Tranx 300a vs Curado 300e, who ya got?

[pickle]

6 hours ago, bassfiend72 said:

I have had both. I went back to my 300E. The Tranx retrieve feeling was way smoother. I do however almost like the old gear retrieve feeling almost like i can feel i’m retrieving the bait. Just personal preference. The other issue I had with the Tranx  is the thumb bar. I didn’t like how I felt the thumb bar support on the side after i depressed the bar. At the end of the day I almost formed a blister. I’ve never heard anyone else take issue with that though. If the tranx  had a different thumb bar I most likely would have a 300 and 400. 

I'm with bassfiend72, I sold both my 300E's, replaced them with the Tranx, and regretted it. I now have 2 E's again and am a happy camper. Most of it had to do with personal preference though. 

[Drew03cmc]

I don't see an option for a Lexa 300? Am I missing something?

[chevro1et]

4 hours ago, Drew03cmc said:

I don't see an option for a Lexa 300? Am I missing something?

I think this discussion was / is a Shimano deal. 

[rogers954]

I honestly didn’t get what people saw in the Lexa’s, granted with anything you can always end up getting a dud which was my experience. Picked up the Lexa because of all the people on here saying positive things and because of price (just starting out) lightly used the reel for less than 3 months and it started to lockup on casting. Defiantly not something i was comfortable with when slinging a $200 250. Luckily i didn’t loose any gear, but when i got home i came back to the forum searching for help and found i wasn’t the only member with this issue, in fact it seemed quite common (don’t know how i missed that during my search) anyway guys said the reel gets finicky when it gets dirty, again mine was practically new so i striped it down and gave it my deep clean tune (I service all my reels and every other one sings after i clean it and use less grease than the factory’s and a very light oil for bearings) so i got this thing as clean as a whistle and yet it continued to lock on cast. Immediately sold it for a loss and bought a curado 301. Day one i saw why guys like them, buttery smooth right out of the box, it was a night and day difference over the Lexa and it casted a hell of a lot further to. Been kicking around the idea of getting a tranx but I’ve seen a lot of questionable reviews from people about the reliability so I think I’m just going to stick with my curado. It’s smooth and handles everything i throw at it so why change it.

Also this was a post from a guy on insta that cleans/fixes a lot of reels and the general consensus i got for his post was that he preferred the 301 as well

[Drew03cmc]

7 hours ago, chevro1et said:

I think this discussion was / is a Shimano deal. 

Sarcasm my man. 

[chevro1et]

15 minutes ago, Drew03cmc said:

Sarcasm my man. 

:shrug: sometimes it doesn't come across, no worries. 

[MA Frog Man]

9 hours ago, rogers954 said:

I honestly didn’t get what people saw in the Lexa’s, granted with anything you can always end up getting a dud which was my experience. Picked up the Lexa because of all the people on here saying positive things and because of price (just starting out) lightly used the reel for less than 3 months and it started to lockup on casting. Defiantly not something i was comfortable with when slinging a $200 250. Luckily i didn’t loose any gear, but when i got home i came back to the forum searching for help and found i wasn’t the only member with this issue, in fact it seemed quite common (don’t know how i missed that during my search) anyway guys said the reel gets finicky when it gets dirty, again mine was practically new so i striped it down and gave it my deep clean tune (I service all my reels and every other one sings after i clean it and use less grease than the factory’s and a very light oil for bearings) so i got this thing as clean as a whistle and yet it continued to lock on cast. Immediately sold it for a loss and bought a curado 301. Day one i saw why guys like them, buttery smooth right out of the box, it was a night and day difference over the Lexa and it casted a hell of a lot further to. Been kicking around the idea of getting a tranx but I’ve seen a lot of questionable reviews from people about the reliability so I think I’m just going to stick with my curado. It’s smooth and handles everything i throw at it so why change it.

Also this was a post from a guy on insta that cleans/fixes a lot of reels and the general consensus i got for his post was that he preferred the 301 as well

If my page was bigger I wouldnt be surprised if Shimano sent me a cease and desist. Im not saying that the Tranx is a bad reel by any means. Every reel has its problems. This includes the E which has problems with the frame bearings corroding in place. Ive done probably 20+ Tranx this year. Of those 20 I'd say half needed some sort of repair. 4 damaged levelwinds, just about all have a damaged clutch and water intrusion. It really wouldnt be an issue on any other reel, but for a reel that has so much sealing technology built in there is a fatal flaw somewhere. I believe that water is getting thru the thumb bar while depressed on a cast but Ive been shot down by the Shimano faithful as being a "hater". And it very well maybe that the 10+ damaged Tranx I've worked on have all been abused and fished hard. But when a guys consistently send multiple reels and only the Tranxs are damaged theres something wrong. Again this is no way a definitive post, JUST MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.

[SDBasser]

I love the Tranx 300 and 400. I have the 400 in high and 300 in low gear ratio. Both very good reels and am planning on getting another.

[Bass_blaster]

I’ve had a mix of curados (200 and 300 of pretty much all the different series). Over the past year I’ve acquired 3 tranx 400s for big baits in freshwater as well as saltwater bass here in SD. I love the tranx reels I have so far, zero issues and I’ve even taken on out tuna fishing and it did fine until the hook pulled out but that was my fault. I don’t have any tranx 300s but my brother does and he likes them. Can’t go wrong with either really, all my shimanos have treated me well overall. 

[Badfish562]

There is a lot here, but if you're comparing those two reels there's a few things that need to be noted:

Curado 300E: has Super Free technology which make for badass castability. 28" per crank like previously mentioned on here (which differs with line diameter being used). Does have a larger frame when compared to a Tranx 300A, which is one of the features for the Tranx 300A : compact body. The Curado 300E has HEG (high efficiency gearing) which has an oversized main and pinion gears. Both the Tranx and the Curado 300E share this feature. It also has 15# of drag out of the factory with dartanium drag washers. Has been a go to reel for both salt and fresh applications and excels in both. Just like how the Tranx 300A has its higher gear counterpart, Tranx 300HGA which comes with a power handle, so too the Curado 300E has the Curado 300EJ that also comes with a power handle.

Tranx 300A: along with having Compact Body as one of the new features on the reel, it also has micro-module gearing which are smaller teeth on the gears making for more contact in the gearing along with smoother handle turns on retrieve. Tranx 300A has 30" per crank and 22# of drag in the low gear option, 18# in the high gear model but both are higher than the Curado 300E does in stock specs. Also believe these offer 5+1 bearings which is one additional than offered in the Curado 300E's. The Tranx have all been made for heavy saltwater use as well so that is a factor shared by both reels. However, the Coreprotect feature helps minimize the amount of water infiltrating into the reel probably giving it an edge in salt (or protection from sediment/debris in fresh). The Curado 300E does not have this feature. In all I feel the Tranx is more powerful due to gearing and more durable due to CoreProtect.

I personally have multiple of the reels mentioned and have had no issues with any. I do have a small preference with walking style baits I like the Tranx 300HGA (with paddle handle conversion) due to the compact body being more ergonomic. As most things do, I would say preference is probably what it mostly boils down to. Even drawing comparisons showing the Tranx has more power and more durability, I would probably still have a tough time telling an angler his trusty Curado300E needs to be a Tranx300A. 

Hope this helps..

[rogers954]

10 hours ago, MA Frog Man said:

If my page was bigger I wouldnt be surprised if Shimano sent me a cease and desist. Im not saying that the Tranx is a bad reel by any means. Every reel has its problems. This includes the E which has problems with the frame bearings corroding in place. Ive done probably 20+ Tranx this year. Of those 20 I'd say half needed some sort of repair. 4 damaged levelwinds, just about all have a damaged clutch and water intrusion. It really wouldnt be an issue on any other reel, but for a reel that has so much sealing technology built in there is a fatal flaw somewhere. I believe that water is getting thru the thumb bar while depressed on a cast but Ive been shot down by the Shimano faithful as being a "hater". And it very well maybe that the 10+ damaged Tranx I've worked on have all been abused and fished hard. But when a guys consistently send multiple reels and only the Tranxs are damaged theres something wrong. Again this is no way a definitive post, JUST MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.

Good god those look terrible, I’ve never had a reel look anything like that, well that’s enough for me to stick with my 301

[Mossypumpkin]

Another thing nobody seems to remember on the gear ratio....it’s not JUST about lpt. It’s simply torque. Regardless of lpt, the 5.1 or 5.4 is significantly more torquey than a 6.3. The difference is night and day. When you lay into a big fish, a fish in thick weed, or a fish in current, you’re grinding it out a lot easier with a low ratio reel. AND tossing a bigass wake bait for 8 hours straight on the 5.4 is so much less fatigue than the 6.3. So if the 6.3 and 5.4 have the same lpt, you’d be foolish not to fish the lower ratio when possible. I’ll never fish over 5.4 again

[Badfish562]

3 hours ago, Mossypumpkin said:

Another thing nobody seems to remember on the gear ratio....it’s not JUST about lpt. It’s simply torque. Regardless of lpt, the 5.1 or 5.4 is significantly more torquey than a 6.3. The difference is night and day. When you lay into a big fish, a fish in thick weed, or a fish in current, you’re grinding it out a lot easier with a low ratio reel. AND tossing a bigass wake bait for 8 hours straight on the 5.4 is so much less fatigue than the 6.3. So if the 6.3 and 5.4 have the same lpt, you’d be foolish not to fish the lower ratio when possible. I’ll never fish over 5.4 again

I dont think anyone is disregarding lower gear = increased torque, but a lot of anglers do prefer different gear ratios for differing techniques purely for the technique itself though. Its not foolish, its preference. There is not 1 ratio to cover all techniques. Granted, it is easier to speed up than have to slow down. I also really dont pay attention to the actual ratio as it only tells you the amount of times a spool rotates within 1 handle turn. If we were going off of ratio, the 5.8:1 ratio of the 30" IPT Tranx300A would appear slower than the 6.2:1 ratio of the 28" IPT Curado300E. Thats where spool height comes into play. 

[Primus]

I've used nothing but Shimano baitcast reels for over 20 years and still even have a Curado BSF from way back then. As far as my 300 size reels I have the Curado D & E and also  a couple of the Tranx reels. I would not hesitate to buy either Curado if it was in good condition and the price is right and I  still use them. That said I like the Tranx a little better especially when fishing crank style baits that offer resistance on the retrieve like a Pat's Perch as I feel they Tranx are little more powerful in my hands than the Curado's. That said I have no plans to sell any them even though I may upgrade a couple of my older reels with another Tranx or 2 I will still  hang on to the old ones in case I have one that needs service in the middle of fishing season as it's always good to have a back-up available.

 

As a side note I did put a 200 SIZE Calcutta  D on one of my Dobyns 795 rods, this set-up I use to fish braid with a leader for some of my soft swim baits and absolutely love this reel for this application and the tall narrow spool seems to have eliminated the wind knots that I would sometimes get when fishing braid on the wider spools on most 300 size reels.  This reel has more line capacity than most of the other 200 size reels that Shimano offers so I feel it is more than sufficient in that regard and it is smooth as butter. I highly recommend it based on my experience for fishing braid. 

Edited November 5, 2019 by Primus

[Volfan]

I still run three 200D Curados. Not broke, not fixing it.