Well Balanced delightful Bait spinning reel
Written: Mar 23 '04 (Updated Mar 29 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Thoughtful design, well,placed controls, solid construction
Cons: A bit pricey, but you get what you pay for!
The Bottom Line: A new, well thought out design from a reliable name in fishing equipment
|
|
|
| beagdad's Full Review: 5600 Live Liner Spinning Reel |
The Penn LiveLiner 5600 is a new product from an established manufacturer. The LiveLiner series is new to Penn, and appears to be a completely new design for them. It is quickly becoming our favorite spinning reel. The LiveLiner 5600 has big, easy to grip surfaces that make it a joy to handle. It carries 325 yards of 12 # test (we usually use 15 to 20# on it). We have put this one on a spinning boat reel, and I have ordered one for a custom surf casting rod. My review is based on limited use, which I plan to update as time goes on.
Because these reels are so new, I thought this review might be useful if you're trying to get an idea of what you are really buying. I hope other reviewers will add something, so as to get a better idea of just what we have here, and how best to use it. At the time I am writing this the Penn Reel site is no help in my getting some accurate details: it shows another unrelated reel (a Penn 10KG). So, I'm putting this out for those who see a good piece of gear, but want some real information about it.
I got this reel on advice of a local fish and tackle store, and so far the advice is much on the money. The 5600 LiveLiner is well made and priced competitively. You get a good reel at a reasonable price. I think this compares well with the Shimano Baitrunner series, and I had a bit of a hard time choosing between them. Although the Shimano is a proven design that has been around a few years now, I chose the Penn (which cost a bit more, by the way), for its overall design.
The 5600 LiveLiner is 21 ozs., made of die cast aluminum. The side plates and rotor are also die cast aluminum. This gives a light weight, strong reel. I was a bit surprised to see Penn did not go to graphite; this is a reel made for tough fighting, so I think it will hold up well. The gear ratio is 4.6:1, making it excellent for lures.
The big news here is the liveline function. A big switch on the top of the reel body allows you to set your front drag for fighting, and then put the reel in free spool. This allows your quarry (mine is striped bass) to take the bait and run with it, while they don't feel the tug of the line. When you're ready, flip the liveline switch up, and get ready to rumble as the hook sets. The liveline switch is big, and recesses nicely for fighting.
There are front and rear drag settings on the LiveLiners, so you can set the front for the fight and the rear to get a bit of subtly into your settings. All of the controls are well thought out: front and rear drag are big, rubber-like surfaces, easy to handle when wet, and the liveline switch is big, easy to find, but unobtrusive in action.
As on other Penn reels, this has a skirted spool which are supposed to keep out water and dirt from the main components. My experience so far is this is true. There is some condensation behind the spool after use, so it is important to remove the spool and dry things off.
There is an anti-reverse bearing, and this works well and smoothly. With the LiveLine function off, just a turn of the handle lets anti-reverse kick in.
The bail can be tripped either automatically, by turning the handle, or by manually. This is the biggest difference I notice between the LiveLiner and the older SpinFisher series. On the 5600, the automatic bail function snaps to right away: on the older Spinfisher reels you are certainly better to manually trip the bail. A Penn rep told me that the bail has been completely redesigned from a compression spring to a torque spring. Whatever the case, the difference is notable. The bails, rollers, and springs are corrosion resistant stainless steel.
Speaking of stainless steel, the main rotor is stainless steel, giving it strength and (hopefully) durability.
Rotor action is very smooth. Let me repeat, ***very*** smooth. You can see that I have written a couple of other reviews of the Spinfisher series, and I've said the 5500SS is the only rotor action I can say is smooth. There is no comparison between these reels: the LiveLiner leaves the others in the dust. Penn call this Techno Balancing: it really makes a lot of difference. On the spool I am told there are 6 stainless steel bearings: the whole effect is really nice. The wobble experienced in the Spinfishers is just not there.
As with other Penn reels, the handles can be reversed, for either right or left handed use. I particularly like the material the knob is made from: it is a soft rubber-like material that is easily gripped when wet. It is also good sized, which makes it nice for gloved hands.
Penn reels require very little maintenance, basically just washing them thoroughly with fresh water after every trip, and a drop of oil in critical places. Penn suggests that you use a gentle stream of water, and that "power washing" the reel will just force the salt into the reel. Penn's suggestion is that you don't over-lubricate the reels. Usually twice a year I grease the main rotor a bit.
Almost every fishing store around has Penn parts. This is important. We have seen other reels that are less expensive and that compare favorably to the Penns. We have found, however, that they don’t always have stock of parts the competing brands. I recently bought a spare spool, and had no difficulty getting it, and this reel uses the Penn HT100 drag washers, which are all over.
To sum up: the Penn 5600 LiveLiner is a well designed, well balanced reel. The price is competitive great price, and it appears to be made, like many Penn products, for durability and years of hard use.
Spoke with a fella yesterday who read the above review. His comment is right: the front drag control really just holds the spool on, and is really not used to set the drag level. Most of the drag is set through the rear control.
Also, the liveline control is easily flipped by using your pinky finger, so you can keep your hand on the handle ready to reel in. Hope that helps.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
beagdad
|
|
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.