Need help with 2009 Revo STX 2024

deep reply :

I bought one last week from the TW clearance. Had nothing but trouble so far. I hate the magnetic brakes. As far as I understand, magnetic brakes slow down the spool at the *end* of the cast. Well, I can thumb the spool just fine near the end of the cast! What slows down the spool in the first part of the cast? Only my thumb? I set the spool tension pretty tight, like they say in the manual, played with the brakes; does no good whatsoever. I can cast with no backlashes/ overruns using my thumb, but I get hardly any distance!

So I have got a 11BB super-smooth reel, with great drag (I'll never need 24 lbs of drag anyway) that I can't cast to my satisfaction. Give me my Citica any day. No wonder the Revos are on clearance.

\end of rant

Well, any help will be appreciated.

BASSclary reply :

The only thing I can suggest would be learn to use mag brakes only or use it as a "parts" reel. :-/

RussBert reply :

Quote
I bought one last week from the TW clearance. Had nothing but trouble so far. I hate the magnetic brakes. As far as I understand, magnetic brakes slow down the spool at the *end* of the cast. Well, I can thumb the spool just fine near the end of the cast! What slows down the spool in the first part of the cast? Only my thumb? I set the spool tension pretty tight, like they say in the manual, played with the brakes; does no good whatsoever. I can cast with no backlashes/ overruns using my thumb, but I get hardly any distance!
So I have got a 11BB super-smooth reel, with great drag (I'll never need 24 lbs of drag anyway) that I can't cast to my satisfaction. Give me my Citica any day. No wonder the Revos are on clearance.

\end of rant

Well, any help will be appreciated.

sell or trade it. life's too short to mess around with gear you don't like

The reel is fine, you just don't have the skillz to use it properly

deep reply :

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Quote
I bought one last week from the TW clearance. Had nothing but trouble so far. I hate the magnetic brakes. As far as I understand, magnetic brakes slow down the spool at the *end* of the cast. Well, I can thumb the spool just fine near the end of the cast! What slows down the spool in the first part of the cast? Only my thumb? I set the spool tension pretty tight, like they say in the manual, played with the brakes; does no good whatsoever. I can cast with no backlashes/ overruns using my thumb, but I get hardly any distance!
So I have got a 11BB super-smooth reel, with great drag (I'll never need 24 lbs of drag anyway) that I can't cast to my satisfaction. Give me my Citica any day. No wonder the Revos are on clearance.

\end of rant

Well, any help will be appreciated.

sell or trade it. life's too short to mess around with gear you don't like

The reel is fine, you just don't have the skillz to use it properly

I can put it up for sale any time I want to. But I think I'll stick around with it for a while more. I like to learn new things..

fmoore reply :

Don't blame it on the reel. Learn how to use it correctly and you'll like it way more than that Citica.

deep reply :

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The only thing I can suggest would be learn to use mag brakes only or use it as a "parts" reel. :-/

I don't get the logic behind putting mag brakes only. The brakes come in handy only at the end of a cast. Is that right?

deep reply :

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Don't blame it on the reel. Learn how to use it correctly and you'll like it way more than that Citica.

Yeah, I don't give up very easily. I'm sure it's a great reel. Just that I am not very happy with my skills (or lack thereof). I needed to vent out

RussBert reply :

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The only thing I can suggest would be learn to use mag brakes only or use it as a "parts" reel. :-/

I don't get the logic behind putting mag brakes only. The brakes come in handy only at the end of a cast. Is that right?

Centrifugal brakes do their work mainly at the beginning of the cast. Mag brakes come in many different "flavors" and will affect all of the cast to varying degrees. Read and learn,

http://tackletog.com/superttuning/2009/05/13/backlash-magnetic-braking-and-spool-tension/

My guess is you're trying to really chuck your bait out there. Less is more. Be smooth.

What rod is your Revo on? Your Citica?? What baits are you throwing?

BASSclary reply :

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The only thing I can suggest would be learn to use mag brakes only or use it as a "parts" reel. :-/

I don't get the logic behind putting mag brakes only. The brakes come in handy only at the end of a cast. Is that right?

Some people may only be good at feathering the spool at the beginning of a cast, and suck at the mid/end of a cast.

Different strokes for different folks, but IMO Centrifugals and Dual braking reel are far better.

deep reply :

Russbert, I learnt enough to not really chuck out lures. So, no, I'm not chucking out my lure.

The Revo is on a Pinnacle 7'8" MH/medium rod. I tried everything from 0.5 oz to 1 oz; cranks, topwater plugs, buzzbaits. I put the Citica on the Pinnacle as well. The regular rod for the Citica is a 7' MH/F Shimano Compre.

The Citica is very forgiving, and I hardly need to thumb with very very loose spool tension, and one or zero brakes on. No overruns, let alone backlashes.

It's not that the Citica is a better caster in my hands, when I'm careful with the Revo. They are about the same.

With proper thumbing, I do get smooth long casts with the Revo. But I need to really concentrate while casting. I guess I expected a lot more from the Revo wrt casting distance.

EDIT:

BASSclary, evidently the engineers over at Abu Garcia didn't feel like centrifugals are better than mags when they designed this particular reel. Anyway, I wanted to learn to cast a mag-only reel, else I would have bought a PQ or a Curado. So far, I more or less suck at it. I'll keep at it though.

BASSclary reply :

As the old saying goes, "Practice makes perfect.".

ksbasser reply :

Thats why the 2010 revos have dual brakes. I sold all my pre 2010 revos. I liked the reel, but I have to admit that you could back lash the heck out of it if you didn't stay right on top of things. One thing thats important to remember, they don't set up quite the same as a centrifugal reel. To start with, you should always turn the mag dial to zero before you set the fall rate the the weight of the bait. If you have the mags set while you do the cast cap tension, then the mags will be to light when you cast. So, mags at zero, then set cast cap tension to almost no fall, then set mags back to desired setting. If you can't get it, sell it for a profit on ebay and buy the 2010.

bilgerat reply :

I have the same reel, it was my first bc. I took the time to learn it and it works well for me. I pm'd Micro when I got it and asked him for any advice and this is what he told me :

What sets Revo's apart from most others is the initial setup. Very important to set the brake to 0 (no brake) and then set the cast control cap so that you have to shake the rod tip a good bit to get the bait to drop. Most others you set it to drop under it's own weight. Then set the mag brake to around 60% to 70% as a starting point and go from there.

BTW, what line are you using ? I have 12 lb Sufix Siege on mine.

I'm not going to lie and say I NEVER get overruns. I don't believe anyone who says they never get them. I can throw a tube with an 1/8 oz internal weight 45 -50 feet easily.

Try it out. Maybe the reel is not for you, but give it a decent shot. It's a hell of a reel.

bilgerat reply :

Argggh !!

ksbasser beat me to it by 1 minute. Dam slow typing skills....

deep reply :

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... Then set the mag brake to around 60% to 70% as a starting point and go from there.

Wow! I scoured a couple of forums and youtube, and figured out I should set the magnetic brakes to 2 or 3 notches above minimum. I'll try your advice tomorrow.

Set the reel initially just like you said. They say that in the manual too.

I put on some 10# sufix elite which was the only mono I had.

Thanks for the tips, both of you. I know it's a decent reel. That's why I'm trying to learn it. It's not like I'm getting too many backlashes, but I have to thumb a lot while casting.

Let me ask you guys something. How much should the thumb come into play with the spool tension set up properly (it is set up properly I believe) and the mag brakes at 60 to 70%? Let's say I'm throwing a 7/8 oz Spro BBZ-1 swimbait.

grimlin reply :

I got the right hand one and thumb needs to come into play. I set mine up at 6.

10# line is a little light for this reel...I'd go 14# or higher. Matter of fact this reel is casting 17# P-line Cxx with no problems for me.

I tried some 12# test once and it wasn't pretty after i backlashed it. ;D

Now I love my STX...wish i would have kept the other 2 i sold off.I like it more than my Curado E7. :-/

RussBert reply :

I have one of the SPRO swimbaits. They don't fly all that well for a 7/8 oz lure!

Have you oiled your spool bearings since you got the reel?

I set my STX-HS and Premier (both older versions) so the lure slowly drops with the brakes off, then I start casting with the mag brake all the way up. I adjust the mag brake down after a few casts.

I will watch my spool when I cast. If ytou see the line "loosening up" at the beginning of the cast, I increase the spool tension a bit. If I get troubles at the end of the cast, I know I need to stop watching the spool and use my thumb! ;D

bilgerat reply :

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I have one of the SPRO swimbaits. They don't fly all that well for a 7/8 oz lure!
Have you oiled your spool bearings since you got the reel? I set my STX-HS and Premier (both older versions) so the lure slowly drops with the brakes off, then I start casting with the mag brake all the way up. I adjust the mag brake down after a few casts.

I will watch my spool when I cast. If ytou see the line "loosening up" at the beginning of the cast, I increase the spool tension a bit. If I get troubles at the end of the cast, I know I need to stop watching the spool and use my thumb! ;D

Mine was waaaay overlubed from the factory when I had got it, as are most reels.

Hey deep, 60% to 70% is actually a little on the high side. Better to err on the side of caution. You can always dial it back as your confidence builds. I always have some brake on all the time. For most of what I throw, I'm usually at about 20%.

ksbasser reply :

Deep, I'm a hard core revo user. I bought 8 stx reels when they first came out. I bought an Sx and swapped the gears from a winch to get my own SX in a 5:1.1 ratio. Before I bought all the STX reels, I had a full set of Curado SF reels and a couple of Chronarchs. I was instantly able to get longer casts with less effort, but my over run occurrences went way up. At first I thought I had lost my touch. I did some research and found that you set them up a little different and I tried that. It helped a lot, but I still got more over runs than I used to. I almost decided to sell them all, but I stuck with it. I learned that I had to use a little more tension and a little more thumb, but I always knew that although they were smooth as silk, they were more prone to over run. The Sx on the other hand worked a lot better for me. It doesn't have the 2 part spool shaft and after it was cleaned and tuned, it casts great with hardly any over run problems. Last year I had almost decided to sell all the STX reels and replace them with SX reels. I heard that the 2010 STX reels would have dual brakes so I waited to check them out. The first time I tried one I knew I had found my reel. The dual brakes cover the start and the end of the cast and I can cast virtually thumb free now. I sold all the pre 2010 STX reels on ebay for around $130 each. I found an ebay dealer that had the new 2010 as a buy it now for $164 I bought a couple and then saw that he was also running some on auction. I replaced the rest from the auction and got some of them for $130 to $140. I had a good reason to stay with the revos. I liked the size, the shape, the quality and the drag power comes in handy when I fish for wipers and stripers. If you keep the pre 2010 STX, you will always have to use more thumb than you use with your other reels, that's just the way it is, but you can learn to use it with a minimum of over runs.

rubba bubba reply :

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Let me ask you guys something. How much should the thumb come into play with the spool tension set up properly (it is set up properly I believe) and the mag brakes at 60 to 70%? Let's say I'm throwing a 7/8 oz Spro BBZ-1 swimbait.

0, unless you're throwing into the wind. I don't thumb any of my reels - STX/Shimano/Diawas/Bpro except when it hits the water (or into the wind). The more you practice on different reels, the greater your overall casting skill will be.

northern basser reply :

I know where you are coming from because I experienced the exact same thing. I've become used to the shimano centrifugal braking. Having used a citica e, curado e, chr. 50mg and a core 50mg7 this year. Then I wanted to try something new and bought a revo sx(magnetic brakes). Wow, backlash city!!! Like earlier stated, I was trying to chuck it too hard at 1st and had to ease up w/ a more fluid cast. I did really like the reel, but chose to bring it back because I came to the conclusion that I liked centrifugal braking better.

Still wanting to broaden my horizons I bought a patriarch xt. This reel has the exact same dual braking as the stx and premier(2010 versions). Very happy w/ this. Like the shimano's I put the centri. 2 brakes on and adj. the mag. accordingly( usually 0 or on a little bit). So for ME personally, The centri. braking works better. If you can't get used to mag. brakes I'd get something w/ out them. Whether it has to do w/ skill or not its a preference thing.

deep reply :

Yes, I did lube it. I took the sideplate off, removed the spool, and put a drop of oil in.

YeahSure reply :

Ok, when you get your reel dialed in TO THE LURE TIED ON you almost done even need to have your thumb on the spool just use it to stop the lure before it hits the water.

You will need to adjust the tension knob every time you re-tie with something that is a different weight, you want the lure to slowly fall to the water when you click the bail and dont hold the spool.

You need to mess with the other brakes and try to get them dialed in right.

RussBert reply :

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Yes, I did lube it. I took the sideplate off, removed the spool, and put a drop of oil in.

I remove, flush and lube the bearings in every reel I get, new or used. I have found Revo's and Curado's come from the factory over-lubed with rather thick oil in the spool bearings. Performance can be significantly increased if you flush and lube them with a light bearing oil (I prefer Daiwa's Red Oil)

bwell reply :

I got a Citica E I will gladly trade you for your Revo if its a righty...

cart7t reply :

I had several REVO STX, old style. Way tougher to throw than a Cent. brake reel or the much better dual brakes.

Those reels would've been way better off with a good Cent brake than the rather pathetic mag brake they were using. The old style STX's (and SX's which were even harder to cast) relied heavily on setting the spool tension and using it as a pseudo cent brake to help in controlling the initial spool spin-up. Since the initial part of the cast, at the snap of the wrist, is much harder to control spool movement vs. later in the cast, getting the spool tension set stronger than a normal reel is essential to keeping those reels from backlashing.

FishinTN reply :

I have some 09 stx's and sx, and a 10 stx. I like the 09 stx better so far. Mine casts weightless baits quite a ways with no problems. They do seem to "loosen" up some after use when their new.

wackyworm66 reply :

Turn the mag all the way off. Tie on a bullet weight or something with no wind resistance. Adjust the cast control (right side knob) to allow the weight to slowly drop if you slightly shake the rod tip. Now go out and cast. This gives you a good starting point. I agree with other posts. The reel is one of the best you can buy. I have every Revo model made. Once you learn their character, you won't have anything else.

SkilletSizeBass. reply :

I have a Revo stx older model, a winch and a 4600c4. I like them all, but I think the revo stx is the best I own. Casts lighter lures better. If down the road I buy another reel, it will be a lower geared revo stx

The Bassinator reply :

I just got the Revo STX from TW also and I have to say its definately one hell of a reel!! I had to get used to the way it casts and although I backlashed a lot by the end of the day I was casting a 1/4 oz. popper 25-30 yards easily

I can't wait til I get better with this reel I can tell I'm reely going to like it haha ;D

deep reply :

Okay guys, thanks for all the replies and tips. I can now cast with the Revo STX pretty well (at least to my satisfaction).

Unfortunately, I needed to spend a lot of cash on my car, and as such, don't have the money to buy a dedicated rod for the Revo.

I decided I still like my Citica, and a PQ I recently bought, over the Revo, and decided to sell the Revo. Sorry about that, Revo fans.

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