tiagra 80w vs avet 80w

New member here but after reading and using Senators forever I have to say the Avets I have Pro30w and Trx50 work great. I was given the Trx for Christmas from friends in Pensacola that can no longer fish due to health and age and wanted to see it used rather than just set, week before last I sat all day with it and had 2 pickups, 1 scored with a nice 7' BT. I know that is not the monsters you mentioned but I was very impressed with it. The Trx sure had more drag than I was used to and I did NOT have it turned up high. I had it preset to about #40+ with the rod at 30-45 degrees with scale tied to truck. I did check it on full and I could not pull line off it. I remember when guys were adding washers to their Senators and got some serious drag from them and several warped the frames from doing so. Especially when the line is coming off from the side of the spool. I am sure the Trx will do more that I would ever need or want, until I got it I was perfectly happy with my Senators, maybe 1 day I will hook onto something that will really test me and the reel both. I have only had 1 instance with my 12/0 that I could not stop or turn what ever I had and asked a bystander to cut the line before it got to the knot, If I had to guess it was a huge ray on the other end.
Larry

Only thing I have to say is we tightened the drag down on a measly little TLD-20 at work with an empty spool and on full drag i had a surprising amount of difficulty in pulling drag off of it. Max drag what? 20? 22 lbs? I weigh 150 ish (benched 260 twice last year yada yada yada) and i know I, ME, personally, wouldnt be able to budge 60 lbs of drag without a ladder to crawl on or something.

What about Fin Nor guys? A reel born in Miami, the homeland of the South Florida Shark Club. There reels are all competitively priced and have an unprecedented drag system that has been put in there latest and greatest reel, the Santiago. There drag system is honestly in my opinion the best on the market. They have a multi-layered drag system that combines a massive stainless steel drag plate along with twin carbon fiber discs. This allows the ultimate drag system that provides the ultimate smoothness and also allows for the greatest amount of heat dissipation. When fighting a large shark for extended periods of time (MORE THAN AN A HALF HOUR) large amounts of heat begin to build up in due to the friction. Many reels have good drag systems that work well and have the power to stop big fish but when there drags are put to the test the tend to cripple after a big fish gives the drag a work out and they tend to have melted drag washers and broken gears. This is where Fin Nor has revolutionized their reels, they have developed a drag system that can handle being work by even the largest fish. Also their reels are made out of nothing but metal, the frame is one solid piece of aluminum and the spool is made out of forged aluminum which keeps it in the perfect circular even under strain. These reels are braid ready and are ready for everything. They have used high quality metals that allow there reel to be beat up and dogged out and still say, "is that all you've got???" They have revolutionized the name of big game tackle and has set a new standard by which reels should be made. Also there 80w puts out 60lbs at strike and 100lbs at full and the 130 puts out 80 lbs of drag at strike and 110lbs at full. Now most guys cant handle fishing this high of drag for extended periods of time and generally wont need it, but it gives you an idea of how much of a safety net you have.

haha you a fin nor sales rep or what???? your posts seem like youre getting paid to write them lol.

We own a santiago 50w btw.... just for the record

No no not a sales rep or anything I am just a really big fan of there tackle but it really just gets overlooked for whatever reason. I am just trying to make their company the go to one for big game reels. (Oh and I am sponsored by them, Id do it either way though.)

What about Fin Nor guys? A reel born in Miami, the homeland of the South Florida Shark Club. There reels are all competitively priced and have an unprecedented drag system that has been put in there latest and greatest reel, the Santiago. There drag system is honestly in my opinion the best on the market. They have a multi-layered drag system that combines a massive stainless steel drag plate along with twin carbon fiber discs. This allows the ultimate drag system that provides the ultimate smoothness and also allows for the greatest amount of heat dissipation. When fighting a large shark for extended periods of time (MORE THAN AN A HALF HOUR) large amounts of heat begin to build up in due to the friction. Many reels have good drag systems that work well and have the power to stop big fish but when there drags are put to the test the tend to cripple after a big fish gives the drag a work out and they tend to have melted drag washers and broken gears. This is where Fin Nor has revolutionized their reels, they have developed a drag system that can handle being work by even the largest fish. Also their reels are made out of nothing but metal, the frame is one solid piece of aluminum and the spool is made out of forged aluminum which keeps it in the perfect circular even under strain. These reels are braid ready and are ready for everything. They have used high quality metals that allow there reel to be beat up and dogged out and still say, "is that all you've got???" They have revolutionized the name of big game tackle and has set a new standard by which reels should be made. Also there 80w puts out 60lbs at strike and 100lbs at full and the 130 puts out 80 lbs of drag at strike and 110lbs at full. Now most guys cant handle fishing this high of drag for extended periods of time and generally wont need it, but it gives you an idea of how much of a safety net you have.

Great write up.....How did it handle? What sharks have you caught on it? What size?

I havnt caught any on mine yet, I just got it but I know a lot of guys who work for Fin Nor as testers have caught monster fish. 400 lb Yellowfin in Mexico, 1000lb Black Marlin in Panama, huge swordfish, 1200lb Bluefin. I have not heard of a large shark yet, Im sure Seaweed and Clack will get one in the BTC I dont have the money right now to spool it. I am saving my money and am going to spool it right the first time. Going to cost around $600 to spool it. I will be fishing it during the BHC!!!!! Monster Hammer!!! I have done about 50 hours of research on this reel. I havnt found anything to complain about other than the weight.

$600 to spool it?!?!

What are you using silk coated gold core line?

Ppro is <$200 for 1500yds and a 5lb spool of 200lb mono <$100

2500 yds of 200lb jb non-hollow ins 514.99 plus tax and shipping plus the mono which is an additional 100.

Just curious here, recently I got an Avet Trx50. Other than the amount of line difference in the 50-80 are these reels a step ahead of the ATrx??
thanks,
Larry

2500 yds of 200lb jb non-hollow ins 514.99 plus tax and shipping plus the mono which is an additional 100.

I love your passion and the line your choosing is great, but I don't know if its the best use of your $$. If you buy the reel and get it spooled in a day and plan on using it for one trip around the world and then throw it in the closet - OK - then I say buy the line. It would be obvious that $$ is no object, but I think you can get the same bang for you bucks with less expensive line and use the $$ to fish, travel or buy more equipment. Good Luck

I dont fish as much as you Guys I may get 5 trips a year if im Lucky so I want to get the braid because it doest break down like mono and it gives me a lot of line. As well as giving me room for around 150 yards of 200 lb mono which will be easy and cheap to change out if I need to. My rod will be doing a lot of sitting other than tournaments and a few other reps. It may see some offshore trips for big blues in Carolina or smoker who. Man a few bluefin trips but other than that not much. Especially because I recently enlisted in the navy.

Assumption is the mother of all failures, which is why scales do wonders nowadays when looking into digging out the truth off of an already hyped drag number advertised by a reel manufacture. Although that still won't help anyone since the comfortable drag zone is different for everyone AND changes overtime too based on each person's fitness-shape-up at the time of being hooked. If all of us would be "Schwarzeneggerized" like he was in he's early age, then 100lbs drag would be sustainable to use, but the reality is - we aren't! Find your comfortable drag zone, THAN measure it for future reference when dealing with a new/different reel NOT the other way around, because you'll likely end-up being worn out - QUICKLY.