Stella 2013 review

[Mark Gwynne]

Alan Hawk has done his review.

http://www.alanhawk.com/reviews/13SW.html

[Vasko Dimoski]

Thank's Mark. I think I'm going to stick with my 08 Stellas for a while longer 

[Cam Foley]

Got to love Alans attention to detail, i still want all of them with pubes or not.

[Robert Tapert]

Interesting

I  bought the 6000 and the 14K.. .. I found a huge amount of play in the shaft as Alan reported.  The reels were strong and I better check for crrsion as I left the line on!

better go

rob

[Sachin Chaudhry]

I would expect a very quick response from Shimano to correct the shaft play, replacement of the Thailand bearing (what the hell were they thinking) and upgraded pinion gear and waterproofing issues.
Its up about 25% in price and made decontented as well as running greater tolerances in key areas.
From the company that always got it so right with the Stella this is hugely disappointing.
Yep. 2008 Stella for now and wait for extended usage reports from heavy users.

[Ian Cook]

All I can say is WTF were they thinking.........they were at the top of their game with the SW, but have certainly let it slide.

I hope it is not a case of profits before quality!

Not happy Jan!!!!! 

Cheers,

Ian

[Nathan Tsao]

Interesting about the drag knob spring. I used a friends' 14K and really didn't like the drag at all. Not because of any lack of smoothness, but that it took too long to lock it down after the strike. For my own self, i prefer the feel of the original coil spring because of the fact that you get a quicker and stronger response at the higher end of the drag setting. We wondered as to why that was with the new reels, and i guess now we know!

[Mark Harris]

Nathan - so far that drag which takes forever to tighten is my only negative comment on the new Stellas. Not that I change drag after the strike very often but I would like to know that to do so I do not have to keep turning the knob forever.

Alan's reviews are always quite remarkable in their attention to detail and this one is no exception.

In his conclusion he states that the 2013 Stella will not make it to his top five list of the "Finest Offshore Spinning Reels".   Wow  . That, in  Alan's opinion, makes it a worse reel than Van Staal Bailed and the Accurate Twinspin!

[Trevor Skinner]

Think the whole thing is a bit over-hyped anyway.

I wasn't ever going to replace my 08 reels and the 13 reels I did buy just completed gaps in my ever expanding collection of rods and line weights.

It's incredibly annoying that these weaknesses are built into the new reel and Shimano need to retrospectively fix these issues quickly for their reels to maintain their dominance. However, I don't overstress any of my reels, not even the old ones, by upgrading drag systems and using non-standard oversize spools so I guess I am unlikely to have any issues with the 13 reels in terms of their use.

Think that placing it below reels like the Accurate is a bit of a knee-jerk, or at least I hope so.

Regards,


Trevor

[Brandon Khoo]

Let's not burn the new Stella at the stake and let's put things into perspective. Every single Stella since release has been a great reel but not a perfect reel. I expect the current series to be no different to that. I have owned Stellas in every series since the F series and the large majority of each model in each series. There have been small faults in every series and I make the point that I have broken nearly every reels in every series. That said, I continue to buy Stellas as my reel of choice and the reason is simple - I haven't found a better reel on the market for what I use them for. On my current series Stellas, every 10000 and 18000 has had something break that has required an expensive repair.

Alan is a technician and a very capable one at that. He is able to pull a reel apart and get right into the minutiae of its construction. I am not but I don't need to be. I only need the reel to perform as it has been designed to perform. This is analogous to the car I drive.

Alan did say (quote from his review):

Let me put it all in perspective. The reel is immensely strong. They went for maximum rigidity as a design concept and this was undoubtedly achieved. I jigged, popped, trolled, and live baited, and landed a combined total of roughly 2.5 tons of hard fighting pelagic fish, including BFT up to an estimated 180lb, without a problem. The reliability is unquestionable and I can't see them failing on fish

I think what he has written there is enough for me. The main issue is whether there is any need to rush out to replace your 08 Stellas and I think we also have the answer to that. In fact, I am sure Shimano will respond quickly to any faults that become apparent so there may actually be good reason to wait.

I suspect that part of the problem here was the ridiculous hysteria on the part of some anglers that accompanied the announcement of the reel. I made the comment at that time that I couldn't see what this reel was going to do that the F Series or the FA or the 08 didn't do. I still don't but I have said that at the release of every new reel and I still went out and bought them!! 

[Lars Nielsen]

You have to respect Alan Hawk's thoroughness, but sometimes I think he neglects the obvious. I remember reading his review of the Tica Talisman reel with no mentioning of the fact that the reel has a handle the size of a mid sized salami - kind of impractical for a reel that is supposed to be used for casting.

In the Stella review, strangely he does not touch upon that great, great mystery: Why oh why did they keep the egg handle...

[Peter Olesen]

Alan clearly thinks there is a down grade from the SS pinion in the SW-A to brass pinion. To those of you who have fished long enough to have punished both the FA and SW: Do you think there is a big difference between the life time of the brass pinion in the FA and the SS pinion in the SW-A? Just curious to hear the practical side of it.

Cheers

[Leigh Turner]

Nathan - so far that drag which takes forever to tighten is my only negative comment on the new Stellas. Not that I change drag after the strike very often but I would like to know that to do so I do not have to keep turning the knob forever.

Alan's reviews are always quite remarkable in their attention to detail and this one is no exception.

In his conclusion he states that the 2013 Stella will not make it to his top five list of the "Finest Offshore Spinning Reels".   Wow  . That, in  Alan's opinion, makes it a worse reel than Van Staal Bailed and the Accurate Twinspin!

Mark, what dont you like with the twinspin accurates ?

I would expect shimano to be looking at this asap, given the marketing hype & cost of the reels. Leigh

[Brandon Khoo]

Leigh, it might be easier if you ask him what he likes about the reel!   

[Sean Costello]

Peter i think it would take an extensive amount of use to notice a difference between the brass and stainless pinions but brass is obviously the softer metal which made this the most disappointing thing for me in the review. As it was a conscious decision to go backwards.

As soon as i read the review i checked the new 20000 against the old 18000 and sure enough the play was there and its not hard to notice, I'm going to check the smaller sizes today and see if the play is constant across all sizes

Sean