[Joni]

I haven't, but I guess if I HAD to sent it back I would. I don't care is they are painted or anodized or just plain steel.

[FrankB2]

Originally Posted by ecowarrior

Got my Orvis BBS III

Beautiful

Blasted thing doesn't fit my reel seat properly

Is it an asian-made rod? I've noticed that a lot of asian rods have funky
reel seats. I brought a reel with me to cast a TFO 7wt a couple weeks ago.
The reel's foot was too thick for the 7wt TFO Pro, but it fit the 5wt just
fine...???? Actually, the reel seat on the 7wt looked like it would work best
with an old Pflueger!

[ecowarrior]

The rod is a Greys GRX.

However, I compared the reel foot on the Orvis with another and it looks pretty much standard. The difference perhaps is that the foot on the orvis is shiny whereas my other reel is rougher due to the anodizing. So the reel seat isn't getting such a good grip on it. Dunno.

It's not such a serious problem that I can't use reel with rod, and if it does start to move about then I can always wrap a bit of masking tape round the reel foot prior to fitting it to the rod (thereby giving the reel foot a bit of a rougher surface without cause for sandpaper and file, which would be sacrilege on such a pretty reel!).

Just for the record (and it means nowt to me seeing as I'm from the UK) but I got this reel imported from Blue Quill Anglers in the US and they gave really good customer service, and fitted backing and the (free) line (a Sage Performance Taper II) to it free of charge. Credit where credit's due. This sort of service is pretty rare over here in Blighty!

[FrankB2]

I bought an Orvis BBS III from the "local" (30 miles away) Orvis shop
yesterday. I wanted one in black, but the single black model had a wobbly
spool. They had a Ti BBS III, and I settled for that. All my rods except one
have black or silver reel seat hardware, so it looks alright.

I have to say that we looked at several BBS reels in various sizes, and some
had no wobble, but just as many wobbled terribly! I wouldn't buy one without
seeing it in person, based on the reels the store clerk and I looked at.....

Orvis claims the BBS III weighs 3.9oz, and the reel I bought was dead on.
I had been using a cheap (but finctional) Crystal River Cahill $10 plastic
reel on my 7' 6" 4wt, and it's performed dandy for several years. I just
wanted something that looked a bit Cooler!

[BlueBird]

that wobbly reel is very unusual. probably store clerk or buyer had dropped it or maybe its a returned item??

good thing that you checked it out personally. I personally never buy reels from online because I wanted to check the quality and get the feel. There's nothing from wrong buying online but I just hate to have to return them and wait for exchange in case there's any defective.

[FrankB2]

We looked at several reels, both on display and in the box, and more than
one exhibited some degree of wobble. Most were dead on, however. I was
looking at Lamson reels at another shop earlier this year, and they had a
Konic model that had about the worst case of wobbles I've ever seen.
It's possible the Konic was dropped, but who knows??? I had considered
buying an Orvis BBS on ebay for around $70 (from an ebay dealer that regularly whose auctions generally end in that range), but I really like to
see what I'm getting first....

I used the BBS yesterday afternoon, and it balances very well with my
7'6" St. Croix Imperial 4wt. I was fishing the Neshaminy Creek, and caught
several pumpkinseed, bluegill, and one nice perch. Not a single fish had the
strength to make the BBS loud clicker scream, however...LOL!!!!! I'm very
happy with the reel.

[BlueBird]

FrankB2, congrats!!

[mojo]

I think you'll like the BBS' a lot. Joni has a few of them too. They're great reels.

I just got me a couple new ones too.
A couple of C. Farlow's Of London from the '50's and early '60's
That's if you like vintage reels.