Abu Garcia Revo SX vs. Shimano Curado E Series – Part 3!

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I first wrote about the Revo vs. Curado deal.

Since that time I have become the proud owner of the Shimano Curado E Series reel and have had time to test it on the water for several hours.

I’ll try to keep this as short and to the point as I can.

Basically, since returning the Revo SX to Dick’s Sporting Goods and exchanging it for the Curado E Series, I am a very happy camper πŸ™‚

The Shimano Curado E Series reel is an awesome piece of fishing machinery. It casts effortlessly, with no trouble whatsoever with backlashes or near backlashes, and with very little effort on my part.

The reel is extra-light and easy to handle, with no real quirks that I could spot with the several hours of use that it got on my first trip out with it.

My honest opinion is that Abu Garcia needs to upgrade the braking system on the Revo reels to a centrifugal system, similar to what many other manufacturers are now using. It just seems to work better.

On the Shimano end of things, I do believe the Curado E Series is a great reel and is just about worth the price. The only thing I think it could offer for the $170 price tag is a couple more ball bearings.

I have noticed a bothersome trend with Shimano offering less and less bearings in their reels, as the prices have climbed higher and higher.

I’ll save this subject for another blog post somewhere down the road.

In the meantime, if you’re considering buying one of the new Curados, and you don’t mind spending $170, then go for it. I think you’ll be glad you did πŸ™‚

Now, go bag a hawg!

Curt

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Abu Garcia Revo SX vs. Shimano Curado E Series Part 2

OK.. so here’s the “rest of the story”.

After checking out the baitcasting reels at Dick’s Sporting Goods the other night, I remembered that I had a few tournament payout checks that I hadn’t cashed yet, so I decided to cash them and buy the new Abu Garcia Revo S that I had been so impressed with the other night.

I went back to Dick’s and laid down the cash for the reel and became the proud of owner of the Revo S in all of its shiny, free-spooling, 11-bearing glory πŸ™‚
I brought it home and decided to test it out this weekend and see if it lived up to its preconceived reputation.

I spooled it up with 15 lb. line and headed out onto the water, almost hesitant to try it out, for fear of it being less than what I anticipated it to be, and me being disappointed.

I placed it on my spinnerbait rod and tied on a 1/2 oz. single spin spinnerbait, and then laid it on the front deck while I rigged up other rods for the day too.

I finally picked it up and contemplated my first cast, hoping it wouldn’t result in the backlash of a lifetime. To prevent this, I adjusted the magnetic brake to almost the full on position (max) and tightened the spool tension to what I felt would be fairly tight.

I made a short side-arm cast and had to thumb the spool heavily to keep it from backlashing. Hmm… I hadn’t expected it to do that! With all of the brake that I had applied, I would have expected the spinnerbait to go about 20 feet and plop into the water. OK.. so I adjusted the spool tension a little tighter and maxed the magnetic brake completely and tried again, with another cast.

This next cast still had good distance, but the reel was also still on the verge of backlashing, had it not been for my well-educated-veteran-baitcasting thumb! I have to tell you that this bothered me. I just laid down $160 for a reel that I was going to have to wrestle with to keep it from backlashing. not good… πŸ™

With the amount of money I had spent, I was determined not to give up on the reel without giving it a valiant effort. Although a spinnerbait wasn’t the bait of choice for the conditions of the day, I kept throwing it just to try to get used to the way the new Revo S handled.

Let me tell you that I gave it 110% and ultimately I was disappointed. No matter how hard I tried and how much brake (and thumb) I applied, the reel just wanted to backlash. If it was doing this with a 1/2 oz. bait and no wind, what would it be like with a lighter bait or trying to cast into the wind? I didn’t want to find out the hard way and especially not at night, when I like to fish during the hotter months.

Disappointedly, I made the decision to return the reel.

But all was not lost! I just happened to have Bob W. with me and Bob W. just happened to have one of the newΒ  Shimano Curado E 200 reels with him! Mr. Bob was nice enough to let me try his new Curado so I could do an actual on-the-water comparison.

I grabbed the Shimano-rigged rod and heaved a spinnerbait out there, only to have it sail smoothly and with no hint of a backlash at all πŸ™‚ It did exactly what it was supposed to do and did it effortlessly… and I didn’t have to thumb the spool frantically to keep it from backlashing.

So, when I took the Revo S back to Dick’s Sporting Goods, I exchanged it for a new Shimano Curado E Series 200 reel.

Here’s my take on the whole thing.

The Revo S reel has 11 bearings, which makes for a completely silky-smooth piece of equipment, which free-spools for what seems like forever. On the other hand, it still has the old-style magnetic braking system, instead of the newer-style centrifugal brake. I believe this was the downfall of the Revo S. Because it spins so freely, the braking system can’t keep up with it, causing it to be on the verge of backlashing on every single cast, no matter how softly or carefully the cast is made.

I honestly believe that, for the Revo S to give the Curado E Series reels a run for their money in terms of overall popularity, the Revo S reels need to be re-engineered with a centrifugal braking system or, at the very least, a beefier braking system overall, to tame the 11-bearing free-spooling action that the reel has.

As for the new Curado E Series reel that I bought, I’ll be trying that out on the water tomorrow with the hopes that it will live up to its $179 price tag.

More to come about the Shimano Curado E Series 200 reel…

Now, go bag a hawg!

Curt <><

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Abu Garcia Revo SX vs. Shimano Curado E Series

I was at Dick’s Sporting Goods tonight, picking up a new elliptical trainer to help keep me in shape this-coming winter. While I was there I took a walk over to the display case for reels and asked to check out the new Shimano Curado E Series reel and the Abu Garcia Revo SX.

Both of these baitcasting reels are comparable in size and within $20 or each other in price. The Curado comes in at about $179 and the Revo comes in at about $159. These prices seem to be the average when comparing large tackle outlets such as Dick’s and Bass Pro Shops.

I had never seen or handled either of these reels yet, so I wanted to make a side-by-side comparison of them and form an opinion of them based on just what I could see or feel there at the counter.

Let me tell you right away. I formed a definite opinion and came away from there having made up my mind as to which reel would be my next low-profile baitcaster when I buy new reels this Winter.

Here’s the scoop, along with side-by-side comparisons of the two reels… the Shimano Curado E Series and the Abu Garcia Revo SX model.

Let me first give you a couple of charts showing the specs for each reel, including weight, gear ratios, line capacities, etc.

Here’s the Curado E Series

Though its not noted here, the Curado E Series Reels have 7 Bearings.
6 Ball Bearings and 1 Roller Bearing.

Now Here Are The Specs for The Abu Garcia Revo SXAbu Garcia Revo SX Specs

Looking at these specs, the first thing that I noticed is that all of the Revos in this model line have 11 bearings total. 10 of these are ball bearings and 1 is a roller bearing. This is a considerable difference, especially in light of the fact that the Revo costs $20 less!

The Revo does weigh in at 1 oz. heavier than the Curado E Series, but this can probably be attributed to the fact that it has the 4 extra bearings.

The Curado E Series 200 models come in 5.0:1 and 7.0:1, while the Revo SX comes in 6.4:1 and 7.1:1. This is obviously a personal preference, depending on the application the reel will be used for.

Line capacity looks comparable, although the charts compare apples to oranges, with the Curado E Series listing capacity for 10 lb. line while the Revo SX lists the line capacity using 12 lb. line. Using averages, the line capacity is even.

Now, here are photos of the two reels.

First, the Curado E Series 200
Curado E Series 200
The photo shows the smaller size of the reel,
although the angle exaggerates the size of the handle and hand grips.

Now, here’s the Abu Garcia Revo SX
Abu Garcia Revo SX

As you can see in the photos, both reels have a greatly-slimmed-down profile, with large gear cases. Both reels are very small in appearance when compared to previous models.

OK.. so now we have specs, images, etc. Let me give you my own opinion on these reels, based on my handling of the two at Dick’s Sporting Goods last night.

I tried the two of them side by side, holding them in my hand, not mounted on a rod of any type. I also did not do any casting tests. I simply gave the handle of each reel a simple spin and watched and listened for smoothness and length of time that the reel would stay freely spinning. This was done with the reel engaged, not in free spool. I also pressed the thumb bar of each reel and then re-engaged it by turning the handle.

Here’s what I found and how I judged these reels for performance in my simple test.

When spinning the handle and letting go, the Shimano was smooth and stayed spinning for a decent amount of time. There was a small amount of noise, which could have been attributed to gears or bearings. It was hard to tell which, but was most likely gear noise. It was not major, by any means, but it was evident.

For the Revo SX, I spun the handle the very same way. Let me tell you that I was in awe at how smooth this reel was. When I gave the handle a spin, the reel’s spool and handle stayed in motion for a distinctly longer time than the Curado. In addition, there was no noise at all… just pure smoothness.

I picked up the Curado again and gave it another try. Then I picked up the Revo and tried it again. Same results… smooth for the Curado, but much smoother for the Revo.

OK.. so now I picked up a Shimano Citica, of which I own two. I wanted to compare a $100 reel to the other two models. I did the same spin test and I have to tell you, the difference was almost disgusting when compared to the other two! I mean it. The Citica was noisy and not smooth at all in comparison, especially when figuring in the fact that this is a $100 reel! Don’t get me wrong. The Citica is a nice reel, but when it is compared to the Revo and the Curado, it pales terribly in comparison, which it shouldn’t do when carrying a $100 price tag. In fact, let me be honest here and tell you that the Citica that I bought in the latter part of June has not been right from day one and now needs to be shipped back to Shimano for service, after being used for only about 2 1/2 months.

But back on track here… the Curado E Series vs. the Revo SX.

The Revo SX won me over… hands down. The Curado was nice. The Curado was smooth. But the Revo was nicer and the Revo was way smoother. There was very little comparison.

I have owned a handful of Abu Garcia reels in the past and have liked them all, but the Revo SX was, by far, the very best reel I have ever laid eyes on or handled. I will be buying at least a couple of them during this winter season. You’d be wise to consider doing the same.

Check out the Curado E Series, the Shimano Citica and the ABu Garcia Revo SX by clicking the Bass Pro Shops banner at the top of the page or by Clicking Here.

I hope this comparison of these two great reels will help you make an informed buying decision!

Now go bag a hawg!

Curt <><

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