Purely Insane, if you think about...

Mark thats well written
I agree with ya those little power house reels are desinged for doing what they do best... pullling big fish away from wrecks. However just like you find fishing fun lite drag on smaller fish some like uping the scale some and fun fish for big fish with little reels.

I have imagined hooking big fishon little reels

The best way to look at a reel like this is - going 65mph, while the car driven, can go 120mph. Now, sometimes you'll probably spike up to 100mph, but nevertheless continuously keep that speed. The reel is in the same way - not always 50lbs of drag will be used by the fisherman, but yet, the angler has the piece of mind, that when necessarily, he'll be able to kick some serious drag, when something pass by his sight and the big 50w, 80w, or 130 are dusting home. Plus, lets not forget that no reel bigger then 4/0 is allowed on many of FL piers.
I have a buddy who fishes with me all the time - he's a light tackle guy - big fish hunter, me - i find a waste of time fighting 2-3lb runner for 30-50sec. I horse them in, ready to catch another one. Overall, its all about fisherman's style of fishing.
Heck, i went in Tampa for 3 days for the Florida Sportsman Expo, where i meat a fisherman that sold 2oz weighted rod claiming to be the "Worlds Lightest Spinning Rod" for $500 - where they caught 50lbs drum, in a 50 min fight on a rod rated 4-10lbs. To me that's a waste of time. I want like, 9.5ft hammers in 20min top. So, pretty much, it's all about the style of your choice.

Well, what sucks is when all these amazing 4/0 size reels come out and the pier rules end up changing because what was once necessary for a 16/0 can now be achieved on a 4/0

My whole thing is fishing for anything and everything and making it enjoyable instead of killing the potential of the little fish out there in the world like bonefish; every light tackle fisherman's dream... you're closing a window if diverse and unique fish out there just cause they don't grow to be strong enough to pull insane arm ripping drag.

Anybody can pitch a bloody bait into the ocean and hook into a nice shark if they put some time into it. But that isn't skill; and analytics is one of the most crucial things about fishing. Thanks to the web I can search the world for styles and techniques for fishing and every tiny niche out there has a fisherman that knows what they are doing and are very skilled, I try to pick up techniques from every single person I see fish... even a bad fisherman has good ideas and potential to become good. I incorporate it all into my style as I experiment out of trial and error and I have produce in the past and plan on it in the future whether it be a guppy or Moby Dick .

I notice the reel sizing up conversations always end up in the same place around here... what about them hammers . From what I've seen throughout history the older reels with less drag and for some reason... straight monofilament, have stopped many beasts and even more recently had them swim off strong. It's possible that the new reels will work on giant hammers and surely they have a few times and luxuriously with 2 speed. I feel like a ton of pressure on a fish like a hammer would spike its stress levels to a point of death in some cases... imagine sprinting with 5lb ankle weights then imagine sprinting with 30lb ankle weights, you might not even finish the race . We're talking about swimming freight trains here, you can try and stop em' but there's only so much that's humanly possible . Horsing in a giant hammer next to the pier is the last thing I wanna do... that thing will be green enough to wrap around 2 pilings and collapse the end

THE BIG ADVATAGE IS THAT IT IS SMALL WITH A GREAT DRAG. AT MY AGE AND AS I GET OLDER I WILL BE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS BUT A LITTEL BIT BIGGER TO HOLD MORE LINE CAPASITY.I AM ALREADY USEING MY 4:O W DUEL MORE THAN EVER. ITS A LOT MORE FUN TO CATCH A SIX FOOT BULL ON A 4:0 W THAN A TWELVE:0. IT COMES DOWN TO WHERE YOU FISH AND WHAT YOU ARE FISHING FOR. THANKS FOR THE INFO BOGHY.

At this stage, the reel is just a prototype. From my understanding, they'll make bigger size reel, but wasn't mention how big. This reel (which is also the smallest in they series) uses, new drag technology that this company invented & patented.
Also, from my past experience 2 years ago at LWP, a 9.5ft hammer had more energy to swim away when horsed in at 50lbs drag (different reel) in 20 min, then the one that was fought for 2 hours, on a penn 4/0 size reel same species & size shark. All fish that i caught and landed faster thrashed harder then the ones playing around on light tackle. Again, its all about fishermen's choice. Personally, i like to have a much wider option on my tackle that i use. I could always fish light with the same gear, or very heavy without the need to change the setup. I'm sure by the time i'll get to JDHAMMER'S age, i'll most likely fish softer. But as of right now, i take advantage of what i can handle.

I mean I'm not saying I don't like the reel, I like having that extra drag too, I own a 3/0 senator and an avet the same size, you can guess which one I set up for sharks and I would take a duel even over my prized pumpkin; but not a smaller one; I like the security of a bigger reel but people even have stories of their biggest reels put to shame so no matter what is fished there's a line drawn and when a big enough fish goes over that line it doesn't matter what you have, you're done for.

With new technology that line moves up and we have more potential of course. I say just fish with what makes you comfortable if you're going for that beast you mind as well do it in style if you can afford it. I always like a challenge and going out of my comfort zone. That's why I got my little penrod and target fish that stress it to the max. One of my best catches in my standards was my biggest tarpon that took me 2 hours on 40lb mono. Stories like an 11ft 2inch hammerhead on a jigmaster makes me just about drool . That's a fish to top for sure and I chase goals similar to that but with newer technology.

I'm not scared to put a bait on my Avet LX in the keys nor put out a 15lb bonita or jack 300 yards out, I know there's monsters there that may hit it, it's not what I'm targeting but in the event that I should hook one I'll give it EVERYTHING I got! Tie into 15 different reels if I have to. Rene didn't give up when his 9/0 was on the bottom of it's spool on that fateful night and look what he did

Skilled catches like that are what I respect the most... not a pipsqueak shark on 200lb test, and I'm bashing myself there because my 12/0 has 200lb backing now and unfortunately I catch some pretty small sharks at times; but that's all what fishing is about, putting yourself in the line of opportunity to get past those hush puppies.

Good stuff bro!

Once you get dumped on a fish you really wish that you caught... I belive your thoughts might change. Its better to have the heavy drag then not.

I have seen fish pull hundreds of yards of line off with drags set at 60 lbs now thats fun.

To each there own i guess.

I know scull dragging fish is no fun but loosing a big fish is much worse, ya know! Good thing about little lever drags is you can adjust your fun with the lever.

a big fish dont care about the drag....it will pull and something has to give.....!!!!!! you are right

The reel under tests, dead lifting 46lbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZItWd3UxwA

imagine if the legs on the chair snapped

no comment on that

Now you need to come up with a test for drag pound spike and constant run on the highest drag setting with the reel. Many reels are capable of holding a good lock-down or winching drag but most will torque or buckle over on a hard fast run. Pushing pressures like that will require a good shock leader like a bimini and wind-on.

Next steep will be, like CJ's way - that rod - that reel & 15mph pull from a car to see where this reel is at in endurance.

Now you need to come up with a test for drag pound spike and constant run on the highest drag setting with the reel. Many reels are capable of holding a good lock-down or winching drag but most will torque or buckle over on a hard fast run. Pushing pressures like that will require a good shock leader like a bimini and wind-on.

Exactly Mark, I like to call this smooth drag when I talk to friends about it. Just because a reel has say 50lbs of drag doesnt mean it is smooth, if it is jerky or sticky then more likely to cause failure in some part of your equipment. An example is from the fin nor OFS spinning reels, you get over 35lbsish and they get jerky which to me is useless.

It's very easy to fix that problem IF the reel is new. All u have to do is go on ebay and buy 1oz of Cal's grease, and grease all the sandwiched drags on top, plus the big drag underneath the spool and you'll never gonna have that problem again - this is what's also called "wet drag" system. If the reel is already worn out, as far as drags, i'll recommend using carbontex from http://www.smoothdrag.com/ . You'll need to find the right size though, or cut it yourself with scissors.
Now, that being said, this reel uses already the smooth drag system (wet drag), where that jerky feeling is completely eliminated.

P.S. Fin Nor OFS, despite the fact that are made in china, uses one of the loudest clicker in spinning reel category, that's currently manufactured. That's a big plus!