Ebay reels performance

[Guest fishum]

I would be interested in knowing if anyone has purchased some of these cheap reels of ebay with names like pelagic,Saratoga,melaluka..Are you using them,did they break and at what length of time in use did they break.What part broke.And was it while hooked up.Or do you find nothing wrong with them.I purchased 2 overheads and was going to keep them for other people to use and ended up giving them away to novice fisho’s that would only fish 3-4 times a year..these reels have been out for a while now and some feed back would be interesting.Just curious

[finatic 1]

Personally blown up 2, after warning the owners it would happen(saratoga & omoto) on our spooling machine, just trying to load line on. Poor man pays twice, buy junk, buy it twice. Finatic

[Big Ian 0]

I must admit to buying one of these reels a few years agoI am a firm beliver in "you get what you pay for", but I was curious as to there quality ect.So I bid on this small game reel that wasnt getting much bidding and won it for $15.50 plus postage.when it arrives I have a look at it put some cheap line on it and try it out in the shed.It was crap and you couldnt even wind up the drag enough to reel in the line with any pressure on it whatsoever. :icon_e_surprised:so it makes a good paperweight but but a crap fishing reel.So I still continue to belive that you do get what you pay for in life.Cheers Ian ;DPs. I should have pointed out that the reel I got was a Saratoga that others where paying $100-$150 for

[David Ciaravolo 34]

Heaps goes wrong with those reels and i speak from experience, the experience of all the sad faces as i tell them, 'this happens all the time mate, and we cant get parts" .Like all reels, Bail arms and anti reverses are the first problems, but due to the inferior build quality and materials used, the reels often break (snapp), Gears jam or drags lock and more. but thats enough free market research for u mate!Generally if it is not a brandname reel with the backing of a wholesaler then it is CRAP!there are exceptions but not many......

[ospray 1]

I have to agree, however, never bought anything off ebay or the cheap shops in the way of fishing gear, it should stand to reason that if its to good to be true, then it probably isn't, I dont buy from boat shows or flea markets, no matter what the brand name or who is behind the so called bargains, you can almost bet that you will come out way behind when its time for some maintenence. http://www.fishyorkepeninsula.com/images/attachments/eWTDe2Gv__burning.gif[/img]

[spog61 0]

Call me old fashioned or untrusting, but I still prefer to physically handle & scrutinize any purchase I'm about to make, plus I like to be able to get face to face with the vendor if anything goes wrong, those benefits alone justify paying a bit more as fas as I'm concerned.

[Sunovabeach 46]

I am also guilty of purchasing a baitrunner reel off Ebay after going through all the great feedback they received. When I received, it looked great. Being the sceptic though, I put it through hell in the back yard and it seemed ok. Took it to the Coorong and after a few small Mully's, I was thinking I had got a bargin. Then I hooked something decent. I could not wind the handle and when I put some force into it, it slipped on the cogs. I don't mind losing a good fish, but when it is due to crap gear.....the reel is rusting somewhere at the bottom of the .......let me rephrase this....the reel was environmentally placed at the bottom of the Coorong for some sea creature to inhabit.