Carbontex Drag Washers

[Damien Phillip]

Just wondering who uses these and in what reels?

Any comments appreciated

[Jon Li]

I have 6 spools of '98 Stella and 1 spool of Z4500 using Carbontex , the original carbon drag washers from Shimano ( dartanium ? ) yield a higher maximum drag but the carbontex is smoother , as for Daiwa carbon drag washers , they are just not up to the task when one uses at high drag set .

Jon .

[Brandon Khoo]

I have them in all my 6500 spools.

[Andy Rowe]

Me too, 4 x 6500 and 1 x 4500

[Damien Phillip]

Cheers for that guys. So what your saying is you wouldn't put them in a Stella but put them in a Saltiga? and the Shimano washers are slightly better than the Daiwa's?

I want to start doing this in all my new reels.

[Jon Li]

Cheers for that guys. So what your saying is you wouldn't put them in a Stella but put them in a Saltiga? and the Shimano washers are slightly better than the Daiwa's?

I want to start doing this in all my new reels.

The reason I changed the drag washers of my '98 Stella to Carbontex is due to availability issue , the original dartanium drag washers aren't exactly OTC items . As for my 2002 Stellas , I haven't reached the point of having to change replace the drag washers yet so you will find hardly anyone retrofitting the later model Stellas with Carbontex yet .

Whether dartanium is better than carbontex ? I wud say marginally in higher maximum drag setting but smoothness belongs to carbontex while longevity is still undecided , my original dartanium drag washers in the 1998 Stellas lasted me almost 4 years .

Jon .

[Brandon Khoo]

Shimano washers are fine straight out of the box. You don't need to do anything with these.

For the Daiwa washers, I suggest you change them if you are going to consistently apply more than 8kg of drag. If not, you don't need to change. You will find that a number of tackle shops will tell you this is a fallacy. It is not - if you are going to be consistently aplying heavy drag pressure, you will ultimately regret not changing to carbontex.

The new red Saltiga has the new drag from what I understand and no change is necessary with this reel.

[Jon Li]

The new red Saltiga has the new drag from what I understand and no change is necessary with this reel.

Hi Brandon , a bit Ooff the topic here ;

This red Saltigas are Ozzie issue only ? I remembered once upon a time Daiwa had TD-S , TD-X n TD-Z being the "S" is entry level , the "Z" is the ultimate level and the "X" is somewhere in between .

I wonder if the new Saltiga "S" will follow the traditional trend or a completely new trend ?

Jon .

[Brandon Khoo]

Jon, from what I understand, that is correct. They're an Australia only model.
They are actually a Z series reel, not a S series. The designation for the red reel is S-EX 6500Z and it is actually a jigging reel, not a popping reel.

[Jon Li]

Hi Brandon ,

Thanks for the clarification , so we won't get to see this reel outside Oz , I wonder why Daiwa makes such a decision ?

Jon .

[Brandon Khoo]

I have no idea, Jon
I would have thought we were far too small a market to justify a reel like this.
Ask Malcolm - he would have more idea than I do on this.

[Ashley Cotter]

 Jon the reason the daiwa made this decision was that a lot of the tackle stores was complaing about people buy saltiga's over seas or ebay alot cheaper compared to aust prices. Daiwa didnt want to know about, where as shimano in some cases that i had experience with, was that they matched E store's prices, so people would support their local shop.

Mind u the current aust$ vs the the us$ is way down and that daiwa had something like a 20% rise in cost price early this year or late last year. The shop that i did work at, sold dogfights for $1600.

To me the S-6500Z is the same as the expedishion when u compare weight, drag pressure, BB's and gear ratio.

hope this helps a bit.

cheers
Ash

[Duncan O'Connell]

There are various models of reels that have been made specifically for the Australian, US and of course the Japanese market over the years. As far as Australia is concerned, it is the first time a reel this 'high end' has been produced for the aussie market. In terms of the size of the market, Australia is pretty small overall but we are big users of quality saltwater tackle. The drag from the S-Extreme reels should be available shortly as an aftermarket part so that other saltigas can be retrofitted.

Duncan

[Brandon Khoo]

Duncan - thanks for that
You've tested the new drag and no doubt, had a good look at the material. Do you know what it is? If it isn't carbontex, it must be a made from a very similar cloth 

[Duncan O'Connell]

It looks like carbontex, performs like carbontex, but i'm guessing daiwa has a different name for it!
The daiwa washers do look like they are made with a finer weave than standard carbontex, but other wise very similar.

Duncan