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]

Originally Posted by 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 ?

I was told by Shimano rep that Saragosa has Paladin gearing as Stella has.

It seems guys who complain about Dartainium drag washers are those who like to open reels on land instead of using the reel on the water.
I can not open any reels as I don't know how to put them back.
My friend jokingly said something breaks whenever he opens Japanese reels.

[jig]

The old Spheros washers were felt, so anything w/b improvement. But the $10 upgrade from Smooth fit perfectly in mine, so if they don't fit in the new, there is something a little different.

[ksong]

I talked with a lady at Smoothdrag and she told me the new Saragosa 18000's drag washer is indeed smaller than old Spheros 14000/18000.
She also said they plan to make carbontex drag washers for Saragosa in a couple of months.

[ksong]

Here are pictures of Saragosa 14000's drag washers.

[fish on]

I have to admit guys i am back on the shimano train I was glad to see shimano made improvments to the spheros and that they introduced something of a poor mans stella. i am anxiously awaiting kils test of the saragossa. (ps the money is burning a hole in my pocket please hurry with the tests).

[fish on]

ohh and if anyone wants to know what i did with the fin-nor i sold it to a friend (i couldnt get used to the weight),not to say that the reel was not a good reel but my spheros was much smoother and i cranked in fish much easier.i also want to try deep jigging and i need a reel with a faster gear ratio.Another thing that had me worried was 1.fin-nor hyped the 60lb drag max but that is no longer posted on their site.2.Called fin-nor and the customer service rep sounded awful as if she didnt care 3.isaw the broken gear and couldnt imagine my trophy fish at the other end of the line

[fish on]

I have had my fall out with shimano before but the customer service is excellent and from the complaints that i gave them about the spheros it is good to see some one was listening that u can never pay for.so i am keeping my fingers crossed with this new saragossa reel and hoping it reel lives up to what its billied at.ps does anyone know where i can get one preferably the 18000

[BretABaker]

Kil - what do you make of those washers? I'm going to leave them regardless and see how they perform, since if they are inferior shimano should know about it.

[ksong]

Originally Posted by BretABaker

Kil - what do you make of those washers? I'm going to leave them regardless and see how they perform, since if they are inferior shimano should know about it.

I bought the reel mainly for testing. So I am going to use the reel out of box.

[fish on]

can anyone tell me where i can get the saragossa. also i need to know your guys thoughts on the diawa saltigaz 6000 is it any good i have a dealer that is telling me that he wants me to carry this line(i work at an ace store in jamaica and im responsible for the fish and tackle department).i might want to try one depending on your recommendations.