Van Staal [SIZE="1"]made in china[/SIZE]

[Nebe]

Why are all of you so surprised?
van stall is now owned by friggen ZEBCO... Of course this was going to happen.

[bart]

what a bunch of bullshat. how is the price not going to drop? they obviously moved the operations over there so that the cost of manufacturing would be less.

F VS. i'll be fishing my 704s until they explode.....which isn't going to happen anytime soon...

[Striperhound]

The only potential issue I see with manufacturing in china is a potental recall for lead

[ridler72]

Originally Posted by Nebe

Why are all of you so surprised?
van stall is now owned by friggen ZEBCO... Of course this was going to happen.

Great point. It was inevitable. I guess it's safe to say Van Staal Reel line will all be down hill from here. Buy your parts now and stock up!
Who will be next?

[lurch]

I do not care where they are made as long as the quality stays the same but what gets me is that the profit margin for VS increases by X% without a decrease in price.

If you had a mechanic who charged a premium because he had enough experience to fix every problem he ran into...the same mechanic decides to retire and hands the business over to his son who was only getting coffee for him during the day...would you still pay that same premium?? I know I would be going to a different mechanic if the high rates remained.

I am not saying that the components will change but the experience of the worker assembling the reel will decrease which could lead to field failures. In the time it takes the workers to get up to speed folks will switch over to a ZB.

In my industry we are going through the same problem of QA engineers in India (sent all QA testing for a specific product to India) not finding basic bugs even though the tests are the same. IMO there will be a blip in reliability of the reels with the reels being assembled in China.

[maddog2020]

If you need your VS service it will still be done in Tulsa, OK. Assembling the VS is a cake walk. It is a dumb fishing reel not a part for the aerospace industry. This isn't rocket science .... LOL.

Regardless of where it is made and as long as they use the correct material to make the parts it should be easy. Setting up the tooling is critical. Stealing the design is a joke - any one with a pair of calipers can copy the thing IMHO. There isn't anything special about it.

So many goods are made abroad now. Look at all the nice fishing rods coming out of China now for CHEAP $. Top quality Fuji parts: hardloy guides, reel seat, neoprene shrink wrap and so forth for under $100. Tsunami and other brands have adjust THEIR prices, but why NOT some of these other companies?! You can make the $ thru volume OR make it as lower cost and pocket the $. WC Bradley is pocketing the $$ they save for the Van Staal reels made in China. Isn't this the American way?! Sorry to be sarcastic. I'm not buying into the newer style VS reels period. If I decide to keep them, I'll stick with the US made ones.

I don't doubt that VS reels made abroad will be the same or better quality of the US made ones. I've seen plenty of US made black VS with mis-matched anodizing out there where it was more of a deep purple than it was black.

Zeebaas aren't flawless. First batch had issues of the spool gasket bottoming out on the rotor underneath. They were made aware of it and fixed it, BUT the stack up tolerances bit them on that one. They were lacking on QC there for sure. You would think that those first hundred would have been "perfect" before they released them out to the dealers! ZB knew what they were up against with anal anglers...... LOL. There must be other glitches with it I am sure. JohhR - your ZB perfect or ya got some issues with yours?! I bet those who did get one are embarassed to admit they are some problems. I know the guy who designed the reel is always interested in getting feedback on the ZB. Retail prices on a longer power handle with a different knob is PAINFUL! OUCH ..... some good $ for one.

Look at the country of origin on consumer goods - 90% of the stuff out there is from Asia. Most of it is fine. They just need to understand we don't USE lead paint any more! It would be extremely hard to buy ALL US made products for everything now a days.

Man, it IS going to be a longer winter.

[lurch]

Originally Posted by maddog2020

It is a dumb fishing reel not a part for the aerospace industry. This isn't rocket science .... LOL.

All the QA folks do in my office is run a script that was created years ago but software bugs are not caught with the folks in India because they are not as familiar with the product.

I understand that assembling a reel is not rocket science but it would super suck if the reel fails because of a newbie forgot to add the sphincter pin caused by a lack of assembly experience.

[maddog2020]

The folks in Tulsa have made plenty of mistakes with the reels as well as the other service centers for VS in the past! Their track record for repairs has been much better and continues to improve. The guy who retired, Dan, knew the product and stayed on to help train them correctly.

For the cost of the Van Staal reels each one should be check more than once in the assembly process. If it isn't then they really need a better QC department. I've seen plenty of VS from few yrs back that were made out of CT that had plenty of issues so what was their excuse then?! LOL. Self-tightening drag nuts were always fun to see! Spool just locked up once a fish started to take out line. Two brand new VS200 B were that way: both had to get sent back to the factory. You must have opened up your VS reel before - there aren't a lot of parts in there.

I am more concerned my brakes on my car can fail and create a bigger problem for me than a fishing reel, lurch. I always have a spare or two with me. If I know I am going to be hoofing it in a ways, I just take the spare reel in my bag.

When we have software issues at work we are told to call our service people over in India for support. Now a days when I get tech support I always ask them WHERE they are physically located just for my own curiosity.

[Pete_G]

Since service is being discussed I believe there's a pilot service center being set up for Van Staal. It'll be at River's End, I believe. Cheaper shipping back and forth or local for some. Not sure it's finalized but as far as I know it's supposed to happen.

Assuming there's no nightmares associated with the test run, it's likely you'll see more service centers at shops that are interested.

[lurch]

Originally Posted by maddog2020

When we have software issues at work we are told to call our service people over in India for support. Now a days when I get tech support I always ask them WHERE they are physically located just for my own curiosity.

MD is this you??? Some language for adults so kids beware.

[Skitterpop]

Lots being said and I did leave room for doubt for my post only being hearsay but with all the commotion I figured I`d try again. I don`t own a VS.

The overall quality of the made in Asia Vs` will boil down to the components. If they try to use inferior metals here and there it will show if it has`nt already and that is that.

Seems like a decent reel from what I`ve heard.

Happy Holidays!
Mike