Info re: Boss 665 wide 2-speed

I think I posted on this here (although it might have been elsewhere) that I managed to break my brand new 665 2-speed. I talked to Tracy Melton where I had bought it and he said he would take care of it. And I have no doubt he would have, but I decided to send it back to Accurate. They were very busy and I did not get a new one until a month later. But it did arrive. They have not torn down my reel yet but have promised to let me know what happened. Matt theorizes that since I cranked the drag preset up as high as I could (to nearly 50 pounds of drag) and then had great trouble forcing the lever forward, that I may have compressed a washer inside or something like that. I have no idea, since I have trouble making our can opener work properly. If so, I guess it makes sense that you should never force anything, but then the manual (or what passes for a manual with Accurate), literally tells you to crank up the drag as high as you can. I figure an old fart like me should not be able to break any Accurate on earth, but I guess I did.

Kil was absolutely right in that it has complete freespool even at the heaviest settings I reached just before killing my first one. (Actually the reel was still fishable and held its drag. It just croaked like a sick frog and the clicker didn't click.

So that was interesting. More interesting to me was that tonight I spooled the replacement up with 300 yards of JB 130 hollow (yes, I know it is overkill) and got it on really, really, really tight and hard. I could easily have fitted another 100 yards onto the spool. Earlier, I had put 300 yards of 100 pound Power Pro on the same reel, only a single speed and had lots left over. So I am thinking you could probably fit close to 500 yards of JB 80 pound hollow on the reel.

Something that will come as no surprise to the more experienced salts on this board was that when I finally got it through my dull brain to spool it up by cranking in low gear, it really helped keep my arms from falling off. However, it hurt enough that if I ever have to respool the 900 yards of 130 on the ATD50W I bought through T.J., I will drown myself or hire someone else to do it--to spool the reel that is, not not to drown me!

I am going to make the 665 my chunking reel for my first two trips by strapping it on a Calstar/Accurate 760H, then if it proves inadequate, I will use the 50 wide. The way old Uncle Russ's luck runs, I will hook the largest yellowfin the Gulf has ever produced and have it spool the little reel and spit in my face.

I don't think I will ever try more than 35 pounds of drag on this reel again, given what happened before. I anticipate when I do some tests tomorrow night, I will max it out at 30-35, at which point the lever will become too stiff to push easily, and at that time, I will not push for more. (I never intended to fish it that heavy anyway, I assure you.) Later, I may replace the 130 with 80 hollow. In any case, I don't intend to cast with it, although I do have a 700H for it.

Russ

 

Not a good update. I spooled the reel up last night and tonight I verrrrry carefully increased the drag until it pulled about 28 pounds at strike. Then, when I moved the lever all the way forward, with the click on, the clicker alternately worked and then stopped clicking. I checked the drag at that point and it was about 32 pounds. Then, I brought the reel upstairs and when I just reeled it around with the clicker off, it sounded slightly rougher than when I spooled it. Not like the first one--that was horrible, but I have decided I cannot live with this reel. For the price, if it's that delicate, I dont' want it. I have contacted both Accurate and Melton to see what I need to do to add some cash and get an ATD 12.

I am not saying it's a bad reel. I am not qualified to make that judgment--and Accurate is a fine company with great service and products. But I am telling you what I have experienced with just 2 reels, and I don't want to worry about it.

By the way, I ordered this reel before they were available, by phone. Tonight, I looked at the Melton catalog (not Accurate) and it says maximum drag of 25 pounds at strike. I am not griping about the amount of drag--just the seeming delicacy.

Russ

 

Actually, I am trying, in spite of frustration, to be level-headed about it. I am hesitant to be too critical, because maybe that's the way smaller 2-speed lever reels are supposed to be. Maybe you are not supposed to pull their what approaches to maximum drag with the clicker on. But that surely does not bother the 50Wide when it is locked down. I just don't know. Maybe it's me. I certainly have not found anyone else having trouble with the reel on any of the boards, and the 870 has been out for some time and I hear nothing but praise.

Russ

Russ

 

I think a really good shrink would say that one sign of mental instability is creating a new post on a fishing bulletin board and then replying repeatedly to yourself. But get this: I quote from the Accurate 665 Users Manual:

"Note: Because the Boss Magnum reels are equipped with TwinDrag Technology, the drag pressure you can apply is unlimited. Feel free to crank up the drag pressure to your desired setting."

This is what is so weird.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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