Quote:
Originally Posted by Striper_Haven_03
I found this posting on SOL after doing a google search for reviews on the Penn Torque.
Just finished field testing the final upgraded Production version of the Penn Torque - SurfTalk
It was a good post and made some good points. I understand the author probably works/affiliated with Penn so I dont believe everything I read when it comes to articles like this. I trust opinions from folks that are here on SB, who used the products and have tested them in real life under high stress,long duration fishing situations. |
Awesome John is far from the most objective person when it comes to this reel. He considers it to be "his baby", even though he has no formal ties to Penn..
I would wait until either Alan Hawk or Alan Tani posts a review of it before accepting any third party's judgment. Or wait for first hand user feedback.
But--speaking as objectively as I can without ever having fished one--it's a pretty simple reel. One thing that many people have commented on so far is that there's no secondary anti-reverse if the IAR bearing slips or fails outright, as there is in a Stella SW or Saltiga (and even the $200 or so Daiwa Saltist has one). People have commented that the bearing looks on the small side. I think the switch on the bottom of the rotor that allows for a choice of manual or automatic bail closing is a dumb idea and likely to have sand issues. Other than that, there isn't much inside the reel that looks like it can go wrong. From the pictures that I've seen, the main gear and the pinion gear look like they're machined stainless steel, and the crosswind gear looks like it's some kind of bronze alloy. Some of the $700+ reels mentioned here have white metal crosswind gears, although failures haven't been reported. And it should be an easy reel to fix yourself if the need arises. Penn parts are generally available.