Saragosa - anyone used it yet?

[woody]

Gday guys, just after a bit of info on the the new Saragosa? Over here in Australia we wont get it till May sometime, and while its look the goods on paper I'd like to hear from people who have bought one and fished with it, particulary the 18000.
Over here its very common to get a Spheros 14000 and add the xtra bearing and change the drag washers for carbontex ones, and then use it for popping and jigging.

It seems shimano has done the work for us with this model.

A local tackle shop owner has seen one and his first comment was that its drag washer was very small compared to the spheros?? Anyone confirm this? That would be a worry if it is...

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Woody

[ksong]

I don't know whether they use same size drag washer for old Spheros and New Spheros or not, but I was told they use different material drag washers for new Saragosa and Spheros and use same size drag washers for both of them.

[tess113]

The saragosa 14000 has 5 dartanium drag washers,that measure 11/16 inch diameter.The washers are fragile,and I just got 3 new carbontex drag washers from "smoooth"(dawn),which are the right size,but hole in the middle is a little to small.She is sending me more,and I will ream out the hole to fit,and send her my original washers,so she can size them properly,for future reference.
I like this reel,and look forward to using it.

[ksong]

Originally Posted by tess113

The saragosa 14000 has 5 dartanium drag washers,that measure 11/16 inch diameter.The washers are fragile,and I just got 3 new carbontex drag washers from "smoooth"(dawn),which are the right size,but hole in the middle is a little to small.She is sending me more,and I will ream out the hole to fit,and send her my original washers,so she can size them properly,for future reference.
I like this reel,and look forward to using it.

If you got carbontex drag washers for Saragosa 14000, then they must sent you old Spheros 14000/18000's drag washers.
It means the sizes of New Saragosa, New Spheros and old Spheros are same.

[SpecialK]

Originally Posted by tess113

The saragosa 14000 has 5 dartanium drag washers,that measure 11/16 inch diameter.The washers are fragile,and I just got 3 new carbontex drag washers from "smoooth"(dawn),which are the right size,but hole in the middle is a little to small.She is sending me more,and I will ream out the hole to fit,and send her my original washers,so she can size them properly,for future reference.
I like this reel,and look forward to using it.

If you don't mind let me know what the size ends up being. I need to trade mine out as well. I want to try out the stock drag for one light duty trip and see how they act. I will definately uprgrade afterward.
-K

[tess113]

Dawn at"smoooth drag"said she was going to use the ones I send back as a future reference,to make the new ones the right size.

[BretABaker]

I plan on trying to push the stock drags to their limits. After all - Shimano says this reel can do 44lbs of drag. If they really cannot due to some weakness, I'd like to find it and see if they'll correct it before swapping stuff out with after-market items.

[ksong]

Many West Coast fishermen just don't like Dartainium drag by claiming
the Dartainium drag is very brittle and very messy.
Many of our group have been using Trinidad for a long time and still they don't complain much about the drag. In fact, I like the silky smoothness of of the drag.
I am going to use Saragosa out of box until it gives me problems.

[papio]

Yeah, generally I use my reels right out of the box and upgrade accordingly. I too like the Dartainum drag as I have no problems with my Trini...yet.

Kil, what kind of gears in the Saragosa, brass, stainless ?

[ksong]

I got the answer from Shimano rep.

"They are the same size for the Spheros FB and Saragosa. The 18000 has 8 Dartanium washers I think. Enough to make 44 pounds of drag. They are much better than the Spheros FA design washers. "