LL Bean reels
- Thread starter mbc
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Colorado Cajun
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Sorry! I don't own any of their equipment. You can probably compare them with others and figure out who is making the reels for them and get an idea that way.
Bob Lang
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I've had an LL Bean real for over seventeen years now. It has served me well and I'd buy another. I fish trout, large and small mouth bass as well as sun fish. I have an LL Bean 5wt, 8.5 foot, two piece that came with the reel and it too has served me well. As you can probably tell, I am not into high dollar gear. This gear has been used in all sorts of climate and weather conditions. Its been muddy, sandy, damn near frozen and too hot to touch! It kept working wherever and whenever I was fishing and has put some nice food on the table.
Frank Whiton
Most Senior Member
Hi mbc,
Like Cabela's and other companies that sell branded reels the LL Bean reels are probably from overseas. That is how they offer all of those features at such a good price. I would bet that the reel that Bob Lang got seventeen years ago was made in the USA or England. Today they are made in China, Korea, or some other such country. I have not seen Bean's reels but they are probably cast or cast/machined. Reels made in the USA are machined from bar stock. Just because the reels may be made in China it doesn't mean they are not good reels for the money. So what all this means is I don't know if the Bean reels are any good or not.
Frank
Like Cabela's and other companies that sell branded reels the LL Bean reels are probably from overseas. That is how they offer all of those features at such a good price. I would bet that the reel that Bob Lang got seventeen years ago was made in the USA or England. Today they are made in China, Korea, or some other such country. I have not seen Bean's reels but they are probably cast or cast/machined. Reels made in the USA are machined from bar stock. Just because the reels may be made in China it doesn't mean they are not good reels for the money. So what all this means is I don't know if the Bean reels are any good or not.
Frank
my little brother works for LL Bean. He gets me gear with his discount so most of my fly fishing gear is LL Bean. I have a few LL Bean reels, i tend to use the higher level reels, but they were out of the one i wanted when i bought my last rod and reel. i settled for the streamlight and have not been too impressed (actually it is going back soon) the drag just plain sucks and has not worked very well.
Bob Lang
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I guess time does not cure all ills. It may lead to them. I believe mine was made in the good 'ol USA. I'll have to go look. I have some others that go back to before WWII and I dare say you can drive a tank over them and they'll keep on working. They are somewhere in the attic. In that they are keep sakes I never use them anymore. I have others that go back to the 60's but never seem to use them much any more either. The automatic seems to be made of stamped aluminum and the regular hand crank one is not much better. I just take the trusty 'ol LL Bean model and keep plugging away.