| BUILD: | Probaly in 2005 |
| MATERIAL: | Plastic |
| MADE IN: | China, there is a paper sticker at the feet |
| SERIAL: | Small sticker saying O 086 |
| PRODUCED: | ? |
| PRICE: | US $19.95 |
| BALL BEARINGS: | Unknown |
| GEAR RATION: | 1:5.1 |
| WEIGHT: | ? |
| REMARKS: | I bought this reel for US $19.95 at the Wall-Mart in Dotham, Alabama, USA. I was there for a business trip in january 2007. During a quick visit to the local Wall-Mart I saw this reel and took it home, it looks like not a too bad reel for this price. During actual use I found that the dragknob is sticking out too much, sometimes the dynamee winds around the dragknob, this is not very good. Further the bail closed too heavily, sometimes you need to close the bail manually. If you need a UL spinning reel go for the TICA Cetus. This reel needs maintenance directly out of the box, the bail needs to be oiled at both sides so the bail trip closes more smooth, also the gear housing needs some drips of oil to run the gears better. Another bad thing about the reel is the plastic trip lever, this will not last a lifetime for sure. |
| On 02/06/2009 this reel went defect. The drag was not holding the spool any more which just dropped from the reel. After analyse at home it was discovered that the drag knob has a small M3 nut inside which had no screwthread anymore. I can replace it but its not possible with a standard M3 nut, the diameter needs to be larger. On 10/06/2009 a new drag knob was designed and manufactured. First prototype was made from Poly Carbonate, but this did not look very nice, however it showed that manufacturing a new drag knob was possible and worked out fine. Second drag knob was made from brass, the result looks very good. I have used the small spring from the original drag also, its inserted in the brass piece giving a more smooth drag. The click sound of the original drag is not there, that is just a gimmick. As you can see the new drag is very flat en this solves one of the design faults of this reel. The original knob has a nice handle at the drag, but in practice this will catch dynamee line. My new design drag is much flatter and is of correct design. Also the screwtread runs over a larger distance internally and will not damage so easily. Mitchell is using 3mm screwthread, this is too small to handle the drag pressure, another design fault. In their series II Avocet reels Mitchell has corrected this by using M4 tread, I am sure they knew about the problem. In my design for the first series of Avocet, with the longer screwtread the pressure is more distributed, so problem solved. | |
| Mitchell Avocet S500UL | Modified at 10/06/2009 |
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