The new 2013 Stella

[Meh?]

Looks like they have rushed production and need to sort out QC issues. The brass pinion thing I don't think is as a big of an issue as made out, remember that the main gear has always been aluminium.

The assembly problems and tolerance issues aren't acceptable, Thai bearings are a joke (don't forget the Saltiga is full of them as well).
I'm looking at getting a 4000 SW and upgrading bearings to ceramics etc..

[stella fella]

Originally Posted by Meh?

Looks like they have rushed production and need to sort out QC issues. The brass pinion thing I don't think is as a big of an issue as made out, remember that the main gear has always been aluminium.

The assembly problems and tolerance issues aren't acceptable, Thai bearings are a joke (don't forget the Saltiga is full of them as well).
I'm looking at getting a 4000 SW and upgrading bearings to ceramics etc..

Yeah the Thai bearings isn't as big a deal as one might imagine. With the right QC in factory then they're more than capable of producing bearing as good and even better than anything you'd get anywhere else. Whether or not shimano have done this is the question.

[twitchtwitch...]

Perhaps I am the only one who has seen the positives of Alan's report rather than the knit picking that he is so renowned for.....
Today I bit the bullet and bought a Stella 8000SW-B for an upcoming Broome trip.
A couple of things I have noticed....

The rotor does not have even the slightest of flex, no matter how much pressure I put on it. NONE

The drag sounds of its head, kinda like my 2004 Strez on steroids.

Buckling down the drag feels a lot different to most other large spinning reels that I have played with, it' takes a bit of pressure to turn the knob. I'm guessing that's to do with the new wave spring and the huge drag capacity in this reel.

The main reason to go with the 8,000 was to have the option of dropping a second spool (14,000 with 80lb PE ;-) ) on it and still have a large drag capacity

For me, 20 years of Japanese engineering speaks louder than the flaws of Alan's report. I guess it wouldn't have won multiple awards at iCast for no reason

Cheers tt

[stella fella]

Originally Posted by twitchtwitch...

Perhaps I am the only one who has seen the positives of Alan's report rather than the knit picking that he is so renowned for.....
Today I bit the bullet and bought a Stella 8000SW-B for an upcoming Broome trip.
A couple of things I have noticed....

The rotor does not have even the slightest of flex, no matter how much pressure I put on it. NONE

The drag sounds of its head, kinda like my 2004 Strez on steroids.

Buckling down the drag feels a lot different to most other large spinning reels that I have played with, it' takes a bit of pressure to turn the knob. I'm guessing that's to do with the new wave spring and the huge drag capacity in this reel.

The main reason to go with the 8,000 was to have the option of dropping a second spool (14,000 with 80lb PE ;-) ) on it and still have a large drag capacity

For me, 20 years of Japanese engineering speaks louder than the flaws of Alan's report. I guess it wouldn't have won multiple awards at iCast for no reason

Cheers tt

Don't get me wrong, I definitely saw the positives, and I was actually hoping that someone would get one of the smaller models to see if it had similar problems, so your words are much welcomed in regards to the 8k, and restore my confidence in the reel.

That said, awards at iCast are meaningless, and when I pay $1000+ for a fishing reel I have every right to nit pick and expect absolute perfection, the kind that 20 years of Japanese engineering should amount to.

I actually had a polite rant to shimano about it, and sent them the review, to which they were surprisingly grateful for the feedback, and I have no doubt in my mind that this whole debacle will become nothing more than a minor speed bump that shimano will address promptly.

Uber great review - loved it for every moment it stole from my life.

When you get reviews like that from Allan you get honesty in what people see and experience - I think its something a lot of people dont get to experience themselves.

Cant wait to read others - but need a better chair for this... The weasels are starting to close in...

[manno]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nuT7OlR...ure%3Dyoutu.be

[Nix88]

I just can't justify the price for what there charging that includes diawa.thats just me.a $250 reel from shimano or diawa will do the same job with plenty change in hand.

[matt jorg]

It's all about longevity too, at least that's what I understand with the huge price tags.
You'd probly stuff 4 stradic 8000s before one sw stella.

[nbdshroom]

Originally Posted by manno

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nuT7OlR...ure%3Dyoutu.be

Fantastic way to test equipment. What a rod that is too

[nagz]

So what did shimano say, stella fella? Are they going to sort it out?

Has daiwa sorted out the problems that alan high lighted in his review of the saltiga?

[stella fella]

Originally Posted by nagz

So what did shimano say, stella fella? Are they going to sort it out?

Has daiwa sorted out the problems that alan high lighted in his review of the saltiga?

They said they'd pass the review on to the product manager and get back to me.

I know daiwa sorted out the mag seal leaking issue, the plating on the drag clicker and also the pinion bearing retaining plate has been beefed up, I don't know if they fixed the spool shim housing though.

[659allan]

I was reading this and I must of been making grunts and moans cause wife walked over and said I need serious help sexy reel though

[Seay]

Originally Posted by twitchtwitch...

Perhaps I am the only one who has seen the positives of Alan's report rather than the knit picking that he is so renowned for.....
Today I bit the bullet and bought a Stella 8000SW-B for an upcoming Broome trip.
A couple of things I have noticed....

The rotor does not have even the slightest of flex, no matter how much pressure I put on it. NONE

The drag sounds of its head, kinda like my 2004 Strez on steroids.

Cheers tt

I like the look for the new 2013 Stella and the drag sounds freaking awesome.

So after reading the reviews I went to go test my new reels.

20k No rotor movement.
8k No Rotor movement
10K very slight flex.

Anyways I'm not going to dwell too much about it, I am happy with them!

[nagz]

Just received an email letting me know the new stella won best reel at icast 2013

Surely alan had a one off? Then again, I've always been very iffy about the winning products.

[manno]

Originally Posted by lukereneeseth

had a decent look at them today... have to say the 4000 and 5000 look amazing for the size. mixes the FE with the SW. could never justify the price for a river reel though. I highly doubt anyone would find a fault with the higher models out on the open water. they do test these reels a lot around the world before marketing them and if they're on the shelves now then that means they're up to scratch as the newest flagship SW Shimano reel.

Think about it mate. Since when did simply having something "on the shelves" guarantee that its going to be free from fault? We need to be a bit more objective than just testing how fully sick the drag sounds and how many fanboy awards it wins at icast. I can tell you that the people handing out these awards at icast would not have cracked the seal on a single nut or bolt on that reel...

Im sure the reels fine. But allans review is a stark reminder of what happens when big brands decide to fall back on the prior success of a product and rely too heavily on the brand loyalty of its customers to carry forward new success.