Overall rating

1 / 5

Got from a friend...

PostedJanuary 9, 2013

WPFishingTeam

from Oskaloosa, IA

Age:18-24

Favorite type of fishing:Freshwater

Number of times fishing per month:5

Owns a boat:Yes

Experience:Intermediate

Gear Feel (Smoothness)

4 / 5

Ergonomics

4 / 5

Casting Performance

3 / 5

Ease of Maintenance

1 / 5

Got this reel almost brand new from a friend. Worked fine for about a week, then stopped reeling. The gears won't catch or something, and It's useless now. Wish I would have kept it to send it in, I know Abu's support is fantastic. I don't know about this one though...was defective for me.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

Response from Abu GarciaAbu GarciaJanuary 10, 2013

Sorry to hear you had an issue with your Black Max reel as this is not normal.. As you know, all Abu reels carry a 1 year warranty. If you still have the reel in your possession, we will be happy to help. One of our customer service representatives will reach out to you at the email address that you submitted with this review in order to get more information from you, If you ever need to get in touch with us directly, our customer service department can be reached at Tel: 1.800.228.4272.

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Overall rating

4 / 5

black max 2

PostedDecember 27, 2012

Anonymous

from South Australia, Australia

Age:18-24

Favorite type of fishing:Saltwater

Number of times fishing per month:5+

Owns a boat:No

Gear Feel (Smoothness)

4 / 5

Ergonomics

3 / 5

Casting Performance

4 / 5

Ease of Maintenance

2 / 5

this is my first over head reel, and I would recommend it to fast learning beginners. these reels are not hard to use when you know what you are doing and they are great for general purpose fishing. I loved it so much I had to buy two. I did though have trouble putting line onto my spool, if anyone had any tips on how to tie the line through the spool

I would recommend this to a friend!

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Overall rating

5 / 5

Awesome Reel

PostedDecember 12, 2012

Spikexphil

from Norfolk, VA

Age:25-34

Favorite type of fishing:Freshwater

Number of times fishing per month:5+

Owns a boat:No

Experience:Intermediate

Gear Feel (Smoothness)

5 / 5

Ergonomics

5 / 5

Casting Performance

3 / 5

Ease of Maintenance

3 / 5

I got this reel on sale for Black Friday for 40$ with a cabelas i7 graphite tourney special rod, I traded the rod for a Vendetta 6'6 MH.

The reel is a dream in your hand for bass fishin. Very smooth retrieve and drag system. My only complaint is the brake system does seem to take a little extra tweaking than some of my other low profile reels. I find myself readjusting even with simple differences between lures of the same weight but different shape, ie jig/crank bait. All in all a good all around bass reel for the 40$ I spent.

I would recommend this to a friend!

My product recommendations

Vendetta

(173)

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Overall rating

1 / 5

Don't do it

PostedNovember 11, 2012

Anonymous

from Texas

Age:18-24

Favorite type of fishing:Freshwater

Number of times fishing per month:5

Owns a boat:No

Experience:Intermediate

Casting Performance

1 / 5

I got this reel as a gift from my girlfriend last month for my birthday. I had been wanting to buy this reel for months and would look at every time we went to academy, gander mtn, walmart, etc I just hadn't brought myself to buying it because I have been using one of my brother's hand-me-downs and haven't had any trouble with it, so I wasn't "in need" of a new reel. As soon as I opened it we went to the store to buy line so I could spool it, immediately after spooling it we went down to the neighborhood lake that's stocked with large mouth bass. Long story short 1st cast I threw went about 20ft, then locked up and you can imagine the backlash I had. I pulled the line out, got rid of the birds nest and reeled it back, the second cast I threw, SAME THING happened only with even worse backlash. I repeated this process about 8 or 9 more times as I insisted it was a "user error". Finally gave up and called it a day. I got home, re spooled it hoping that tomorrow i'd have better luck, but I didn't. Same thing happened. Finally I went home thinking maybe it was the line I spooled it with. Went straight to the store to buy different line, spooled it again this time with 15lb line (first put 20lb braided) and had NO BETTER LUCK. Ive spooled this reel with about 4 different kinds of line and can now confidently say that the casting issues were NOT happening due to a "user error" but were occurring as a result of a poorly made reel. I wouldn't want anyone else to have to go through this so just save up a little more and buy a better reel. Worst part is iv'e had it too long to return to the store, I guess back to using the hand-me-down...

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

Response from Abu GarciaAbu GarciaNovember 13, 2012

Sorry to hear you are having trouble casting your new Black Max reel. It sounds like your issue is due to the way you have the casting brake systems configured. Backlashes are caused when the spool spins faster than the line goes out of the reel and through the guides. While it can be frustrating when you are just learning how to use a baitcast reel, the learning curve is quite fast if you follow these instructions:

With the rod-reel-line-lure properly assembled, place the tip of your thumb on the line to hold the spool. Depress the thumb bar with the pad of your thumb to disengage the gears. Allow the lure to drop to the ground. If the lure does not fall when the thumb bar is depressed, turn the spool tension knob (located next to the reel handle) counterclockwise (left) to reduce tension on the spool. If the lure falls to the ground and the spool continues to rotate, spool tension is too loose. Rotate the knob clockwise (right) to increase tension. Once the spool tension is set, you can then adjust the Magtrax magnetic brake by rotating the dial to further fine tune you casting.

With practice, using a baitcasting reel becomes much easier and allows for extreme accuracy and control.

If you have any questions or need more assistance, we are always here to help. You can reach us at (800) 228-4272.

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Chrokee

Massachusetts

Thanks for your response to this users issue

Posted December 6, 2012

I always read as many reviews on new gear as I can before buying and I pay special attention to the lowest scores to ensure I'm not buying a dud. Your brief tutorial on properly setting up the reel was excellent and taught me quite a bit about the finetuning mechanisims on the Black Max reel. Thanks

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bassangler

quantum!

Posted November 29, 2012

there are many good reals from quantum for a good price i myself have a quantum vantex and a smoke both good reals the vantex is way better than a black max for the same price

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