New Taylor Revolution 10-12wt: Does it have spool wobble?

[SaltwaterHippie]

Earlier today I decided to pickup a Taylor Fly Fishing Revolution reel in 10wt-12wt. I was excited about the purchase, but noticed as I was setting the reel up, that the spool rubbed against the frame. After looking at it a bit further, it seems like there is spool wobble.

Does this sound like something that is a matter of tightening, or, a deeper defect with the reel itself?

 

[JDR]

I don't know anything about that reel. But, why not take the spool back too where you got it and talk to the person who sold it to you? If there is another copy of the reel, compare the two. But, it doesn't seem like any modern reel should rub against the frame. If you bought it used (especially if you got a "good" deal) that may be the reason the seller let it go. Good luck.

 

[el jefe]

I cannot speak directly to the Revolution, but I have a Taylor Array, and there is no spool wobble.

 

[SaltwaterHippie]

Thanks for the recommendation. I bought the reel brand new from a fly shop/dealer locally 2 days ago. I reached out to Taylor Fly Fishing and exchanged some emails with Matthew Taylor. He asked for a video of the issue so I sent him one. I will include it at the bottom of this post. Its a bit blurry but the spool wobble is very apparent. My guess is the issue may have something to do with the two wear marks inside the spool but I ultimately have no clue.

He got back to me and said it should be a simple remedy from his end but did not get specific about the problem with the reel. He also asked if I would send the reel in. What are peoples thoughts on this? The reel is 2 days old, has not been fished, and already needs to go be fixed for over a week. Its also Taylor's most expensive offering. Would it be more sensible to return the reel and go with something else? Mostly curious what other people would do in this situation.







YouTube

 

[JDR]

Whether you choose to keep the reel or not, is really up to you. But, if you have lost confidence in the reel and/or the company, I would not keep it. Did you approach the dealer? Having to wait a week for any real response is too long in today's world. When you send it in you will be waiting another week (at least) until you can use your new reel. If you want to keep it, I would ask Mr. Taylor to arrange for the shop where you bought it to give you a "loaner" until your reel is working to your satisfaction.

Added: The reason yo buy from a local shop, instead of sending PayPal to the cheapest online dealer is because of the service they offer. Your local shop should provide you with service before and after the sale. This includes helping you solve any perceived issues with your purchase.

 

[steveid]

I don’t think I would be keeping it. Not sure what fish you’re targeting with it, but if you’re after something that requires and 11 or 12 weight, I wouldn’t have confidence in a reel that wasn’t square out of the box. What other tolerances were missed? It’s also a bit light on the backing capacity for a reel that size, IMO.

 

[SaltwaterHippie]

Thanks for the insight Brook Rookie and Steveid. It is much obliged. In short, I have lost confidence in the reel and company (both Taylor Reels and the retailer). I have a 9wt Tide Chaser from Wade Rod co which I initially setup with a Cheeky Boost 400 and Titan Sonar Hover/Sink 2/Sink 4 8wt sinking line. I went to Florida and put a 9wt floating red fish line with a fat taper and noticed I need to get a bigger reel which was the reason for the upgrade. I bought the Taylor reel from Postfly's retail fly shop in Newbury MA. They are the ones who do Postflybox and The Wade Rod Co. I think I have had quite an interesting customer experience there to say the least, but that's another post. I do agree with you that they should help me out since I bought the reel broken from them. I do have slight anxiety that I'll get stuck with the reel and unhappy but that remains to be seen.

Regarding Postfly and the reel, when I bought the reel it was a floor model. Not sure if it was dropped or something. I spent somewhere around 45 minutes buying the reel, and then waiting for it to be set up with some backing and line. I got an extra spool of backing (100ft) to put on when I got home. With in the first 30ft or so I noticed that the reel was defective. The spool wobble was awful and I was so confused how the guy who set it up either noticed and ignored it, or, didn't notice it at all. Postfly was already closed, so I couldn't bring it back that day. Then the 4th came and went so I drove down there yesterday (July 6) to find out that they are closed until this Monday. They didn't post anything about being closed Thursday through Monday anywhere.

So this brings me to dealing with Taylor Reels. I have to say the most bizarre customer service experience I have ever had. He is very good at getting back to emails fast, but he uses no formatting. His emails are more like 1 or 2 line text messages that have no signature or any real business format beyond the initial response. Just surprising to me since hes the founder of the company and hes taking care of customer service himself. I get the impression hes spread thin. Maybe that's just me, but I'm curious how this compares with customer service interactions with that of Sage or Galvan.

At this point I am going to wait until Monday to bring the reel in and hopefully return it. I thought I had found a diamond but guess it was just a lemon. I can see why people become so loyal to the higher priced reels and their warranties.

 

[SaltwaterHippie]

Not sure what fish you’re targeting with it, but if you’re after something that requires and 11 or 12 weight, I wouldn’t have confidence in a reel that wasn’t square out of the box. What other tolerances were missed? It’s also a bit light on the backing capacity for a reel that size, IMO.

Targeting stripers about 80% of the time, but do find myself in Florida enough to want the option for some larger weight lines. I was aslo finding the reels on the 6wt-8wt spectrum lacking in capacity to the 7wt-10wt. Initially I thought I could "save money" with an 8wt reel but found I only wanted/needed another one for tropical 9wt floating lines or larger. I still would like to try over lining my rod with a 10wt line at some point.

 

[steveid]

Regarding your comment about higher priced reels... I always “buy nice or buy twice.”

I can amortize a $600 reel over a $400 reel simply by assuming at least 10 years of use. That extra $20 per year is well worth it when I know I’ll get the full 10 years out of it, and likely more. Those cheaper reels may well have the same longevity, but that extra $200 over the life of the reel is nothing, IMO.

 

[taylorreels]

Hey Everyone,

We pride ourselves on quality machining and tight tolerances on all our reels. So we are concerned with the condition of the reel in this video, which is clearly performing to our standards. It's difficult to speak to the problem without having the reel in hand, because that's not a problem we normally run into.

Saltwaterhippe please contact us and we will gladly assist you. The Revolution is truly a fantastic reel that we know you will love. We will do whatever we can to satisfy our customers with both both our products and service.

Thanks,

 

[el jefe]

It's hard to tell without having hands on the reel and being right there, but it looks like when you re-assembled the reel that the detentes of the frame might not have been lined up with teeth of the spool, which prevents the teeth from lining up with the detentes. That would keep the spool from seating firmly in the frame, leaving a gap between the frame and the spool and leading to spool wobble. I can see how that might happen. The first time I took my reel apart, I had the same issue, until I reached through the back of the frame to keep the drag mechanism from turning while I mounted the spool. Twist the spool back and forth until it drops into place.

It looked like before you took the reel apart that there was no gap between the spool and frame--hard to tell for sure because it was partly in the shadow of the case--but after re-assembly there was a big gap there, and there shouldn't be if things are lined up correctly. I would not try tightening down the retaining screw until there was virtually no gap between spool and frame. I'm sure you probably did all that, but that's how it looks to me from the video.

 

[SaltwaterHippie]

After seeing the response from taylorreels I reached out to Matthew again regarding the reel. We exchanged a few emails before he called me up and we spoke about the reel. This happened on Monday.

Ultimately he offered to send me a new reel spooled with backing. Then, when the new reel came, either bring it back to Postfly, or, send it back to him. Their elite backing looks really nice. It sounded sweet to me so I was happy and satisfied with the outcome at that point.

So we hung up, and I wanted to know what the backing capacity was. Someone mentioned early on in this thread that they thought it could be better so it made me curious. I could not help but notice though that the price of the reel had dropped for a second time, and was now 30% off ($280 from $400).

Rather than paying to ship the broken reel back, it seemed like bringing it back to Postfly was the cost effective option. Having paid $340 for it broken, and then watching the fair market value drop again a week later motivated me to take advantage of the price arbitrage. So I returned the reel and repurchased it from Taylor Reel’s online store. It was an even better outcome IMO. I was able to put some money towards fly tying supplies I didn't anticipate getting. Matthew provided fantastic customer service throughout the whole process and was communicative.

I got the reel today and opened it. I immediately checked if it had the same issue as the first one and it did. I couldn’t believe it. I took a video of it, and then returned it back to Taylor Reels. It was delivered to me at 10:52am and was on its way back at 2:50pm. I had it for 4 hours. I took what el jefe said into consideration when putting the spool on the frame. You can seat the spool pretty close if not all the way before engaging the lock nut. The problem doesn’t actually look like it is the spool’s connection to the axle. Rather, the interior axle’s connection to the frame. It feels loose. It has a very small amount of play, but factored all the way out to the edges of the spool, it is quite significant and equals frame rub.

All in all, I have no clue what is up with the Revolution reels. So far the only winner in this process has been the USPS. I got one from Postfly and one directly from Taylor Reels. Both had the same issue. I did not get to actually try out either one, so I cannot speak to the reel's performance. I am going to hold off on buying a new reel for the moment and see where I can find some value and make a dollar scream.

YouTube

 

[steveid]

Man, that’s disappointing. You gave them a chance, I would have thought they would have hand inspected it ahead of shipping to you.

Do yourself a favor and get an Allen Kraken. I believe you can get a 20% off code signing up for their emails. You’ll be money ahead and have a better product.

 

[akos75]

Have you tried tightening the drag? Most reels have a little wobble when the drag is totally loose, they start to work properly when you set at least a minimal drag.

 

[el jefe]

Have you tried tightening the drag? Most reels have a little wobble when the drag is totally loose, they start to work properly when you set at least a minimal drag.

That is a really interesting point, Akos. I just learned something new and valuable today. I did not know that, but it makes perfect sense.

 

[falcon53]

The Kraken is a good reel. The Atlas is even better although I am not sure they make it in a size for a 12 wt line. Check their website. Allen always has discounts and back their products 100% ... sign up for their emails. They are good people.

 

[sweetandsalt]

I agree that Allen is a fine company with great people and products, also that Atlas is a terrific reel. But Taylor is good too. Mathew will stand behind his reels as well and is also very serious about design and quality. I fished the Taylor T1 trout reel (4 - 6 with a #5 weight) this past month extensively and it performed flawlessly and certainly with no wobble.

It is true that sometimes a flaw is magnified in the largest size in a reel series that may be less evident in a smaller size. This is not an excuse but though I have not heard of any coverage from IFTD (product news has been poorly distributed in my opinion), it would not surprise me to learn Taylor has introduced a new-and-improved Revolution, hence the price discounting on the 1st. gen version.

As Allen has evolved into a first rate reel designer/producer I anticipate the same for Taylor. Both these young companies posses enthusiasm and a commitment to quality while providing a well designed and built product at a reasonable price...and both are Forum Sponsors.

 

[SaltwaterHippie]

Have you tried tightening the drag? Most reels have a little wobble when the drag is totally loose, they start to work properly when you set at least a minimal drag.

Thanks for the responses akos75 and steveid!

Akos75, I did try tightening the drag on both reels while handling them ad nauseam. It did not reduce the amount of play in the system. I should have done that in the video. If that were the solution to this issue, I still would return the reel. I do not expect the reel to have zero play like it is welded on the frame, but this seems to be above and beyond. I am not trying to be cross or challenge your point, so I hope you don't misunderstand me. I know what you mean. Frame rub and a wobbly spool being standard when the drag is disengaged makes me hard pressed to beat on this reel though, or try to get into any larger fish.

I kept wondering if it was user error causing my problems up until I brought the first reel back to Postfly. That's why I made the videos and this thread. I have only hoped it was some small mistake on my part that someone could point out to me. The person at Postfly took 10 minutes or so to try and trouble shoot the issue in hopes it was a quick fix. Unfortunately Postfly was also stumped, and got a very good look at it. They said if I wanted to keep it they could send it back to Taylor Reels for me to be fixed.

Steveid, the Allen Kraken reels look pretty nice. I have been looking at them for about a week. They look like a real deal (no pun intended). Have you used them? I am kind of discouraged from trying another company that produces their reels over seas.

 

[eastfly66]

Buy yourself one of the Abel Big Game reels off the auction site and you'll have a reel that will out live you , you won't wobble one of those !

 

[SaltwaterHippie]

I agree that Allen is a fine company with great people and products, also that Atlas is a terrific reel. But Taylor is good too. Mathew will stand behind his reels as well and is also very serious about design and quality. I fished the Taylor T1 trout reel (4 - 6 with a #5 weight) this past month extensively and it performed flawlessly and certainly with no wobble.

It is true that sometimes a flaw is magnified in the largest size in a reel series that may be less evident in a smaller size. This is not an excuse but though I have not heard of any coverage from IFTD (product news has been poorly distributed in my opinion), it would not surprise me to learn Taylor has introduced a new-and-improved Revolution, hence the price discounting on the 1st. gen version.

As Allen has evolved into a first rate reel designer/producer I anticipate the same for Taylor. Both these young companies posses enthusiasm and a commitment to quality while providing a well designed and built product at a reasonable price...and both are Forum Sponsors.

I hope no one thinks I am trying to drag Taylor Reels name through the mud. Not my intention. Respect to the forum sponsors. Seriously. Matthew answers his emails very fast and stays on top of communication. He clearly does care.

The only piece of info I heard regarding the Revolution reel line is that it is being discontinued. Now that is hearsay so I cannot substantiate it, but judging by the website and crazy sales, something is going on.

Funny you mention the T1 because that is the reel that got me onto Taylor Reels. So much hype and positive feedback from that reel. It's a fantastic reel. I was about to pull the trigger on one when I thought I could still get away with an 8wt reel on my 9wt rod. I wanted more optionality as a beginner though since I realized 9wt tropical floating line just will not fit on an 8wt reel (maybe with almost no backing haha). T1 aside, I found it hard to find reviews, videos, or even forum posts about the Revolution.