Info re: Boss 665 wide 2-speed

[Uncle Russ]

MrBill and gman: Well this is going to sound like an Oliver Stone movie, but a buddy of mine just got back from a trip offshore of Port Mansfield and he was bitterly disappointed with his new one as well. I am going to hold off yammering about it, because I don't know exactly what happened, and he needs to deal with the company from which he bought it, but lets just say his experience was not unlike mine.

I really wanted to believe in this reel as much as you, gman. It seemed too good to be true: a 26 ounce reel with 2-speeds and 25 pounds plus of drag. And I suppose it is possible that my friend and I, being much less experienced with offshore equipment than you two and certainly Kil, are missing something. I will hide and watch, and hope kil and you MrBill get the same results experienced by gman.

gman: When you have it maxed out at 35 pounds, is the lever hard to push off of freespool? Very hard, or just a little? My second reel is a little tough at 20 pounds and more so at 25 full drag, and given my experience on the first one, I am afreaid to push it further. Also, my friend experienced pain pushing the lever forward at 20 pounds at strike.

I am loving my Twinspin more every day.

Thanks.

Russ

[Uncle Russ]

MrBill: I suspect you are correct. You may be right about the jinx. But if that's true, it also applies to a good friend of mine who took his offshore of Port Mansfield this weekend and reports to me this morning that he only fished it at 20 pounds at strike, and barely could move the lever past freespool. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it is happening. Now I want to emphasize once more that my second reel is NOT doing what the first one did--but it is doing some things I don't like.

I emailed Accurate with one question: If the reel is set at 25 pounds at strike, and the clicker is on, at maximum drag, should the clicker stop working????? The other thing is this: I just wonder why they don't tear down the first reel and find out how I broke the damned thing. In any case, I told them I was pissed off at the reel, not at Melton and not at Accurate. I know what standup companies they are.

In any case, Accurate advised me to work with Melton if I wanted to trade the reel in on another model and that made sense. Melton gave me a return number, so I will be out the shipping on two trips--first one to Accurate and the second one to Melton. That sort of thing happens, though. Then I guess I will order an ATD 12. I'm not sure why but I really like the preset lever on the ATD reels as opposed to a knob preset.

I hope Kil's reel works as well as gman's and that mine and my friend's experience is just random. I just don't have personal confidence in the reel and quite frankly, if I got a third one, or kept this one, I would find myself reaching for my Twinspin at every opportunity.

Russ

[Uncle Russ]

FYI: I got a call back from Ben Seagrist (hope that is spelled correctly) from Accurate, and he was extremely attentive to my previous emails and asked me in detail what I had experienced. I repeated the whole 9 yards and he told me that he uses his 665 2-speed for his rig to cast to swordfish, that's how confident he is. And I absolutely believe him, but asked him if this reel, at relatively high drag settings, should have the clicker to fail, either semi-permanently, as with my first reel, or only at high drag, as with my second one. He replied that it should not. He also thought (not having examined the first reel I sent back, yet) that the roughness I experienced with the first one was just the standard stainless-steel gear phenomenon. I told him he really ought to check out the reel and that Matt had definitely said it never left the factory that way. Finally, I strongly suggested that they should change the usage manual so that it did not suggest you should crank the drag up to your desired setting without entering a caveat that you can break it if you go up too high. I pointed out that in order to be foolproof, both the reel and manual should be aimed at complete idiots like me!

Also, in the meantime, (thought I had posted this, but I guess not) a buddy of mine took his identical reel offshore of Port Mansfield and reports to me the following experience: He was able to get only 20 pounds at strike with the drag lever already hard enough to push forward that he said it literally hurt his thumb. He contacted the company from which he purchased it and they offered a replacement, but instead he sent it to Accurate for evaluation and repair. Unlike my case, the clicker worked fine (possibly because he had his drag set lower than I did.)

I know how weird it is that two (and apparently only two of us have had problems with 3 reels, but I know I am not dreaming.

Kil: I would be interested in how your reel behaved and what you think of it. Noone but my friend and I seem to be having problems. Maybe it is the Good Lord's punishment for our being government employees.

Russ

[Drifter]

I purchased a 665 2-speed two weeks ago - had to send it to Accurate this week. Once I set the drag around 20lbs at strike, it was hell moving the lever out of freespool. Furthermore, ramp up was terrible - went from freespool to 16lbs of drag. Called Accurate, they took me through a few drag settings, then acknowledged the problem as they expect the reel to easily handle 25lbs of drag at strike and moving out of freespool to be effortless.

They will either repair it or send me a new one. It's frustrating when one spends $600 on a top shelf reel and it's problematic! Let me add that my 665 single speed is great!

I'm headed to Venice in 2 weeks and was counting on the Accurate but since I'm not sure I'll have this resolved in time, I purchased a HOO-X this afternoon.

Maybe it's just a bad batch since gman is happy with his.

[Drifter]

Just wanted to state that I'm the other Uncle Russ friend with the 665 2-speed freespool lever issue. I didn't want everyone to think there's more of these reels out there with freespool issues.

[gimmedeal]

Just curious, and possibly problems are with a specific model/ width reel. Are either of these reels the W width or are they standard 665 width?

Fred

[Uncle Russ]

Fred: All three reels involved (2 of mine and the one belonging to Drifter) are the wide version. I have no competence to say whether there would be any difference in construction. The second gentleman from Accurate who was in sales, but who was extremely cooperative and helpful, said he thought a washer had popped off my first reel on the side with the clicker. I owned the 665HXC single speed and sold it to Drifter who then in turn sold it. I did not run drag tests on it, but he did and, as he says, had absolutely no problems. I have searched the internet and have only found one instance where someone other than us had a problem and I think that was a couple of single speeds which he said Accurate claimed was due to poor maintenance and which needed bearings, and dogs I believe. He said one of them "sounded like a bag of rocks" which was not far off what I experienced with my first one. My second one really only had the clicker stop working at full drag and then recovering, but that, together with Drifter's problem, was enough to put me off my feed."

I probably don't need to add that everyone either of us has dealt with at Accurate, and in my case, with Melton as well, have been absolutely stand-up in every way. They questioned me closely as to what had gone wrong, but I would expect them to.

Russ

[ksong]

Originally Posted by Uncle Russ

Kil: I would be interested in how your reel behaved and what you think of it. Noone but my friend and I seem to be having problems. Maybe it is the Good Lord's punishment for our being government employees.

Russ

Russ,
I used the 665 two-speed on the Gulf of Mexico trip and caught a few AJ on the reel. The reel performed well and I didn't have issues as you experienced. However I prefer star drag reels for jigging. Yong who was on the trip used 870 two-speed and didn't like the reel for jigging either.
he is already thinking about selling the reel on e-bay.
No matter what Accurate insist, the round knob was not comfortable when fighting a decent size fish. I already bought Jigging Master's custom handle for it. The lower gear of the reel is a beauty. It is so smooth and effortless when reeling. Steve (fathom) brought Hoo-X on the trip and I checked the reel. Turning the handle of the Accurate 655 was much smoother than Hoo-X. The anti-reverse prawl of my Torium 30 broke after I caught about 20 tuna. I can not judge the Accurate 665 until I use it extensively for long period time. By the end of this year after I fight many tuna on the reel, I can tell how good or bad the reel is.

[Ragman]

Hey Kil!

What about the 870 did Yong not like when he was jigging?

[Uncle Russ]

Thanks, Kil. I am very glad to hear your experience with the reel was good overall. I decided to get a refund on mine and I will wait and see how things go. Accurate mades some changes for Drifter--not sure just what, and he will be fishing the reel this weekend.

Russ