Hey Lew's Guys, I Got The New Speed Spin

[Hi Salenity]

After a couple of calls to Lew's they shipped me the brand new (they just got them on Friday) 'high speed' speed spin.

Obviously I haven't got a chance to use it yet but it looks and feels GREAT and I love the fact that it has a spare shallow spool designed just for braid. The other spool is dressed up with carbon fiber similar to the spool on my patriarch.

This is no Patriarch or C14 but it has quite a few nice features and by the way, it retails for under $60!!!

[Mr_Scrogg]

Nice!

[kingkong85]

Good looking reel. If I knew about lew's a while back I'd probably pick up all lew's reels, baitcast and spinning. With alot of research lew's is the only company that offers the most bang for your buck (that I've seen. I can be wrong.) Hopefully they'll stay that way. Lew's is definitely a company I will recommend to family friends and everyone else who wants to start fishing.

[Arv]

Nice looking reel! I'd be interested to hear what you think about it on the water once you get it out.

[loudcherokee]

SAH-WEEEEET!

Tagging for the review.

LC

[flyfisher]

Looks good.  I wonder if the high speed is due to what looks like a longer handle.  Longer handle=equals a larger turn=more revolutions of the spool per crank.

 

I will be interested to see some reports on it's performance.

[Hi Salenity]

I hate to burst your bubble but, If I put a longer handle on it it will still be the same gear ratio

I should be able to get it wet chasing some smallies on Friday.

[flyfisher]

Yeah i guess you are right....one of those days.

[Hi Salenity]

I hated to point it out but I new someone would.

Btw I think I saw a chart and this is the smallest size reel in the lineup (1000 size) but it still has a retrieve of 30" per turn.

[flyfisher]

Yeah i always forget you aren't changing the gearing with a longer handle just changing the amount of effort needed to turn per crank.

 

That is definitely a high inches per turn.

[Capt.Bob]

That is a sharp look'n reel. The inch per turn is right up there with the Stradic 1000, My FJ is the same inch per turn but slightly slower with a 6.0:1 gear ratio. So the Lew's would be just ever so slightly smaller in diameter on the spool, if one of them isn't fudging their spec's a little, (they would never do that,,,,, ).  The .2:1 would never be noticeable it is so close. The real test will be if it will hold up with the Sahara a comparatively priced Shimano.  Keep us filled in!!

[Ojurb]

4 years ago when I was shopping for reels, no one mentioned Lew's reels, For my budget it was alwasys between some form of the Revo or a BPS reel,  or  Some Really expencive reel that was 3 time the budget I had. Now that im searching againm Lew's in the Most recommended and the specs and price on most models seem great. I may end up with one of these Lew's reels.

[SirSnookalot]

Not familiar with their spinning reels, first time I've seen a braid ready spool adapter.  Whether my reels are braid ready or not I always tape the spool first, not suggesting just saying what I do.  I'm curious in regards to their inshore series and how well their drags perform, incredible line capacity.

 

Good luck with the reel.

[smalljaw67]

Nice feature set for a reel of that price point, my only critique on it is the graphite body, graphite rotor and covers are ok but the body houses the gear set so when I get a spinning reel a must have is an aluminum body and stem. I haven't used the magnesium reels but I never saw any reviews of the body flexing to cause misalignment of the gears. This should be a good reel even though it is graphite, but my mistake experience keeps from trying another one but it is nice for the price, you can't argue that.

[J Francho]

Very sharp, and for $60, seems like a no brainer.  Am I the only one that thinks it looks just like a Daiwa Aird?  Methinks there is some rebranding going on.  Not a bad thing - Daiwa spinners aren't a bad product to base your line off.

[Hi Salenity]

I don't know I'll look later. Ware is the Aird made?

On the down side this reel is made in China?

Are any good reels made in China? I know the TPs are made in Korea but I don't remember of any nice reels that are made in China.

[craww]

Good lookin reel.The handle (not the knob itself) is the same as a one used on pfluegers and a few others. Probably the same oem as a lot of the pure fishing reels.

I was going to pickup another president for smallies, honestly hadnt seen these.Look forward to your two cents on this reel.

[Hi Salenity]

UPDATE

Ok, so I spooled it up with 8# Abrazx last night and sprayed the line down with KVD L&L. After I got the line on It I was setting the drag and noticed it had a spot the drag would pull hard. It was not smooth at all so I figures maybe it would wear in smoother if not I'd try the drag off the other spool ...

I got on the water a little before daylight and at first I wasn't having any luck catching fish with what I had rigged up on that reel so it sat in the boat for the first half of the morning as I caught fish on my other rods...

By about 9:30 the winds had picked up and I headed for a spot out of the wind and started throwing a grub at the bank with the Lew's. The dinks were cooperating pretty good and it didn't take long to catch a couple of dozen smallies and a small flathead! Lol.

I pretty Much got the goody out of the Lew's reel as it started to freeze up! Once you get the handle to turn it was not so bad but it was hard to get it to start to spin. It was bad enough that if I was getting a bite I couldn't pick up the slack with the reel smoothly.

And on an unrelated note the handle I'd now loose.

I really wanted to like this reel but my impressions so far are

1 poor drag

2 finish is easily scuffed

3 are they souposed to lock up

4 loose handle

5 this things junk

[MacP]

I really like the finish on them, but that's about it.

 

A plain old Pflueger President is the same price and I don't think there are better spinner reels than the Pesidents, Arbors, XTs, Purists for under $100.  After $100, I only look at Shimano and Supremes, Patriarchs.

[Arv]

Dern...

[motodmast]

dang, i was looking forward to this reel

[smalljaw67]

UPDATE

Ok, so I spooled it up with 8# Abrazx last night and sprayed the line down with KVD L&L. After I got the line on It I was setting the drag and noticed it had a spot the drag would pull hard. It was not smooth at all so I figures maybe it would wear in smoother if not I'd try the drag off the other spool ...

I got on the water a little before daylight and at first I wasn't having any luck catching fish with what I had rigged up on that reel so it sat in the boat for the first half of the morning as I caught fish on my other rods...

By about 9:30 the winds had picked up and I headed for a spot out of the wind and started throwing a grub at the bank with the Lew's. The dinks were cooperating pretty good and it didn't take long to catch a couple of dozen smallies and a small flathead! Lol.

I pretty Much got the goody out of the Lew's reel as it started to freeze up! Once you get the handle to turn it was not so bad but it was hard to get it to start to spin. It was bad enough that if I was getting a bite I couldn't pick up the slack with the reel smoothly.

And on an unrelated note the handle I'd now loose.

I really wanted to like this reel but my impressions so far are

1 poor drag

2 finish is easily scuffed

3 are they souposed to lock up

4 loose handle

5 this things junk

 

You just got a lemon and it happens with all companies but a bad snag or big fish can and often will, flex a graphite framed reel and that is all it takes for the gears to become misaligned and you then end up with a binding issue. This is why I any reel I buy has to have an aluminum frame, I know the magnesium frames are supposed to be strong aluminum hasn't given me problems. The best deals on spinning reels was back 3 years ago when Daiwa was still making Cabelas reels, the tournament ZX spinning reel was a Daiwa Tierra with the only difference in them was the tierra has 2 corrosion resistant ball bearings in addition to the others and the Cabelas reel had all stainless, and the Cabelas had the Daiwa power T knob on the handle, that was it and when they were discontinuing them they were selling them for $40, aluminum hardbody frame, digital cut gears, and I only got 1, I should have picked up 4 or 5 for that price. Anyway, 2 great reels in that same price range are the Abu Garcia Orra S and the Okuma Trio, both will work well and last, stay away from graphite framed reels.

[Hi Salenity]

I hope it was a Lemmon but we'll see? It's on its way back and I hope my replacement is back by Thursday as I'll be leaving Friday for a weekend fishing trip & tournament. They have top notch customer service so I'm betting I'll have a replacement in time.

The main reasons I picked this reel were the spare spool and the high speed. I fish the smaller 1000 size reels and a lot of them are slower than the more common 2500 size

[loudcherokee]

Any word on the replacement yet?

LC

[Hi Salenity]

I sent Lew's an email Sunday politely telling them about my problems and explaining I'd love to have the replacement for a tournament on Saturday. 7:35 Monday morning I had a reply saying they would keep an eye out for my reel and they would make sure I had a replacement for Saturday.

The brown truck is bringing my replacement Today.