Amundson trend X5 review

Fixit

Fixit

Well-Known Member
searched and searched last week but couldnt find very much information on the Trend X5 mooching reels, so i wanted to post some picts and my observations on these

(TMX5-BKN) these are the black reels (no scale pattern on the back) with the "soft knobs"

most specs online show 300yards of 30lb mono; however, i spooled them with 330yards of 80lb braid and 120yards of 30 lb mono
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The reels come in a nice neoprene pouch
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knobs are a nice finger fit, I dislike the tiny knobs found on some reels. these feel like delrin (hard plastic)
shown with 330 yards of 80 lb diawa braid

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backside is nicely polished... well fairly nicely polished. buffing marks can be seen as a spiral. nowhere else on the reel is polished

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the foot is through bolted, seems ok

IMG_5041.JPG IMG_5043.JPG
drag knob is smooth, about 3 full turns to go from a heavy drag (for chinook fishing) to approaching free spool. (this reel lacks a free spool lever)
 
I haven't used one, but I will say it's sexy...
 
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underside of the drag knob.
showing poor anodization quality control, witnessed on 2 of the 4 reels, although the other knob wasnt as bad.
looking closely also shows where the knob interferes with the drag snap-ring/retainer

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under the drag knob. note the snapring that contacts the drag knob. (at 6 o clock position)

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note the curl of aluminum (3-12 o clock) from contacting the snap ring

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back side of the spool - clicker has dual springs, but the drag and clicker had zero visible grease anywhere.
clicker as shown is very, very loud. (girlfriend turned up the tv while i was playing with them on the couch. (its louder while line is going out and quieter while gaining on the fish.
I added grease to all the internals, and it quieted down things nicely. I also greased the carbon fiber drag washer under the spool.

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inside the body of the reel. Dual pawls, again, no grease :(

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after coating all the springs in grease, and reassembling the reel, i added about 125 yards (400 turns of the reel)
 
out of the box these reels needed what i would do to any reel for its yearly maintainance (clean and grease). The quality control isnt perfect, but overall the quality is good, an 8/10.
the drag is smooth with no stickiness, except at 100%max drag where it takes a little bit extra to get the drag slipping. At drag levels the reels would be at for downrigger fishing for salmon, the drag is consistant and smooth.
I like the fit and feel if the knobs and will post an update once I get the reels wet (and their cherries popped).

i hope this helps others who are looking at these reels to make up their mind
 
Thanks for the review Fixit.I was contemplating getting one of these in blue to match my new TFO downrigger rod which is also blue.I also would like the newer version like yours without the ports and scale graphics and with paddle handles.You helped me make up my mind and will upgrade here in the very near future.Thanks again.
 
I picked up at pair of the all black with paddles from Chandler and they as well had no grease.

BUT

The first pair I owned are the black with gold inlays and knurled aluminum handles. They were heavily greased. In fact one of them had so much grease that the drag was creeping so bad we couldn' use it. Here is a pic of what it looked like.20171227_215416.jpg
 
Fished a pair of them last summer’s guiding season. Had a few clicker springs and drag springs rust out on me, even with regular maintnence. The one major issue I had was the screw that holds the clicker on actually sheered off leaving the broken bit stuck in the spool. I will say, Amundson was great to work with and made right of all the issues, but for reliabilitys sake ill likely be running islanders next season.
 
fshnfnatic said:
Thanks for the review Fixit.I was contemplating getting one of these in blue to match my new TFO downrigger rod which is also blue.I also would like the newer version like yours without the ports and scale graphics and with paddle handles.You helped me make up my mind and will upgrade here in the very near future.Thanks again.
Click to expand...
How do you like the TFO rod? Thinking about upgrading from my old HMX's.
 
Ruff said:
How do you like the TFO rod? Thinking about upgrading from my old HMX's.
Click to expand...
Love them,Ruff.Solid rods.Wrestled the Tyee in my avatar away from a hungry seal with one.I like the 9 ft length for when I'm solo in the boat and have to net.Just picked up a blue TMX5 from Gone Fishin' in Nanaimo on sale for a Merry Christmas to me gift and cant wait to try the combo out here as soon as this crap weather changes.They come with a great limited warranty as well!
 
Anybody hearing any rumblings about good deals on these for Boxing Day? looking for non scale back and paddles ideally.
 
Hey Stizzla.Gone Fishn' in Nanaimo has them on for $329 until the end of the month.I picked a blue one up with the solid back/no scales,but it has knurled aluminum handles.Be easy enough to change those out to Islander paddles I would think?Came spooled with 30lb Ultragreen as well but don't know if that was a regular part of the deal.
 
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