tiagra 80w vs avet 80w

avet made in america by americans for americans.

why pay 700.00 for a reel that is made with plastic components? IJS

Go avet or another company that does not use plastic.

Tiagra's are great reels that you can beat the hell out of, most tuna fishermen use them for a reason but in my opinion Avet is just made better, better components, design, and line capacity. last year i had a Tiagra 80w and thought it was awesome but later on i parted with it and now im stuck on Avet and will never go to another brad with the exception of a few reels

I am going with Avet on this one

I am going with Avet on this one

I got an avet becuz of this guy.

I seen this video and thought "hell if it could stop that thing I should have no problems with sharks"

Insert video here..

Dude Cj where is the 370z vid?

I would get neither. The Tiagra 80w has only 42lbs of drag and the Avet only has 60lbs. 42lbs is useless and 60lbs is not enough! Jimmy Bois and I locked up my Avet 80 and I could easily pull 100yds of line off the spool (I am only 150lbs). If I could do that, what will a 800lb hammerhead do? I have hooked big hammers on my Avet 80w and a locked-drag doesn't even phase them. If Avet put the TRX drag system in the 80w, it would be an awesome reel! I would recommend saving up for a 130 or purchasing an Okuma Makaira 80w. When I think of Okuma, "lower-end" usually comes to mind, but I have done my research on these reels and they are the real deal! Many of the tuna guys in PEI use them and haven't had any problems. With 100lbs of drag, it's one of the most powerful 80w's on the market. It puts Penn, Shimano, and Avet to shame!

Okuma Makaira landing huge bluefin tuna:
http://forums.sportfishingmag.com/showt ... d-Up-Style

Am I saying that an Avet or Shimano won't stop a big fish, no! These reels can stop big fish. Every fish fights differently, it's all about being in the right place at the right time. I do know this, that if you do use these reels, you will eventually hook a hammer that will spool you.

black tip hunter i have been talking to some one at avet about a trx 80w and the said if the can get enough requests they will produce them. they would be perfect for beach shark fishing.

I love my Tiagra 80W loaded to the teeth with 250lb braid, and don't feel undergunned at all. But, I have also heard very good things about that Okuma. When I was in the market for an 80W it was a toss up between the Avet and Tiagra, after much research (and a great $$ deal) I got the Tiagra, and never looked back. It has served me very well, and I just HOPE it gets tested to it's limits soon!!!!!!

Not trying to ruffle feathers here but there are a few things that need to be pointed out. At least half of the people I have met with lever drag reels have no idea how to set them up and use them - they assume they are set up from the factory - they are not. I have also met quite a few people that have felt like they were fishing the full drag capability of a reel because they couldnt pull line off with their hand. - again this is not true - you need a scale to verify your drag settings. If the 80w was indeed set up for 60lbs of drag you or anyone else would not easily take 100yds of line off that reel or any other reel. When Avet or Shimano claims to have 42lbs or 60lbs or whatever they are stating that the reel will produce that amount of drag right off the reel with a full spool of line and still have 100% freespool.
You can actually set up an Avet 80w to do well over 75lbs of drag by giving up the freespool - its not like you need 100% freespool when your kayaking baits out - your definitely not live lining small baits or trying to cast it so who cares. The way to add drag pressure to a reel is to increase its braking surface area and the only way to do that is by either utilizing a bigger spool or increasing the number of drag disc - (this is how Avet and Accurate have done it) so that with the same original pressure you are applying the pressure to a larger surface area providing more friction. You can praise Makaira or Accurate or Avet for putting out super high drags - the truth of the matter is when you push any of them over around 50lbs before strike they ALL ramp up pretty quickly - this means they go from 10lbs of drag to 75lbs of drag in a very short throw of the lever and can get you in trouble quick if your not familiar with them. I have never fished an Okuma Makaira but I have seen and handled one - first impressions were lacking. Very odd anodizing color of gold, awkward drag lever going from strike to full, lots of machining marks in the aluminum and rough spots, several plastic pieces that could have easily been done in aluminum, and the handle was at a really odd angle and uncomfortable. I have not hooked one of the Florida big hammers yet but from years of seeing all the reports and the areas they come from my ideas come from observation of the many fish reported here and a few other places. Its not the size of that hammerhead thats going to be the major deciding factor - its the size and WHERE its caught. The past three years have put up some incredible fish and they have proven a few of these points. If you hook a large hammer in relatively calm water with little to moderate current they can and have been caught on 12/0 and 14/0 senators - in areas with a lot of current or during a hard tide change these fish have dumped multiple reels. The video that I saw of the red 80w getting dumped the current was absolutely ripping and having more drag or more line more than likely would not have changed the outcome. The more line you have going out the more likely it is for it to find its way to something that will cut or snag it - the more pressure you put on there the more likely it is for a failure of some type of connection on the leader or a line failure will happen - the bottom line is that if your fishing in an area with a lot of current and hook into something with a lot of surface area the odds of you bringing in that fish are greatly against you. With all of that being said these are purely my observations and not based on fishing experience in Florida waters - at the same time I do believe that the higher and more efficient drag capabilities of the lever drag reels WILL help you land fish faster and that will equal safer and healthier releases for those fish. The longer you battle those fish and then bring them into hotter and less oxygenated water the higher the chances are the fish will die.

Jimmy Bois and I locked up my Avet 80 and I could easily pull 100yds of line off the spool (I am only 150lbs). If I could do that, what will a 800lb hammerhead do? I have hooked big hammers on my Avet 80w and a locked-drag doesn't even phase them. If Avet put the TRX drag system in the 80w, it would be an awesome reel! I would recommend saving up for a 130 or purchasing an Okuma Makaira 80w. When I think of Okuma, "lower-end" usually comes to mind, but I have done my research on these reels and they are the real deal! Many of the tuna guys in PEI use them and haven't had any problems. With 100lbs of drag, it's one of the most powerful 80w's on the market. It puts Penn, Shimano, and Avet to shame!

I don't have experience with avet 80w but I've used an avet lx reel for 3 years and the only real complaint I have is the quiet clicker..the arm and gear grinded down a bit from screaming pickups from blacktips and tarpon. Its an avet lx but the larger avets have louder clickers. Other than that its a tank. I busted a pinion bearing in it, but that was totally user error for fishing that little reel with so much drag time after time after time after time but was cheap and easy to replace, the reel is easy to take apart and install new parts/keep clean. My favorite thing about avet is the drag..the drag is probably even smoother than it was in 2009 when I first got it. So if I had the money I would defiantly consider buying a larger reel by avet in the future based on my experience with how their smaller reel has served me. And Scout makes a good point a lot of people don't adjust their presets properly with lever drags to get the full drag potential..I like fishing mine with about as much drag as you can get when on full while still maintaining freespool and I believe I get a little more drag at full than as advertised on the box the reel came in.

Not trying to ruffle feathers here but there are a few things that need to be pointed out. At least half of the people I have met with lever drag reels have no idea how to set them up and use them - they assume they are set up from the factory - they are not. I have also met quite a few people that have felt like they were fishing the full drag capability of a reel because they couldnt pull line off with their hand. - again this is not true - you need a scale to verify your drag settings. If the 80w was indeed set up for 60lbs of drag you or anyone else would not easily take 100yds of line off that reel or any other reel. When Avet or Shimano claims to have 42lbs or 60lbs or whatever they are stating that the reel will produce that amount of drag right off the reel with a full spool of line and still have 100% freespool.
You can actually set up an Avet 80w to do well over 75lbs of drag by giving up the freespool - its not like you need 100% freespool when your kayaking baits out - your definitely not live lining small baits or trying to cast it so who cares. The way to add drag pressure to a reel is to increase its braking surface area and the only way to do that is by either utilizing a bigger spool or increasing the number of drag disc - (this is how Avet and Accurate have done it) so that with the same original pressure you are applying the pressure to a larger surface area providing more friction. You can praise Makaira or Accurate or Avet for putting out super high drags - the truth of the matter is when you push any of them over around 50lbs before strike they ALL ramp up pretty quickly - this means they go from 10lbs of drag to 75lbs of drag in a very short throw of the lever and can get you in trouble quick if your not familiar with them. I have never fished an Okuma Makaira but I have seen and handled one - first impressions were lacking. Very odd anodizing color of gold, awkward drag lever going from strike to full, lots of machining marks in the aluminum and rough spots, several plastic pieces that could have easily been done in aluminum, and the handle was at a really odd angle and uncomfortable. I have not hooked one of the Florida big hammers yet but from years of seeing all the reports and the areas they come from my ideas come from observation of the many fish reported here and a few other places. Its not the size of that hammerhead thats going to be the major deciding factor - its the size and WHERE its caught. The past three years have put up some incredible fish and they have proven a few of these points. If you hook a large hammer in relatively calm water with little to moderate current they can and have been caught on 12/0 and 14/0 senators - in areas with a lot of current or during a hard tide change these fish have dumped multiple reels. The video that I saw of the red 80w getting dumped the current was absolutely ripping and having more drag or more line more than likely would not have changed the outcome. The more line you have going out the more likely it is for it to find its way to something that will cut or snag it - the more pressure you put on there the more likely it is for a failure of some type of connection on the leader or a line failure will happen - the bottom line is that if your fishing in an area with a lot of current and hook into something with a lot of surface area the odds of you bringing in that fish are greatly against you. With all of that being said these are purely my observations and not based on fishing experience in Florida waters - at the same time I do believe that the higher and more efficient drag capabilities of the lever drag reels WILL help you land fish faster and that will equal safer and healthier releases for those fish. The longer you battle those fish and then bring them into hotter and less oxygenated water the higher the chances are the fish will die.

Jimmy Bois and I locked up my Avet 80 and I could easily pull 100yds of line off the spool (I am only 150lbs). If I could do that, what will a 800lb hammerhead do? I have hooked big hammers on my Avet 80w and a locked-drag doesn't even phase them. If Avet put the TRX drag system in the 80w, it would be an awesome reel! I would recommend saving up for a 130 or purchasing an Okuma Makaira 80w. When I think of Okuma, "lower-end" usually comes to mind, but I have done my research on these reels and they are the real deal! Many of the tuna guys in PEI use them and haven't had any problems. With 100lbs of drag, it's one of the most powerful 80w's on the market. It puts Penn, Shimano, and Avet to shame!

Jimmy and I know how to work a lever drag. I always use the pre-set on my Duel to adjust the tightness of the line when idle in a sand spike. We did crank the pre-set to max in free-spool before we locked the Avet down.

I have not fished a Tiagra so I don't feel qualified to really comment on them too much. I can say that I don't like plastic parts on reels that cost over 700 bucks and I do like reels that are made here in the U.S if I am spending real money and they meet my needs.

I have fished my Avet 80W for just shy of 3 years. I bought it because I ran across an amazing deal that I could not pass up, not based on a bunch of hype. It has served me very, very well and has logged a lot of hours on the sand, been submerged when an idiot waked my canoe and traveled 1000s of miles. As far as the drag goes I don't know what to think... My biggest on it was a hammer over 10, not a monster though. The 80W tamed it in 15 mins. or less. We have all seen the monsters that have been caught on senators with much less drag than the Avets too. I fish my 80W pretty tight and go right to strike with a fish on these days. I'm not a big guy at all, 155-160 lbs but I lift and stay in shape. That said, I need a spotter with a good fish on when I run the Avet 80W up much past strike. I have a hard time imagining needing or wanting more drag than that thing puts out with 1/2 a spool and set tight. Some fish could def. come along and change my mind but for now I am really happy with my Avet 80W. It has served me very well and has given me 0 problems.

Chris

Not sure why you only went to these two reels, there are many that produce great results (duel, everol, accurate, alutecnos to name a few). I personally would look used and save 30-50%.

The other day I got done testing the max drag on my Tiagra 50w Lrsa it had a total of 63lbs of drag and the LRSAs have the same drag as the 80ws so both reels have the same drag and in my opinion the tiagra is smoother and a better reel and I also like the tiagra's power handle