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 🙂
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… 🙁

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 new  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 🙂 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 <><