japanesebassman Posted December 21, 2020 Report Share Posted December 21, 2020 14 hours ago, MA Frog Man said: Did you send the reel back to Daiwa? nah, their customer service takes forever and i’m just gonna use the reel as my party boat reel for fluke. i don’t need it fixed, just a little annoying. i have other reels i can use. i just wanted to try the reel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndZ Posted December 22, 2020 Report Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) This happened to my Daiwa Z2020 Black Limited after a few months of use with ONLY 14 lbs. fluorocarbon line and soft swimbaits in the 6" to 8" range. I got that reel in November 2017 and by May 2018 it turned into a coffee grinder from hell. Bought BRAND NEW from Digitaka. And since Daiwa doesn't sell replacement gears to users, I still have to send that grinder to them, in Japan, for a service. I will put out a review in the future and I will try to make it in English or translate it. It's not a fanboy thing, I am using reels from every major brand but in my long experience with reels, Shimano tend to have better lasting and smoother gears than Daiwa since 1998, when I started using both brands. In the mean time, I bought another 2 Z2020 reels, the limited editions hard to find, because despite that Z's bad behavior, I still like these reels for all-around swimbaiting. Though the Antares DC MD is currently my best medium-sized swimbait reel, it just wows me time after time. And you know what? I got this reel new out of the box and it got got grindy on me after 4 uses, go figure that out! I replaced its gears and it's been flawless ever since. There are bad apples on either side, I suppose. I was ready to get a Tatula 300, looks enticing... My original Lexa 300 is still going strong after 4 years of heavy use, it got a little grindy but come one, it's a lot of time of use with 4 to 7 oz. baits. Still one of the best reels I bought for its price. I hate it when big companies like Daiwa sell high end reels such as the Z2020 but they can't come up with stronger & smoother gears. And the price of those gears is just piss poor imho. Will still have to send it back to them because the reel is too nice, but it's been sitting in its box for some years, after a thorough cleaning and relube, when I saw that no servicing and replacing of the grease can help. Edited December 22, 2020 by AndZ japanesebassman, buzzed bait and chevro1et 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakevlastnik Posted December 23, 2020 Report Share Posted December 23, 2020 On 12/17/2020 at 10:34 AM, Jon P said: Well that's discouraging, and I treat my reels like ish I fish my tat 300s in the salt religiously, you'll be fine Jon P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefchris Posted September 22, 2021 Report Share Posted September 22, 2021 i just ordered a 400 off Buyee for $225 shipped, brand new, with the 6.3 ratio, 11.8oz. pretty stoked on it i have two 200s that have been amazing and i know @253caster loves his 300s and puts them thru the paces. should have it in about a week, ill post some pics/review once it shows up SwimbaitOR, 253caster and DrewManFishing 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwp Posted September 22, 2021 Report Share Posted September 22, 2021 Daiwa's customer service is so bad I don't care how good the reel is, I will never own any of their products. Shimano has mailed me out parts with out ever seeing my reels to fix issues. They don't even charge for shipping. Numerous stories of Daiwa charging customers for clear cut warranty issues, $40-50 "cleaning fees", return shipping, etc, all while taking weeks if not months to do the work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon P Posted September 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 Ended up getting a 301 8.1, 401 6.3, and a 201 HD 7.3. The 300 and 400 size have been great. The 400 is pretty much the perfect big glide reel on my heaviest rod and the 300 is a great reel for medium hard baits. The 200 unfortunately was pretty much prohibition-dry and sounded so bad about the second trip out I stopped using it until I could get some grease and oil in it. After cracking it open there was little to no grease or oil and what little oil there was, was stained black from abrasion on the gears. Both the 400 and 300 were pretty low, but not nearly as bad. After filling them all up on fluids they're functioning even better than new. It seems that most all of the Tatulas people have purchased as of late are all arriving super dry. Which is a kick in the dick since you're paying a solid bill for a reel that's going to die unless you invest more money in doing the work the folks at Daiwa failed to do themselves. I imagine this is likely the result of the supply chain backlashes plaguing the fishing industry. Maybe they're all out of oil and grease and have just been putting cooking oil and petroleum jelly in the reels (that is a joke). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefchris Posted September 30, 2021 Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 @Jon P i think the issue is that a lot of the reels probably sat in hot shipping containers or storage units during the pandemic and that could have caused them to dry out, or an issue on Daiwas end. My 400 order got canceled from the seller on buyee which is kind of BS. Jon P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon P Posted September 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 6 minutes ago, chefchris said: My 400 order got canceled from the seller on buyee which is kind of BS. I don’t get why they wouldn’t sell the 400 on the US market. It’s like the ideal musky reel. I also wish they’d make a widespool 500-600 size reel for distance casting. Something similar to the Elan WidePower or the Abu BigShooter. jp_midwest 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefchris Posted September 30, 2021 Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 30 minutes ago, Jon P said: I don’t get why they wouldn’t sell the 400 on the US market. It’s like the ideal musky reel. I also wish they’d make a widespool 500-600 size reel for distance casting. Something similar to the Elan WidePower or the Abu BigShooter. they probably will, its like 5oz lighter than the lexa 400 too, ill probably still try and get one, but next season/winter Jon P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mossypumpkin Posted October 1, 2021 Report Share Posted October 1, 2021 Diawa CS has been possibly the greatest I’ve ever seen from a company for me. I usually call and have parts ordered within 3-5 minutes. One time even ordered a few spare pawls for a reel and they don’t even worry about payment. My OG Lexa’s have been fished VERY hard…..some for about 10 years now and I still haven’t had to retire one. All have original gears. Replaced some pawls and worm gears but that’s about it. Jon P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp_midwest Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 On 9/30/2021 at 2:20 PM, Jon P said: I don’t get why they wouldn’t sell the 400 on the US market. It’s like the ideal musky reel. I also wish they’d make a widespool 500-600 size reel for distance casting. Something similar to the Elan WidePower or the Abu BigShooter. I was just looking over this cause I’m bored. And I saw your comment and I guess a good alternative to that would be the PROREX but that is like the new Lexa TW just without the salt water protection. But still you can always just buy one off a Japanese website Jon P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
406Bassin Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 Just got one in the mail. Can't give a opinion on it at the moment because the water is iced over. Jon P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefchris Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 @Jon P funny you said about the 200s being loud, both of mine got super loud very fast, started out fine but within a couple months super noisy. But my buddies 300 no noise at all on the fence about getting the 400 just cause ive switched all my set ups over to the 400 conquest especially for the biggest stuff, but sub $300 total cost with shipping from japan is a solid deal Jon P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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