Penn cleans house

[ProfessorM]

The only Penn's I buy now are the old models. I probably own 20 to 30 Penn reels, 80 % are boat stuff. Nothing newer than 1990. I buy them off the auction sites and fix or repair them myself. I feel all the new stuff just doesn't measure up to the old stuff. I feel way more comfortable with a 20 year old Penn than a brand new one. What I do have I love. What I like about the Penn stuff is the simplicity of the design and the ease of repair. My opinion is Penn has gotten lazy, collected the $ and put nothing back into the company, living off the once prestigious Penn name. Times are changing and you are being left in the dust. Paul

[Mike P]

I started cutting my surfcasting teeth just as Daiwa and Shimano started making inroads in the American market.

IMO, the only reason Penn was able to retain a market share in the face of comparable, and even superior, products from the Japanese was the loyalty consumers paid to "the Great AMERICAN Reel Company". Once you move spinning reel production to China, Penn is going to get lost in a sea of cheap-assed "entry-level" junk offered by a gazillion other companies--Tica, Okuma, Marado, you name it.

It's a pretty telling fact that the two Penn reels most favored by hard core surfcasters are a spinning reel designed in the early 1960s and a conventional designed in the 1930s. If I put a Captiva thru the paces I've put the green 704 on my shelf, it wouldn't have lasted for 30 weeks, let alone 30 years. Same with an International 975 as opposed to the 60 year old Squidder I still use.

Your main selling points for over 20 years, in the face of increased import competition, was simplicity of design, interchangeability of parts between similar models, parts availability, continuity of product, and above all else, products engineered and manufactured in the US of A. IMO that last point was the only thing that's kept Penn in business.

[basswipe]

I wonder what the future holds for the Z series.Discontinuation or overseas production?Either way we lose.

I guess its Shimano from here on out.

[PNG]

Seems to me Penn management has the same arrogance of the Big 3 Auto Manufacture’s of the 70's versus the Japanese auto's and look what happened to them.

I hope you (Penn) will listen to what is being said here because it's been falling on deaf ears for so long.

I "was" dyed in the wool Penn (spin) but sold every one I had opting for Shimano, that was hard to do. Convince me & others to come back but for now I am sticking with a much greater performing product.

Throw this at management - I bet MikeCC has sold 75 Shimano to a lonely 1 Penn (both spin) and, AND if Shimano changes the spool on their boat reel to be wire friendly watch out your 112/113/114's are in trouble. He is one small shop in one small town, add'm up.

Penn =

[snake slinger]

how maeny surf caught fish were on a 704?penn needs to step up to the plate

[Mike P]

Here's what I would suggest.

Van Staal proved there was a market for a premium spinning reel. Right now, Penn has written off that market. Shimano and Daiwa jumped in with both feet, with the Stella and Saltiga. They're proving guys will spend $600-$700, or even close to $800, for a quality product. If you could engineer a similar product, build it here, and bring it to the market in the $400-$500 price point, you'd have an instant success.

You want to make Zebco rue the day they ever acquired Van Staal? Re-engineer the 704 and 706. One little tweak--figure a way to retro-design them with "instant" roller-bearing anti-reverse. You could bump the price to $200 or even $250 and sell every one you make. Bring back the 710 and 712 with the same tweak---maybe even manual conversion capability, and you'd wipe the VS 150 and 100 out.

Oh yeah---one other thing. Tell the guys in production to ship the damn things with adequate grease inside a new reel. Most of the Slammers are dry as a bone inside, new out of the box. I hate spending $135 for a reel only to have to break it down and grease it before I use it.

[mikecc]

I bet MikeCC has sold 75 Shimano to a lonely 1 Penn (both spin)

Close chris. we have sold 78 Shimano and only 1 Penn Spinning (706) but we have sold 6 Penn 113HSP ,1 - 330GTI and only 1 Shimano Boat reel.

This is lhe last post for me on this subject.

I'll I have to say is there is no reason for me to believe in Penn when the Company does not believe in themselves.

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Mike P

You want to make Zebco rue the day they ever acquired Van Staal? Re-engineer the 704 and 706. One little tweak--figure a way to retro-design them with "instant" roller-bearing anti-reverse. You could bump the price to $200 or even $250 and sell every one you make. Bring back the 710 and 712 with the same tweak---maybe even manual conversion capability, and you'd wipe the VS 150 and 100 out.

Available Manual conversion
Instant Reverse
Tapered Spool
Large Roller
Sealed Drag
Ventilated/Cross drilled spool * cup
Otherwise gasketed/sealed reel
Get rid of the damn clicker (pisses off some nighttime guys that don't lube the crap out of it)
Fix the Bail Flip