Penn Reel? 50vsw -vs- 70vs

[Uncle Buck]

Hi. My name is Uncle Buck, and I have Purple Fever.

I'm about to make (what is to me) a large purchase. I'm planning on getting a pair or Penn reels suitable for swording. (yes, only two, for now) I've focused on either a Penn International V 70vs or 50vsw. There's about a $100 difference between the two. But, what is the primary differnce? Size, yes. Line capacity, yes. But there are some other things to consider...

Is it all about line capacity? Or is it the reel itself? I can easily line a reel with braid and triple its capacity. So would a 50vsw with braid do the same job as a 70vs with pure mono? Or is there a noticable difference in drag abillity that makes the larger 70vs worth the extra dough?

All opinions are welcome. Thanks... -->UB

[Beerman]

I dont see too much difference in the reels, except the 70vs holds more line (1000yds of 50#) and weighs more (89 oz). The 50vsw (850yds of 50#, 68 oz) will do fine, but if you got the $$$ more line and a bigger reel is never a bad thing.

One question, why does it have to be Penn??? If it doesnt, I would look into the Avet EXW50, i think its about $50 cheaper than the 50vsw penn, and hold 950yds of 50 and weights 63 oz.....but thats just my opinion.....but you cant go wrong with Penn Internationals

[CAPTINMITCH]

Originally Posted by Uncle Buck

Hi. My name is Uncle Buck, and I have Purple Fever.

I'm about to make (what is to me) a large purchase. I'm planning on getting a pair or Penn reels suitable for swording. (yes, only two, for now) I've focused on either a Penn International V 70vs or 50vsw. There's about a $100 difference between the two. But, what is the primary differnce? Size, yes. Line capacity, yes. But there are some other things to consider...

Is it all about line capacity? Or is it the reel itself? I can easily line a reel with braid and triple its capacity. So would a 50vsw with braid do the same job as a 70vs with pure mono? Or is there a noticable difference in drag abillity that makes the larger 70vs worth the extra dough?

All opinions are welcome. Thanks... -->UB

If it doesn't kill the budget, go with the bigger reel. As this fishery rebounds, there are more and more reports of 500+ pound fish. You'd hate to lose a fish of a lifetime because you wanted to save $100.

[Flatsfish B]

Originally Posted by CAPTINMITCH

If it doesn't kill the budget, go with the bigger reel. As this fishery rebounds, there are more and more reports of 500+ pound fish. You'd hate to lose a fish of a lifetime because you wanted to save $100.

Am i reading this corrctly? Beerman help me on this, did you steal Mitch's PW???

UB you recieved good info from them, if it is the same price go with the AVET 50 that thing is a wench. I have the 50vsw and love it no problems thus far 3 fish later. And didnt i tell that you would find room in your budget to buy swording gear!

[quack quack]

I don't think you would notice the diff in weight while fighting a fish. I have only fished with penns and tiagras so I don't know about the avets. But everyone that has fished them seems to love them. If cash allows go with the 70s. After a few fish you can bring the tld 25s :lol:

[CAPTINMITCH]

Originally Posted by Flatsfish B

Am i reading this corrctly? Beerman help me on this, did you steal Mitch's PW???

UB you recieved good info from them, if it is the same price go with the AVET 50 that thing is a wench. I have the 50vsw and love it no problems thus far 3 fish later. And didnt i tell that you would find room in your budget to buy swording gear!

My position has never changed. I've always said go as big as you can afford. If that's only TLD25s, so be it - they'll work. Once you step up to the 50s, it's not much more to go to the 70s, comparatively speaking.

[NightCrawler]

buck, I thought u said there are no swordies out there
IMHO, the tiagras are hard to beat. Do a little looking around,
if you can find someone that has the older model, you might be
able to pick up a 50W for well under 500$ the only diff with the new model tiagras is the handle, and the lever drag plate, mostly cosmetic.

later.

[Uncle Buck]

I agree with the "bigger is better" theory, for swording. "Spooled" is a dirty word.

Why Penn? Well, partly because of brand loyalty. I've been using Penn all my life. They've never failed me. The other reason is that (for the reels) I'm kinda limited to what I can purchase from BassPro. Yeah, I know. Retail sucks. It's a "plastic" issue. I've got a fat account limit there, but can't use the card anywhere else. Otherwise I'd be shopping around and prowling eBay. I'm gonna try to upgrade that, but for now I'm limited to what I can get at OutdoorWorld.

Thanks for the advice. I'm taking it all into consideration.

Flatsfish B... you're right, but it ain't easy!

[Duke]

Like the Tiagras as well. Actually not a fan of the Penns compared to the Shimano and Avets.

[albar1]

Uncle Buck, I fish both the tiagra 50w and the penn 50w. My advise the tiagras are tough to beat. Nothing wrong with the penns just don't like them as much as the shimanos.

[reel life]

ub, you do know there is talk of penn being sold to a co in china.
parts could be hard to get in the future.
and i love my tiagras,

[quack quack]

China or Japan ? hard call :lol:

[Uncle Buck]

Hmmm... looks like the Tiagras are more $$$ for the same size compared to Penn. And I don't see a model between the 50 and 80. I like that 70vs cuz it's not a barrel, nor too small. Yeah yeah, I know... I keep coming back to the Penns. But I am keeping an open mind.

[Shark Tagger]

I have a penn 70. got it last year. Love it. Doesnt have as much line capaciy as the 80, but still a great reel.

Good Luck

[mmafan]

Originally Posted by Uncle Buck

Hmmm... looks like the Tiagras are more $$$ for the same size compared to Penn. And I don't see a model between the 50 and 80.

The Shimano Tiagra 50wlrs functions perfectly as the gap between a 50 and an 80... Shimano makes two 50 wides, the regular 50 wide (made for 50-80lb test), and the 50wlrs (made for 50-100lb test)... At 86oz, the 50wlrs is virtually the same size as the 70vs (89 oz) with basically the same line capacity... The 50wlrs is actually about $70.00 cheaper than the 70vs too... The one thing I like about the 70vs is the way it's shaped though... It's the only reel thats built like a larger 50 narrow... Thus, the 70vs probably won't tend to wobble like the 50wlrs would... You probably wouldn't be going wrong with either one though... Both have awesome rubber ergonomic grips...

[no fish too fresh]

i would stick with the 70, if you put braided line on the 50, then you are still in it for extra money, i sword with 3 80 wide's and 1 50 wide, have not been spooled yet though.....knock on wood.........

[RiskTaker]

Originally Posted by NightCrawler

buck, I thought u said there are no swordies out there
IMHO, the tiagras are hard to beat. Do a little looking around,
if you can find someone that has the older model, you might be
able to pick up a 50W for well under 500$ the only diff with the new model tiagras is the handle, and the lever drag plate, mostly cosmetic.

later.

I think Nightcrawler took the exact words I was going to say.

Before you buy, I suggest you look at and hold the new model Tiagra 50 LRS. (with the new handle and lever style). If you can say that you do not like what you see, then carry on with your Penn preference.

For me, I have all Penn 50TWs, spooled to the top with JBHC 130# and a wind-on to meet the style of fishing that I am doing. So line length is not one of my concerns. The reason I have all Penns and perhaps not Shimanos or Avets is because I started with a single Penn50TW over 12 years ago (that was my pride at the time as a Po Boy, still am Po) and just slowly built on in a matching fashion as the Swordfish bug started to set in.

If I started all over again from scratch, they would be NIB the new model Shimano Tiagras LRS 50s. (The higher drag capability with 130# line should really put the brakes on any fish if you need it. So if you get spooled you deserved to get spooled, no offense.)

AVets are a great value and American made but I just do not like the clicker style/location, and that bothers me.

For Penns, have you considered used on E-bay? You can save a few bucks for a few minor scratches if you shop carefully. That is how I picked up my last two Penns.

Good luck with your arsenal collection.

[NightCrawler]

yes, several months ago I had the misfortune of walking in a store that
was liquidating the old model tiagras, mind you I already had a nice
swrdfishing arsenal, but at 425 a peice I went ahead and bought 2 tiagra
50wlrs, to make matters worst I called a friend from the store, who just
happened to be between jobs, and he rushed over and bought 2
also...sorry buddy

Later.

[mmafan]

Originally Posted by NightCrawler

yes, several months ago I had the misfortune of walking in a store that
was liquidating the old model tiagras, mind you I already had a nice
swrdfishing arsenal, but at 425 a peice I went ahead and bought 2 tiagra
50wlrs, to make matters worst I called a friend from the store, who just
happened to be between jobs, and he rushed over and bought 2
also...sorry buddy

Later.

You wouldn't be bad off if you bought a couple Tiburon barrell handles to put on those... They run about $50.00 a piece... I put one on my 50vsw, and I like it more than any other handle... The angle is perfect, even better than Avet's offset handle... Avet couldn't duplicate Tiburon's angle due to patent infringement... This is not to say that Avet's offset handles suck, as I like them too, but it's not quite as comfortable as the Tib barrell IMO...

[RiskTaker]

Or you can buy NIB the the Tiagra 50 LRS for a deep-discount at $US 425 like NightCrawler and buddy did, if you can find any more of the old style in stock that may be discountable.

WOW what a deal though. Hell at that price (PM me if you find any more on sale at that price) I wouldn' t mind retrofitting at that price.

But it was after all those two little "cosmetic" features: the ergonomic Handle (way cool and POWERFUL) as well as the ratcheted lever drag, that woohed me over to say hands down Tiagra 50 LRS (whatever the new model is labelled as).

I think PENN stayed in production with the 50 TW and 50TSW plus the V series so I do not know if there was ever an inventory clearance anywhere. Correct me if I am wrong on that.

edit - mmafan. I tried one of those Tiburon handles on one of my Penn 50 TWs (a Christmas gift to myself only a few weeks ago). I kind-of like it. But it definitely looks like an after-market add-on. I do not think I am convinced to change over the rest. I have not yet had the opportunity to work a big fish with that reel, so I cannot comment about how powerful it it value-adds to my Penns. The Avets are sharp and the actual motivation why I wanted somethinng similar. But after seeing the new Tiagra handles. All of the aftermarkets should look and feel as good as that one. But Shimano has done it right, right out of the box too. Not to mention the safety clip lug.