I took mine out on the Gulf of Mexico on a party boat charter out of Galveston, TX. It performed as well as the Avets and Shimanos that cost way more. Spooling it up mine took 330 yards of 80 lb Kastking Braid. I got hit by a huge AJ and I when I dropped it into 2-Speed the fight turned strongly in my favor. I also got a double hit by two 30 inch Red Snappers and then got tangled by someone with another similar sized fish and while wrenching up the three snapper someone else tangled me. In the end I hauled up four 30 inch plus snapper that had to be returned because they were out of season. The drag is very smooth and powerful. The reel makes a little more noise when under a heavy load than the $500+ reels but outside of that it performed equal. Great deal at $120
Great video. I bought the single speed, left hand retrieve and smaller size of the same reel. It actually came in the same 2 speed model box as yours even though it's a single speed reel. It is in fact a copy of an Accurate Twin Drag as far as the dual drag goes. It's not as refined as an Accurate as I have a few to compare with. It is without question worth the meager asking price. Mine has absolutely no markings whatsoever. There are even no markings on the body for drag positions. If I could still find this exact reel, I would buy a few more. It's held up fine so far and if it gets beat up, it's not a heart breaker compared to damage to an expensive US or JDM made reel. I do like this reel because it's a reliable workhorse, but I absolutely love my Accurate, Seigler and JDM Shimano Ocea Jigger reels. This would be the only one I would loan out without concern.
ALL - Due to COVID-19, I have only had this reel out once since getting it. It worked fine. A tad clunky on the shift but it feels like a mini-tank. I'm hoping to get out soon since they're back to running limited load trips out of San Diego.
You have explained well, also I was comparing with Katyusha Company Dual Speed Slow Pitch Conventional Jigging Reel with Max DRAG 99LB,8+1 BB,real is among of best selling products.
Tom, Thank you for doing this unboxing and review. I have been wayyyy out of the angling scene since the El Nino of '91-'92 or so.... I was just invited onto a limited load private charter party boat out of Fishermans Landing later this month for an overnighter "Full Day" trip. After losing most all of my tackle over the years I am looking to re-outfit. Back in the 80's I got a little crazy with the expendable income. As you know, it seems that alot of the shiny and pretty custom gear is designed to catch anglers just as much if not more than the fish!!! I have not much to prove these days and dont intend on keeping up with the Jonese's. I have had Accurate , Tiburon , International, Shimano , and Diawa's.... I started scanning Ebay for budget gear. Thinking keeping it simple like maybe a Dawia SL 15 or SL 20 and maybe a good ol Senator 114 . I noticed I still have some decent rods up in the rafters of the garage. Mostly self wrapped Jig sticks in the 15-30# class range. And an older 60-80# class Fenwick standup roller rod for on the troll. Wanting to do this on the cheap, but now seeing alot of these various shiny CNC Chinese rigs has started to lure me away and I am getting caught up in the fever! It is hard to ignore some of these budget CNC eye candy reels! I am utterly lost. One sobering remark you made concerned the actual weight of these monsters. I remember going all out with the goodies and modifying a good ol' Penn 500 with all the Accurate stuff. Cost a fortune and really when caught up in the action it was not my "go to" but usually rig #2 with a plain ol Squidder or Sealine 15 being first to bat. This will be only trip this year and dont know when I will go again but still I cant ignore a $120 dollar 2-Speed!!!!!! Oh decisions decisions!
Thanks for the good words. I bought this reel on a lark because this sort of stuff fascinates me. Plus I have a natural cheap streak. I have a Taiwanese CNC full aluminum levelwind jigging reel that I bought the same way. I paid maybe $60 for it several years ago. Other than the levelwind being a little easy to dislodge under strong side pressure, it's a great reel. While the manufacturer wasn't listed when I bought, it turned out to be a branded Omoto reel (www.omoto.com.tw/fishing-reels) and they actually have a small US distributor. When I asked about upgrading the teflon drag to carbon, they sent me free of charge 6 carbon drag disks free which is enough for three rebuilds. I would check your rods carefully for any sign of cracking or crazing. Storing in a hot garage is never great but we all have to do it since the wives don't like them on display in the living room! I am putting a couple of Shimano Tyrnos 8 reels up on eBay soon. They've been lightly fished and come with full braid and fluoro leaders.
Tested my free Chinese made reel on a monstrous Thailand stingray that I got from a fishing magazine just by posting my big fish catch photo. The fish is so huge. The leader broke.The reel passed the test. It did not broke ! That's a shocking result !
All, I took the CNC reel out a week ago for a 1 1/2 day trip out of San Diego. I limited on Skipjack and caught 3 Yellowfin (15 - 25 lbs). Unfortunately the CNC reel was setup with heavier line which was too much for the bites. I tried a few times and had no problems with switching in and out of gears. Drag felt smooth. But alas, no fish jumped on the rig. Everything hooked was either with my 2-speed Daiwa Saltist 25 / Seagate setup or my Okuma Cortez 10 / Makaira setup. Catching skippies on the Okuma rig was work due to the low max drag but it sure casts nicely.
Hi Tom, not sure whether you are active on RU-vid but I saw your comment that you have a Cortez. I recently bought one but also thinking about the cold water series with the line counter. So what are the major differences between the Cortez and Cold Water series with the drag leveller? Is it mainly the casting ability?
@@jayjiang Line counters really can't cast. Period. They are for trolling or letting out line to a certain depth. The Cortez has a decent mag brake system which lets you throw bait reasonably well.
@@geldner thank you for your prompt reply Tom! Would you recommend me to keep the Cortez instead of switching to the line counter for longer term? I trust your expertise in making the selection!
@@jayjiang What are you catching? If using live bait, then the Cortez. If trolling, vertical jigging or depth fishing with dead bait, then the line counter may be what you. The Cortez with mag brake is a great budget reel and not to shabby on drag at 15lbs. Personally, I think line counters are your third or fourth reel in the quiver. Consider using segmented braid (changes colors every 10 feet). If you can keep track, it might help you do what the line counter can do.
@@geldner thanks for the advices Tom. I just started fishing and is using the conventional reel for rockfish and boat fishing, but also planning to get a Chinese CNC or related reel for future big fish as well.
Hello again Tom, For what it is worth, I just subscribed to your channel. I am not sure how to private message using RU-vid so I am just using the public comment section again to contact you. It appears we share several common interests. Thanks again for posting up the review and info on the 120 dollar reel! I hope you do indeed follow up and let us know how it works out. I am going to check it out. There are so many different Chinese reels being offered out there but by the looks of the review on Pimp my Reel, this one is a winner. Pretty cool that it is generic too, without branding! Ready to Etch or silkscreen your own a artwork to match the style, wrap and artwork of your rod😎🥴 Oh and one quick question???! What was the shipping time to deliver and shipping options?
I bought several of the Chinese cheap reels. I have this one but not sure about the durability yet but if you come across the brand Camekoon don't waste your money they are garbage
Best believe im getting one soon as i get the money! Just the cosmetic duplication of an expensive SPJ reel alone is worth 120. And now ur telling me the internal mechanics and functionality are close enough to a $600 accurate to warrant a $120 price tag as unbelievable?? Take my money. The ONLY bad thing about this reel and others like it(there are plenty of Chinese made SPJ reels like this on Amazon that look like $600 reels but are sub $150) and i mean the ONLY bad thing, is that shops are going to start buying these and branding the side of it with accurate or sone other high price brand and try to pass it off as something its not. These are what will cause pple to be getting sold fake reels because the performance is good wn no one will question it ans they got the SPJ reel design down to a clone. Accurate and diawa should offer certificates of authenticity with their reels or custom will end up getting one of these for $600.
Wish you did an actual fishing video on how it handles. You basically looked at a new car..but didn't drive it , so we don't know if it's junk or not .
I linked to Pimp My Reel who did a full teardown on the reel. Also he had some comments from others who've used the reel. No one has any complaints about the reel's performance in actual fishing conditions. Also see my comment below. I took it out again in October this year but no fish on it. Again, it's rigged for 60# top shot and 80# braid. Just haven't run into anything needing that since I bought the reel.
@@likezandz7827 Until I actually start fighting fish with it, I can't say one way or the other. Pimp My Reel did a tear down of what I think is the same reel as mine and thinks it's great from a build standpoint. However, he didn't do an actual fishing trip with it either. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ivAeW1qyyMY.html
You gave this reel such a good review How does the line lay down on the spool with no guide to spread it on nicely. It looks like this could be a disaster for tangles on the spool and line biting into it expecially on a big fish. These cheap reels i see from china are similar priced to a shimano torium which is a known good reel. Why would you take any risk at all.
Not sure why you are trying to compare two completely different reels. 1. The Torium is a star drag reel - this is a lever drag. 2. The Torium has no line guide mechanism so like this reel, it's up to your thumb and fingers to guide the line evenly on retrieve. 3. The Torium is priced around $350. This reel cost me $125.
@@geldner oh wow they are expensive there, they only around $280 aud. This chinese reel is pounds to aud is $230 + some postage since i am overseas. It does look very nicely made though. Using your thumb to guide it does sound complicated and tough work if you have a decent tuna or kingfish on. I have never used one just researching a bit into options.
@@Side85Winder Levelwind reels work well for mono but interestingly, not so well for braid. They are also the #1 thing to break on a reel, especially if you are fishing where there's sand or particulates in the water. Most of the offshore fishermen I know use levewinds for deep dunk bottom fishing since it makes it easier to wind-in a lot of line. I don't know anyone who fishes offshore that uses a levelwind to throw irons, lures or live bait. They have a tendency for the spool to slow down too much even if the there's a mechanism to detach the levelwind system (which makes them more expensive). On the flip-side, bass fisherman (fresh water) pretty much all use level-wind bait casting reels. But they're fishing braid and the drags are pretty low (like 8-10 lbs max).
They’re most all made in China .. Penns I’m sure are , Shimano’s mid level reels are made in Malaysia .. so the bottom line is QC .. they don’t have QC in China unless the A,Erica company sends their own people over to China to do it and most don’t and why we see more junk from the bigger names than we used to ..
What failed on them and how? Drag? Gear? They seem pretty well built. I haven't heard of any other failures and the guy from the UK who did a teardown put two months of fishing on one without issues.
Both of them would not go from low to high gear. The gears would not engage. Shimano has a new reel called the speedmaster 2. It is half the price of a Talica and it's shimano
@@geldner sorry for the late reply. The gears would not engage. I replaced both reels with shimano speedmaster 2 two speed reels. They cost 100 dollars than the channelmay reels
Interesting. I used the one I have on an overnight trip and had no trouble switching from high to low and back. However, I was just testing and didn't do it with a fish on. One thing I notice about the Shimano Speedmaster II is that it looks like it's a cast frame, not machined. Is that correct? Otherwise it looks promising.
