Shimano's new reel repair policy

[Garry2Rs]

This might have hit the board before, but it was news to me.

Yesterday I dropped off a 12 year old Stradic to the reel repair depot at Shimano's head office in Peterborough.

 

The two young guys manning the shop were pleasant but told me they might not have parts for such an old reel. It seems that Shimano's new policy, at least in Canada, is to only support reels for FIVE years after a model change. After that, if the part you need is out of stock, you are out of luck!

 

In the past I have thought and said that it's very hard to choose between a $80.00 Sahara spinning reel and a $180.00 Stradic. It's harder still between the $100.00 Symetre and the Stradic. Because of the very fast technical trickle down, this years Symetre has all of the features that were introduced on the top-of-the-line reels only a couple of years ago. The more expensive models have better bearings and more metal parts, but so what, if there are no replacement parts?!?!

 

Why not a new reel every few years? By the time the carbon/plastic frame starts to stretch or the non-sealed bearings get gritty, you can toss it to the kid next door or straight into the trash and get a brand new one.

 

Since those better bearings, frames and metal parts might be smoother, but don't help your cast with spinning gear, in my opinion, the only excuses for paying a higher price was longevity and repair-ability.

 

In the past I though this worked for me. However, since there is now a new model about every 3 years and the new five and out policy also comes with a second surprise, any repair will now cost $25.00 plus parts, Shimano has effectively removed the advantages that I saw in using their better spinning reels.

 

I don't say that I haven't had good service from my old Stradic. It has only cost me about $15.00 a year to own so far and it might be another five or ten years before it needs parts again. On the other hand , I might have bought my last Stradic and I now know that I will never consider buying a Stella or even a Sustain.

 

If you bought one of these high end beauties just before the new model hit, you might live through a $330.00 lose a few years down the road, but can you imagine the heart-shock of finding out you have a five year old $900.00 paper weight?!?!

Garry2R's

[fishnsled]

Didn't know this Garry, thanks for the heads up.

[fishindevil]

well that sucks as i own 3 new stradics,lots of curados,and a new stradic ci4 as well.!!! i have always been a shimano guy,and yes i have some symetres,as well as a few saros rells too,and i have only ever had 1 problem,but thanks thats good to know as a stradic would be as high priced reeel as i think i would ever own....but its not right as shimano has always been very good to their customers.....im going to fire them off,an email...at least carry parts for the medium,to high cost reels....thanks for the info....cheers

[Rodwrap]

FWIW....

 

This place in Texas specializes in repairing & customizing Shimano reels. I've heard a LOT of praise for them....

 

 

 

http://www.lakeforktacklerepair.com/

[GBW]

That sucks.

 

I know that the industry standard in the IT world was that 'you have to have parts for 7 years after that unit goes end of life and becomes another model'. I'm a bit shocked that Shimano would only do 5 years. And with the amount they sell they probably will have parts for many years but they are covering their with that statement.

[jedimaster]

Shimano has been losing money and with new leadership the accounting side is taking over much of the fishermen friendly side of the company. The product fortunatly is still solid but the service everyone has come to expect from shimano has started to be pulled in.

[canadadude]

I bought a Sahara for $60 this spring to use for perching, it's a sweet reel and got me thinking aswell to why I'm paying $180 for a Stradic.The Sahara is a very smooth reel and the drag seems to be just as smooth as the Stradic, time will tell if holds up aswell but the lower end Sahara seems more then adequate for fishing with.

[jedimaster]

symetres are great reels, I have 3 of them and I can't tell the difference between them and my stradics.

[bubbles]

OK so someone has to play the devils advocate here....

 

How long would you expect a company to hold onto parts for an obsolete product? Should Ford still have shelves full of parts for a 1972 Pinto?

We are always looking for improvements and new developments in our equipment and companies continue to do so, why would they hold onto an inferior product?

 

I see nothing wrong with their policy.

[PikeMolester]

dont bother me none. You had me worried...12 year old reel? no wonder

[Bondar]

OK so someone has to play the devils advocate here....

 

How long would you expect a company to hold onto parts for an obsolete product? Should Ford still have shelves full of parts for a 1972 Pinto?

We are always looking for improvements and new developments in our equipment and companies continue to do so, why would they hold onto an inferior product?

 

I see nothing wrong with their policy.

 

I agree with this 100% and paying $25 for something you wore out with general use over 5 years doesnt seem to bad to me either , for some reason with fishing items people think they should be handed a new one as soon as something fails after being used or they close a rod in the trunk, or step on it ! These are the reasons why Warranties arent what they used to be because of false claims and people wanting hand outs for something that was general wear and tear or operator error

[mercman]

This may open some doors for aftermarket parts manufacturers.Once parts for these reels become desireable, there will probably be a manufacturer somewhere who will see dollar signs in generic reel parts.

 

 

[jedimaster]

Or peopole will smarten up and stop spending 800 dollars on a fishing reel.

[asdve23rveavwa]

symetres are great reels, I have 3 of them and I can't tell the difference between them and my stradics.

 

I'll second that! Not sure how good the new ones are, but, my 21 year old 4000 has landed so many bows and salmon off Lake Huron piers I've lost count long ago. It has NEVER missed a beat, and, is by far the most reliable reel I have ever owned.

 

Thanks for the heads up Garry!

[Grimace]

Cyclical consumption. If they made a car that would last 50 years they would not make that much money. If they could make a car that lasted 50 years we would want a new one after 5 anyways because of the heavy marketing campaigns they have for everything nowadays.

 

It is all about cyclical consumption in a throw away society. In order for you to want to throw your stuff out and buy new stuff they have to make you believe that the new stuff is so much better. That is why they have these stupid ICast's every year so the same old talking heads and shills can convince you to buy all this 'cutting edge' equipment, while the whole time sneaking around the show trying to get a better sponsorship deal with a another tackle company so they can convince all their fans that they should in fact buy 'this' product line instead of the other one they have been shilling for years while preaching about 'credibility'. PUKE.

 

Hey, but that's just my opinion. lol.

[Billy Bob]

This has been the policy with Lowrance Electronics for many years now...you spend $650 to $2000 on a Sonar/GPS unit and something simple stops working on that unit making it a boat anchor and Lowrance says it's over 5 years old we don't stock parts or do repairs on those units anymore.....

[lookinforwalleye]

Cyclical consumption. If they made a car that would last 50 years they would not make that much money. If they could make a car that lasted 50 years we would want a new one after 5 anyways because of the heavy marketing campaigns they have for everything nowadays.

 

It is all about cyclical consumption in a throw away society. In order for you to want to throw your stuff out and buy new stuff they have to make you believe that the new stuff is so much better. That is why they have these stupid ICast's every year so the same old talking heads and shills can convince you to buy all this 'cutting edge' equipment, while the whole time sneaking around the show trying to get a better sponsorship deal with a another tackle company so they can convince all their fans that they should in fact buy 'this' product line instead of the other one they have been shilling for years while preaching about 'credibility'. PUKE.

 

Hey, but that's just my opinion. lol.

 

 

Next time don`t hold back Grimace tell us how ya really feel!

[Garry2Rs]

OK so someone has to play the devils advocate here....

 

How long would you expect a company to hold onto parts for an obsolete product? Should Ford still have shelves full of parts for a 1972 Pinto?

We are always looking for improvements and new developments in our equipment and companies continue to do so, why would they hold onto an inferior product?

 

I see nothing wrong with their policy.

 

 

Your point is good, but let's face it we aren't talking Pinto's here. We are talking Lincoln's! I would never disagree that I have had my good and fair use out of my old Stradic 1000FG with the white finish and the wooden handles...grin.

 

The good news is that yesterday they still had two of the broken anti-reverse parts in stock, so mine will be repaired this time.

 

My point is that next time, there won't be a part available, so a very good reel will have to be retired.

 

The current non-plastic model Stradic is the FJ. There have been 3 new model since 2000 when I bought my FG. The improvements include a slower oscillation for better line lay, an improved drag, a tapered line roller that might be better, an oil port on the side cover that strikes me a odd because the worm gear, that it gives you access to, is a part that is normally greased...There is also a new profile on the spool lip, which is supposed to add casting distance, but that I think just causes braid to fall off the spool more easily. There are new gears too, but the old ones are still pretty smooth to me. The wooden handle is nice and I have never had dog hair cause the handle to bind on the old reel, but it does on my rubber handled MgFg.

 

The biggest change over the years is that they shrunk the frame so that the 1000 spool is now on a 750 size frame. The smaller frame saves a little weight, but since it is in your hand, I don't really notice the difference in real life.

 

Shimano was one of the first manufactures to have a reel positioned at every ten or fifteen dollar price point. Today they show 20 different spinning reels on their web site. Then they say there are too many parts...Go figure!!! Wake up Shimano...This is a self inflicted wound!

Garry2R's

[canadadude]

I have 2 of those old Stradics, after getting new anti reverse fixed twice in each reel, I retired both of those old clunkers. It dosn't suprise me all the spare parts are used up, the best and only decent thing about that junk is the wood handle.I still have them and yes, the anti reverse is shot in both reels

[monsterfish]

Shimano has always been good to me and whenever possible I will continue to choose Shimano over the competitor.

 

And yes I have had trouble finding parts for my 72 pinto!

 

Keep your hooks sharp!

[craigdritchie]

Garry - you might consider hunting around on eBay for parts, or just buy another cheap reel you can strip parts from. Just a thought.

[2jack2]

With the average shelf life of the reel is 3 years, parts are available for 5 years after the reels discontinued, that means the parts is actually available for 8 years, and no matter you buy a $50 reel or $800 reel, they all only come with 1 year warranty, so they didn't make customer think the expensive reel will last any longer. The average life of the reel is 5 years, if someone only fish 5-6 times a year and he owns a Stradic, the reel will properly last 30 years, on the other hand, someone fish 200 days a year, the same Stradic may only last 3 years, think about this way, if I spent $200 on a Stradic and I fish 30 days a year, after 5 years is 150 days of fishing, it equal to $1.33 per fishing day which cost less than a doz of worm.

 

Now look at the production side, When manufacture create the tooling to make a reel, they make a percentage of extra parts for repair service, once these parts run out, you are out of luck. The tooling do not last forever, after the production is finish, the tooling may be worn and will not cut the part properly, to make new tooling will cost hundreds of thousand dollars, not economically just to try to keep a $3.00 parts in-stock. The money will be use to make new tooling for new reel, which will fill the demands of consumer who always wants to have the newest, most advance design and cutting edge products.

 

There is no money to only manufacture parts for repair for non-current product, not in the reel business or any other business, manufacture or any aftermarket company. Here is how most reel repair shop work, someone bring in a old reel for repair, parts no longer available, the customer feels there is no need to keep the reel, they left it at the repair shop, now, suddenly, some of the parts from this reel become available to the next customer who happens looking for the parts, you never know, may be 2 months down the road and you go back to Shimano, they may have the parts just because someone drop off some old reels there.

 

Shimano service is very good, as long as they have the parts; they will fix the reel for you no matter how old the reel is, with a small charge which is understandable. There are lots of other reel companys out there selling high end reel with no parts available at all, they only give replacement reel within the 1 year warranty, you get a NEW REEL if it broke within the first year, after 1 year, no more service.

[splashhopper]

dang.... now what will I do with my shimano reel that I bought at Canadian Tire 4 years ago for $39.00 ( on sale of course ) ?

 

I was counting on that reel

[porkpie]

You know, I'm still fishing with a bunch of diawa 700 and 1300's. I went to buy a couple new reels a few years ago, and noticed they where still selling the same diAwa line of 1300/700's and I compared the features to the newest models, realized they weren't as up to date, then realized that the diawas may be old technology, but were bullet proof and had served me very well, so I walked out with a couple more 1300's..... lol, i expect my kids will be fishing with them! I see no reason to spend more than a hundred on a reel these days!

[newb09]

I would buy the $25.00 reel, I would rebuilt it just before the 5years is up, and perhaps buy some spare parts.

 

I was able to get most of my parts from this site

http://www.mikesreelrepair.com/

Edited July 31, 2011 by steelheader09