Quote:
Originally Posted by EZM
I totally agree ..... for fishing reels - there is very little appreciable torque gain or loss associated with (between a "standard" 5:1 to a "high speed" 7:1 gear ratio) instead, a more significant factor in determining how well a reel performs it's desired function is based on quality.
The more bearings, the less loss of of efficiency due to friction, the tighter the tolerances are on the gears, the more amplified rotation is beneficently applied etc....
Buy a tight, good quality reel and you will be happy with it. But a piece of crap, no matter how perfect the gear ratio is and you will have it bind up, slip (loose torque) etc....
The premise of bait casters, by design are, going to produce a little better torque than a spinning reel - simply by design (gears are inline versus intersected).
Although the basic principles of mechanical advantage and gear ratios will tell you otherwise ..... in a low tech application like a fishing reel ...... it's just not that big of a deal ........
Marketing genius these companies ..... now go out and buy one of each ..... they are also available in different colors too - the red ones are better for trout !!!!!
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Well stated. I never really understood why some companies market how their rods and reels look. Last year I was shopping for a spinning rod and the sales person was trying to play up the fact that the rod looked really cool. My response was that I would use a "my little pony" rod and reel if it was proven to be more effective at catching fish. Isn't that the real point?
Getting back to baitcasters, I think the original reels had lower gear ratios (like the round reels do) and they have evolved to be faster (due to customer demand). The manufacturers have kept all the gear ratios that were produced during this evolutionary process (sorry all you creationists), initially due to some customers resistance to change, and have now turned it into a marketing tactic. It really is quite brilliant. There are always new entrants into this market, they see all these gear ratio options, read the literature and PRESTO more sales! That was my initial reaction, "why would they make all these different reels for no reason?". That was the reason for the initial post. I was seeing if there was something I was missing.
If torque was really an issue on these reels, the manufacturers would only have to make handles of different lengths (that could easily be interchangeable) to create a wide range of torques. Two, three and four inch handles would make a much larger difference than the gear ratios that are available.
Million dollar marketing but morally corrupt.