was either them or Diawa. At any rate it was a POS...
yeah, they're not good for casting Dahlberg Divers.
Dave P reply :
I can tell you brother, it wasn't much good for casting anything after I took it apart trying to disable the stinking flippin' switch. I have taken many things apart in my lifetime, but that was one ***** to put back together. I finally dumpsterized it. ;D
B-Dozer reply :
QuoteI can tell you brother, it wasn't much good for casting anything after I took it apart trying to disable the stinking flippin' switch. I have taken many things apart in my lifetime, but that was one ***** to put back together. I finally dumpsterized it. ;D
The trick is, you have to be smarter than what you're working with :
Dave P reply :
QuoteQuoteI can tell you brother, it wasn't much good for casting anything after I took it apart trying to disable the stinking flippin' switch. I have taken many things apart in my lifetime, but that was one ***** to put back together. I finally dumpsterized it. ;DThe trick is, you have to be smarter than what you're working with :
OH MY GOD!!! HA, HA, HA, you got me...I'm so freaking stupid I can't put a reel back together. It went into the dumpster AFTER I put it back together and used it for a couple of years. It never had half the performance of my Bantams. For some reason, I thought I'd re-activate the flippin' switch, so I took it apart again. Then I decided to throw it away...
DTack reply :
I believe the Old Corsair was one.
B-Dozer reply :
QuoteQuoteQuoteI can tell you brother, it wasn't much good for casting anything after I took it apart trying to disable the stinking flippin' switch. I have taken many things apart in my lifetime, but that was one aggravation to put back together. I finally dumpsterized it. ;DThe trick is, you have to be smarter than what you're working with :
OH MY GOD!!! HA, HA, HA, you got me...I'm so freaking stupid I can't put a reel back together. It went into the dumpster AFTER I put it back together and used it for a couple of years. It never had half the performance of my Bantams. For some reason, I thought I'd re-activate the flippin' switch, so I took it apart again. Then I decided to throw it away...
Kinda late now---but you could have stuck some duct tape over the switch! The things we do when we were younger
Dave P reply :
Amen to that, brother! I still had that Bantam until it flew out of the boat going down the highway this year!
goblue reply :
I owned a first generation shimano coriolis in the late 80s/ early nineties... a shiny black and it had the flippin switch that some of you were talking about, and true to form that reel crapped out on me in the first couple of months. that reel was supposed to be one of their higher end selections back in the day, but i can guarantee you there was a design defect with that reel.
the quintessential clunker... thankfully shimano hasnt had something that bad in a while, but the corsair in the late 90s came pretty close.
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