Penn 220/230 GTO

[scott craven]

Looks like a well made product, reviews out of the States
mostly favourable.
Anybody tried this level wind reel ?

 

[Dogbreath]

Penn is making those in China now you'd be better off with any Shimano product.

 

[Charlie]

Penn is actually owned by Pure Fishing, Inc, which also owns -
Abu Garcia, Berkley, Shakespeare, All Star Rods, Fenwick, Johnson, Mitchell, Pflueger, Spiderwire, and Stren.

I really haven't heard a lot of complaints since the takeover, but they are indeed now largely made in China. I am not sure what you are going to using it for, but the 220/230 might be a little light for the "salt", especially halibut? I personally would look at the 310/320/330?

With that said I own both Penn and Shimano and done't have a problem with either, but if I needed one right now, I agree, it would probably be a Shimano!

 

[Tofinoguy]

quote:Originally posted by Charlie

Penn is actually owned by Pure Fishing, Inc, which also owns -
Abu Garcia, Berkley, Shakespeare, All Star Rods, Fenwick, Johnson, Mitchell, Pflueger, Spiderwire, and Stren.

I really haven't heard a lot of complaints since the takeover, but they are indeed now largely made in China. I am not sure what you are going to using it for, but the 220/230 might be a little light for the "salt", especially halibut? I personally would look at the 310/320/330?

With that said I own both Penn and Shimano and done't have a problem with either, but if I needed one right now, I agree, it would probably be a Shimano!

One problem i found was that the anti reverse gears on the Penn 310 were fine cut gears that stripped under hard use so we switched to the 320's with coarse cut gears and never had that problem again. We have switched last year to Shimano level windsas i feel the bang for the buck is better.

 

[Bear Cove]

I have used the Penn 330 for many years and they have held up great. With some maintenance each summer they have produced well, for the price I don't think you can go wrong.

www.bearcovecottages.ca
Port Hardy BC
Canada

 

[cliffjumper]

Diawa now make their Saltist with a levelwind, and one with a linecounter. Nice reels. Worth a boo.

 

[TheBigGuy]

You can also buy older US made reels off Ebay. If you find them already spooled with the test spectra you want they can be great deals. Just make sure you deal with sellers with good reputations. I have been very happy with all my new and used tackle purchases through ebay.

 

[Fish Assassin]

Message Sent.. Shaw account

 

[scott craven]

quote:Originally posted by UNKNOWN

RS...I have a reel that I'll send down to you when I send you your scent chambers if you like. It was my Dad's reel - a Penn 330GTi...he used it maybe 4 to 5 times, as it was one of the last reels that he bought before passing on. Great little reels, I used to sell tones of them when I was repping...after you inspect the reel you can pass me $40 when you get around to it.

R.

Sounds good Rob !

 

[excalibur]

I've used Penn reels for quite a long time. Currently have a 220 and 2-320's on the boat. For spares I have 2 old Diawa Magforce reels. The Penns are very reliable and work well. If they have one drawback it would be that they don't FLOAT!!

 

[AlGee]

+1 on the Penn 330, first time out in Feb and I christened it with a 36 lb hali, nice feeling . A friend has one of the older versions we noticed the new ones have a bigger handle, very comfortable.