Fin Nor OFS95 - The Breaking Point

[shanker]

Alright guys, I opened up my Busted Fin Nor OFS95, the main gear broke, all the way around where it mounds to the reel handle.

I have taken some really good High-Res pics but left my Digi-Cam pic at work, I will get it tomorow.

The gear broke because it is CAST! NOT MACHINED! Fin-Nor needs to correct this issue ASAP, if they are expecting people to fish these reels with heavy drags, the gears need to be able to support the drag capabilities as well.

-Patrick

[Fishhead56]

The below is part of a thread that I posted last July.
Not to offend only to houmor

.................................................. ..............................................

To move this thread to another level (lower level)

How many opinions does it take to screw in a light bulb. 5, 1 to put in the bulb, rest aren't worth a darn.

If an opinion falls in the woods and nobody it there to here it dose it make a noise? Probably not as most suck.

What do you tell an opinion with 2 black eyes? nothing it's already been replied to twice.

What do you call 50 opinions dead at the bottom of the Gulf? A darn good start.

What is the difference between an opinion and dog poo. eventualy the dog poo will stop stinking.



the above opinions were not intended to offend, rummors, secrets, lies, gossip or any other form of comunacation.

[gman]

Originally Posted by mrbig1225

Simply put I have owned my Fin-nor OS95 since its release... I have taken the reel offshore and it has performed beautifully…. For the price/performance it’s pretty hard to beat… 2nd you don’t see many ppl using spinning reels on groupers…. But at any rate I wouldn’t suggest you use any reel in way that the gentleman that has used his. Once again I’m not going to say they do not have a problem… but I would never crank a reel against any huge hard fighting fish, isn’t that what the rod is for??? I mean come on that’s fishing 101…. But then again I see ppl locking the drags on their reels and complain when a 100lb YFT tuna breaks there equipment…. But I guess even the diawa saltiga, Shimano Stella, and the Accurate all have their faults to right?

I would agree with you that for $180 that reel is hard to beat. It just may not be suited to fishing hard offshore for large fish

As far as user error I would have to disagree with you on this one, example: Your short pumping a fish up, the fish stops running for a second, you go to crank down and he starts again during the crank. There is no way for you to foresee this, its not user error.

The issue is as spinning reels become more popular here in the states ever manufacturer is trying to make an inexpensive reel that puts out both capacity and high drag. For what its worth I beat my quantum Cabo 80 to death for 2 years and never had an issue like this. Locking down the drag on a medium sized AJ shouldnt do that period.

As for the gentlemen from Australia Seahunter, The rod is also under load in that equation. Im sure you are very familiar with GT fishing. The amount of pressure put on the reels while GT fishing is absolutely insane fishing with 40 lbs of drag on 120 lb braid but yet I don't see many com plaints of Stellas & Saltigas blowing up.

Just my 2 cents, I have sen many threads where people have had issues with this reel.

[Snagged]

Originally Posted by mrbig1225

But I guess even the diawa saltiga, Shimano Stella, and the Accurate all have their faults to right?

Correct.

[MrBill]

You can blame most of reel failures to braid!!!!!!!!!!

Before braid, mono just stretched and stretched like a giant shock absorber.
Now, everyone wants a little reel loaded with spectra to accomplish a task that most reels can't handle. What happens? Something gives.

There are limits for every reel. I still don't use braid for trolling or chunking. I use braid for jigging, casting poppers, and bottom fishing. Setting the hook and feeling the bite is a wonderful thing when using braid. Granted, I have bought a bunch of the new Might Might reels for this purpose. They are all loaded with spectra. Like someone said eariler in this thread. The use of the rod is very important. A tired angler will do stupid things. When a boat has a sturdy rail and you take advantage of it, equipment will be put to extreme pressures. That's when you need the really high end equipment.

[Fishhead56]

File Photo,

[BretABaker]

Fin Nors are notoriously finicky. I've never owned one, but this just seems to be the word about them.

Also - if a reel claims to be able to handle a certain weight in drag (I think the OFS95 claims 66lbs?) - then it should absolutely handle the situation described. to me, 66lbs of drag says that it is a crazy strong reel, under all situations.

[lite-liner]

Originally Posted by mrbig1225

I’m looking at the pictures of the “broken Fin-nor” and I’m kind of curious of how the reel was broken. Looking at the reel and breaking down my own fin-nor I know now how it was broken….. A typical case of reel abuse, the part the guy failed to mention has nothing to do with the drag on the reel what so ever…. It is the reel handle that broke… and for that to break you have to apply a ridiculous amount of pressure to the handle while the bail was in a position where it could not be turned easily. Example if I am fighting a fish I would normally pull the rod tip up and reel in the slack as I drop the rod tip… I would never crank against a fighting fish…. That appears to have happened here. I do not contest that fin-nor may have had a problem with some of their reels but if we are going to give an item bad press then we should do it rightfully…. My only complaint with the reel is the weight. I have used this reel for Tuna, Wahoo… and the big others…once again you will need a arm for 0S95… as the weight of the others are pretty much in line with the staple. I think for the price, this reel offers performance at a unbeatable price. That my 2 cents

MrBig I thought since you're new here I would point out a couple things.

#1.) it's amazing that after looking at a few pic's you can determine
it was angler error in the breakage of the reel, regardless of the
highly-known shortcomings of this reel, and especially w/out fully
realizing the caliber of offshore anglers that frequent this board.

#2.) Even if the reel is getting a bad rap, it's probably not the most
intellegent to call out another angler's abilities with your 1st post


For the record, there have Been many,many complaints on this reel, from
boards here in the US, and Australia, Japan, Indonesia, etc. Patrick is the
first one that I've seen that actually posted pics of the failure.
Yes, "Skull-dragging" is a practice that directs the torsional load right
into the gear-case. sometimes it cannot be avoided, as was posted earlier.
The only other reel I see fail like this w/ any regularity(main gear)
is the Penn SSM series, and that is due to a sintered-metal gear. Even
when replacing that gear w/ Penn's solid brass replacement, it still breaks.
(right, Bristow?) the metallurgy of that main gear (Fin-Nor)is a problem.
there are many other "weaker links" in the gear-case that should break
first. ( like the threaded handle-stem, or the traverse block, or the pinion.
NOT the main gear.
If the Fin-Nor OS-95 is your choice, and it's working for you, (there's actually a couple others,too) Great! it really comes down to confidence in your equipment. After seeing what I've seen, I have no confidence in that reel.
Oh, Yeah. I don't see Stella's, Saltiga's, Van Staal's, Accurates, Cabo's,
Zeebas', or thunnus's breaking main gears.........

Have a great day & welcome to 360tuna
tight lines
-Brian

[lite-liner]

Originally Posted by Fishhead56

File Photo,

that looks like a Calstar west-coast 6455xxh. good to know, being as that's
what I chunk/troll with. I still wouldn't "rail" it, though.
-B

[gman]

couldn't have said it any better than that ... actually I tried yours came out better ha ha

[seahunter]

YouTube - saltiga

OUCHIES