What makes a person…

[TnRiver46]

[volzfan59]

20 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

What makes a person………

 

give a rats behind what kind of reel someone else is using??

Amen, me either. As I've said numerous times, to each his own. I'm a diehard Shimano spinning reel guy, always have been. I also love BPS Platinum baitcaster's, Platinum and Crankin' Stick casting rods and Patriot spinning rods. They all have served me well for years. That said, I recently purchased a Denali Pryme light action panfish rod. While looking for a reel, a friend here at BR, @Eric 26recommended a Piscifun Carbon X reel. The price was right so I ordered one. I've only used it a couple of times at this point, but I like it. As for longevity the jury is obviously still out. Will I be swapping out all of my Shimano spinning reels with Piscifun reels, probably not but they're not terrible spinning reels either. Again, to each his own.

[Cbump]

If anyone on here read condescension towards piscifun reels from me on this thread, that’s just your own defensiveness coming out. 
 

I asked because I believe most everyone in the world has heard of Abu, Shimano, Lew’s, Daiwa, Penn and most have probably heard of Quantum, Pflueger, Shakespeare, or even okuma. 
You can go to any Walmart anywhere and find some or all of these brands at all price points. 

I would have never even heard of piscifun if it wasn’t for forums. Therefore I asked this question. It has been answered. 

[ska4fun]

On 6/23/2023 at 12:37 PM, Cbump said:

If anyone on here read condescension towards piscifun reels from me on this thread, that’s just your own defensiveness coming out. 
 

I asked because I believe most everyone in the world has heard of Abu, Shimano, Lew’s, Daiwa, Penn and most have probably heard of Quantum, Pflueger, Shakespeare, or even okuma. 
You can go to any Walmart anywhere and find some or all of these brands at all price points. 

I would have never even heard of piscifun if it wasn’t for forums. Therefore I asked this question. It has been answered. 

Thank god you weren't with me, in 2019, when my cheapy cheaspet chinese reel, with linear mag, outcasted a metanium'16 heavily, in a very demoralizing way. You probably couldn't bear the bullying he received for that...

[Cbump]

8 minutes ago, ska4fun said:

Thank god you weren't with me, in 2019, when my cheapy cheaspet chinese reel, with linear mag, outcasted a metanium'16 heavily, in a very demoralizing way. You probably couldn't bear the bullying he received for that...

I’m standing on the deck of my boat using my met as I type this. I’m pitching to cover about 10’ in front of me. I literally couldn’t care less if any reel ever out casts anything I own. Because I don’t ever bomb cast to fish. 
But if that’s how you measure yourself as a man, go for It. 

[MediumMouthBass]

When most people get into fishing, they usually dont know about most of the tackle shops online that most of us use, so they go to Amazon (where they go for almost everything these days) type in baitcasting reels and the first few that pop up are going to be the Kast Kings or the other brands reels, since they are newer to it they might not know how much of a difference there is between a $50 Kast King, a $30 Black Max, or a $210 Tatula SV TW 103, so they will check the reviews or go on to youtube. And sure they might have decent reviews on Amazon but most of them if not all of them will be incentivized reviews, same with the youtube reviews. So between the large amount of bought and paid for reviews/videos and the marketing of these reels, people buy them. Now these reels might be alright/decent but if you know what better companies have to offer just wait for the SLX or LFS to go on sale for an extra $25.

[ska4fun]

3 minutes ago, Cbump said:

I’m standing on the deck of my boat using my met as I type this. I’m pitching to cover about 10’ in front of me. I literally couldn’t care less if any reel ever out casts anything I own. Because I don’t ever bomb cast to fish. 
But if that’s how you measure yourself as a man, go for It. 

Just one aspect of fishing, just another option, when long casting is needed. Why you dislike long casting?

 

The funny thing is distance thing being the main motto of Shimano baitcasting reels... LOL!

 

 

 

[TOXIC]

It’s hard to discuss this topic without offending both sides of the cost/quality camps so it’s better to just leave it at everyone has their own wants/needs/requirements/skill level/price point, etc.  Kinda like….is the Senko worth the extra $$.  ??

[Cbump]

18 hours ago, TOXIC said:

It’s hard to discuss this topic without offending both sides of the cost/quality camps so it’s better to just leave it at everyone has their own wants/needs/requirements/skill level/price point, etc.  Kinda like….is the Senko worth the extra $$.  ??

This is the last post I’ll make on this thread. 
I feel like, for some reason, there are members on here who cannot wrap their head around the fact that this post is not about “is brand x worth the extra money”. I keep getting replies of “people buy what they can afford”. Of course they do. I totally respect and appreciate that. I also buy what I can afford. 

However, this post was asking what makes a person decide between the following, for example:

$50 Lew’s Classic (known brand) 

$50 piscifun (unknown brand)

 

Obviously we’re not talking about “buying what I can afford” in this situation. 

Thank you to those that gave a valid response as to why people choose the lesser known brand, e.g. Amazon marketing or perceived value due to more bearings/higher drag, etc. 

 

If you are a piscifun owner and were offended by this post, nut up.  You bought the reel, be proud of It.  

[Tatulatard]

17 minutes ago, Cbump said:

This is the last post I’ll make on this thread. 
I feel like, for some reason, there are members on here who cannot wrap their head around the fact that this post is not about “is brand x with the extra money”. I keep getting replies of “people buy what they can afford”. Of course they do. I totally respect and appreciate that. I also buy what I can afford. 

However, this post was asking what makes a person decide between the following, for example:

$50 Lew’s Classic (known brand) 

$50 piscifun (unknown brand)

 

Obviously we’re not talking about “buying what I can afford” in this situation. 

Thank you to those that gave a valid response as to why people choose the lesser known brand, e.g. Amazon marketing or perceived value due to more bearings/higher drag, etc. 

 

If you are a piscifun owner and were offended by this post, nut up.  You bought the reel, be proud of It.  

Outside of North America lews is basically unknown and piscfun the better known brand.  These rebadged Korean reels sold at big box fishing stores as house brands was a North American maket phenomenon.  Lews does the same thing minus the big box store. The guy that brought lews reels back was actually involved with this process at bass pro before he left and re-started lews.  

 

Also even in the US to a new angler a known brand is what they see and encounter the most.  For newbies looking on amazon for fishing reels piscifun or kastking become known brands really quick.  

[MN Fisher]

I just did a little search and found this nugget of information

 

"Piscifun reels are made in the same factory as Daiwa reels. The Piscifun Carbon X has the same frame and bearings as a Tatula reel."

 

https://tacklevillage.com/where-are-piscifun-reels-made/

[garroyo130]

51 minutes ago, Cbump said:

However, this post was asking what makes a person decide between the following, for example:

$50 Lew’s Classic (known brand) 

$50 piscifun (unknown brand)

 

Lew's Classic vs Piscifun Torrent

 

Similarities: 

Made in China

Linear mag brakes

Questionable construction

Questionable durability

 

Differences: 

Color

Piscifun at least has the decency to give you a box vs a clamshell

 

I'm not a Piscifun fan but the only sub $100 retail Lew's reel I've tried was complete garbage.

 

The real question is what is the Lew's offering that the Piscifun isn't? 

[Tatulatard]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

I just did a little search and found this nugget of information

 

"Piscifun reels are made in the same factory as Daiwa reels. The Piscifun Carbon X has the same frame and bearings as a Tatula reel."

 

https://tacklevillage.com/where-are-piscifun-reels-made/

That's the worst thing I have ever read.  How dumb do they think we are?  You can look at the two reels with your eyeballs and tell they are not using the same frame.  Their only similarities are "black spinning reel". This is the kind of false information that is rampant with these reels and low information buyers.  "Made in the same factory" even if true means nothing if the tooling and IP is all owned by diawa and just happens to be operated by the same chinease wagies that also make piscifun reels in a nearby production line.  At some point when the current tatula egg beater is retired the chiease will use the old tooling to make the reel under a different brand.  They do this with the old black max 3 tooling in China and you can buy the old black max with fraudulent shimano branding on it.

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

I just did a little search and found this nugget of information

 

"Piscifun reels are made in the same factory as Daiwa reels. The Piscifun Carbon X has the same frame and bearings as a Tatula reel."

 

https://tacklevillage.com/where-are-piscifun-reels-made/

I can't leave this alone.  This is the kind of misinformation that is everywhere with these plastic china reels.  This is clearly some blog post by someone who has no idea what they are talking about and it trying to cram in a script handed to them from piscifun.  The purpose is to paint an image that piscifun is using the same frames of higher end reels like daiwa ans just offing a cheaper product.  Incredibly misleading.  Look at this goofy line.  

"Many reels are made on the frame or with one of the same two braking systems that are so popular with anglers today."

[ska4fun]

Piscifun reels are made by several less known factories in China. You can note that in the diversified frames and models the brand use.

On 6/20/2023 at 4:30 PM, scaleface said:

I paid 40 dollars for Piscifun Phantoms and they have been solid performers . I now have five. I probably caught over a thousand bass with the first one purchased . There is a video on Youtube where a reel technician breaks down a Revo and  a Phantom and compares the two .  Its interesting. 

This is the reel who made Piscifun name. Superb value for money.

 

On 6/22/2023 at 12:02 AM, Tatulatard said:

This is EXACTLY the type of misleading infomercial masquerading as a "review" that makes these reels popular.  I own piscifun reels and I know what they are and can even recommend them at times but this is clearly a misleading infomercial.  I can't even get past a few min in before rage quitting the video.  The statement that piscifun plastic is "carbon fiber" and not actually plastic but abu plastic is just plastic is nonsense.  This followed a comment about how "the 1st thing you notice is how light the reel is" as if reading a from a teleprompter.  The Abu has the same plastic side plates as the entire reel of the phantom but has an aluminum frame.  Of course it's heavier.  100% sponsored and scripted fake "review".  These videos are EVERYWHERE for this brand and others like them and is the answer to the OP. I say this as someone who LIKES the phantom because it offers a dual brake with a real centrifugal brake and lighter weight spool at an affordable cost.  You just have to know you are getting a cheap plastic reel and be willing to tolerate that.  The misleading info in that video that paints the reel as something other than what it is angers me.  Just be honest.  Stop calling plastic with some nanometer long carbon dust mixed into the plastic for the sold purpose of preventing shrink after injection molding as the plastic cools, "carbon fiber".  This applies to everyone including lews calling plastic with carbon dust mixed from Tanso "made from Tanso material frame" 

 

OP, the video above is your answer.  That video outlines why people buy them.  Low information buyers are mislead by YT videos and coerced into buying these reels.  It's not that they are bad for what they are but that they are favorably portrayed by people on YT that are promoting the product without disclosure and are using careful wording to heavly imply things without actually making direct claims.  Eventually with enough real world experience with other reels not made from plastic at similar prices people who start with these types of reels typically move on to one brand or another.  I have seen this here with users starting out with kastking when it was sponsoring the forum and then moving onto lews once they learned more.  I guess it's a gateway but I don't like it.  The reels are fine but I hate the way YT content presents them.  Same with forum sponsorships like we saw with kastking.  

Cal ''Payola'' Tacketour modus operandi, with their reviews. Daiwa got some bad ones from them, once stopped sponsoring the site. The Bad faith with Abu reels is astonishing...

 

56 minutes ago, Tatulatard said:

That's the worst thing I have ever read.  How dumb do they think we are?  You can look at the two reels with your eyeballs and tell they are not using the same frame.  Their only similarities are "black spinning reel". This is the kind of false information that is rampant with these reels and low information buyers.  "Made in the same factory" even if true means nothing if the tooling and IP is all owned by diawa and just happens to be operated by the same chinease wagies that also make piscifun reels in a nearby production line.  At some point when the current tatula egg beater is retired the chiease will use the old tooling to make the reel under a different brand.  They do this with the old black max 3 tooling in China and you can buy the old black max with fraudulent shimano branding on it.

I can't leave this alone.  This is the kind of misinformation that is everywhere with these plastic china reels.  This is clearly some blog post by someone who has no idea what they are talking about and it trying to cram in a script handed to them from piscifun.  The purpose is to paint an image that piscifun is using the same frames of higher end reels like daiwa ans just offing a cheaper product.  Incredibly misleading.  Look at this goofy line.  

"Many reels are made on the frame or with one of the same two braking systems that are so popular with anglers today."

These reels from piscifun/kastking are absurdily good. Way better than the pricey crappy shimano sienna. Double-supported transverse cam in the price range is astonishing.

 

 

I would love to see shimano being bashed as much as these cheap Chinese brands, over abusing plastics on its mid and high-end reels. The lack of coherence in the matter is pathetic.

 

[PhishLI]

She's a big girl, that Irene. I think I hear her coming. Boom, Boom, Boom...

[scaleface]

Piscifun Phantoms are still performing flawlessly. Out lasting my Johnny Morris Ti. Lews , Diawas, 

[Brian11719]

I vote 80s nostalgia...

[new2BC4bass]

OP, don't know why.  I bought Piscifun Sword reels for my fly rods as they got good reviews.  This was 2 months (in winter) before bringing wife home from nursing home.  Reels haven't been used yet.  All I can say is they are good looking reels (silver with green trim).   

 

For baitcast reels, I would just as soon stick with my crappie Shimano, Daiwa, Abu reels than a Piscifun.

[bulldog1935]

[Bigbox99]

On 6/20/2023 at 12:24 PM, garroyo130 said:

I think the question I'm now asking is is a CC80 and Abu Black Max really better than the $60 Piscifun? I don't have direct experience with either so I'm genuinely curious to hear from anyone who does and not just someone who says "Duh Abu and Daiwa are better".  

There are absolutely cheap weird/no name brand reels that are miles better than a Black Max or any other plastic blister pack reel from Walmart.  These aluminum frame reels cost $60 or under at times and include:

 

Histar Black Mamba Max

Seasir Megacuda 

Johncoo Ares

Piscifun Alloy M (at sale price)

 

I own all 4 and a Black Max.