At last....

cg74 · Dec 16, 2011

.... A centre pin with a price tag that truly represents the actual cost of its production. I very much doubt it'll free-spin for 2hours 8mins and 36secs like a Speedia but then I do fail to understand the need for such a free spinning reel, when most are destined for legering on rivers:
Theseus Shadowlanda Centre Pin Reel - SLCPRL (43365) by Theseus Match Gear - Fishing Republic -

So cheap, I might even have to try one.

soffit · Dec 16, 2011

Yer. Any watch will tell you the time. I spent £36 on a Cortesi

As long as it spins reasonably freely it will do the job it was designed for. Good to see stuff that gives any chap a chance to try the centerpin for peanuts. Nothing beats it on a river trotting a float... total control. Really enjoyed mine today winkling fish out of tiny slacks of a river in spate... Technically the fixed spool isn't far behind and will catch as many fish, but.... for the price of forty fags? You owe it to yourself

little oik · Dec 16, 2011

It looks the same as the Grandslam one .I picked one of those up in a shop to have a butchers like .It looks like pressed steel if you can call it that .It didnt run true in fact it was more like a bicycle wheel that had hit quite a few kerbstones and the knurled "nut " was plastic .
In my opinion as its getting cold the tenner would be better used as a fire lighter .Mind you it might have just been a dodgy one .

soffit · Dec 16, 2011

little oik said:
It looks the same as the Grandslam one .I picked one of those up in a shop to have a butchers like .It looks like pressed steel if you can call it that .It didnt run true in fact it was more like a bicycle wheel that had hit quite a few kerbstones and the knurled "nut " was plastic .
In my opinion as its getting cold the tenner would be better used as a fire lighter .Mind you it might have just been a dodgy one .

Like cheap fruit you have to pick out the good ones. For a tenner, buyer beware

Paul Boote · Dec 16, 2011

An uncannily similar 'pin for a tenner' thing was kicking about all sorts of bits of fishy Ebay a few years back. I inspected the purchase of a guy I knew at the time who bought everything just to make himself feel a man (then rue it later, as we all do...). Suffice it say, he did, even trying leaving it with me as a "pressie".

"Find a bin", I told him.

I hope he did.

caferacer · Dec 17, 2011

What about the Cortesi?I would like a pin for my margin tench work so that I can use in wild boulder strewn loughs,my precious old Aerial wouldnt be up to it.Is it any good?

mark brailsford 2 · Dec 17, 2011

You know the saying, buy cheap buy twice!!
The companies that market these cheap nasty reels know that in these times of hardship it is easy to sell something that, on the outside looks like a bargain, but, they know that in a couple of months (or weeks!) you will be back to buy a replacement.
Someone said that ''any watch tells the time'' maybe so, but take a look inside a Rolex and you will see whey they cost a lot more than a Sekonda... Craftsmanship! (before you ask, no, I do not own a Rolex, I could not even afford the servicing never mind buy one!!) that's why a Chris Lythe pin costs a lot more than a cortasi, and I know which one will last longer...AND hold its re-sale value!

Mark

S-Kippy · Dec 17, 2011

caferacer said:
What about the Cortesi?I would like a pin for my margin tench work so that I can use in wild boulder strewn loughs,my precious old Aerial wouldnt be up to it.Is it any good?

Certainly good enough for that.

Alan Tyler · Dec 17, 2011

Caferacer, if you're as clumsy an oaf as I, a resin/plastic-backed reel is probably a safer option than an all-metal one - an old "Eagle" or "GeeBee" would be worth seeking out. You can lay them down on rocks with far less subtlety than an aluminium one. And don't even think about a Rapidex...

Or you can carry a slice of old camping mat and lay that down, a la Walter Raleigh, to protect your beloved. Cheaper, but not tarty enough for many.

mol · Dec 17, 2011

mark brailsford 2 said:
You know the saying, buy cheap buy twice!!
The companies that market these cheap nasty reels know that in these times of hardship it is easy to sell something that, on the outside looks like a bargain, but, they know that in a couple of months (or weeks!) you will be back to buy a replacement.
Someone said that ''any watch tells the time'' maybe so, but take a look inside a Rolex and you will see whey they cost a lot more than a Sekonda... Craftsmanship! (before you ask, no, I do not own a Rolex, I could not even afford the servicing never mind buy one!!) that's why a Chris Lythe pin costs a lot more than a cortasi, and I know which one will last longer...AND hold its re-sale value!

Mark

Have you tried the 'cheap nasty' Cortesi?

I have and for the money it's fantastic. Mines had a hard 14 months catching alot of chub and barbel on the river and it even had a few run outs after carp and tench and it's still going strong. No doubt a Lythe would be a better reel and would last longer than a Cortesi but roughly speaking at £470 more than a Cortesi I would expect that. You simply can't compare a £30 reel to one costing £500 with a 24 month wait.

mg:

For anybody after a first pin or one to use in rough areas the Cortesi is a fantastic choice. It's cheap enough not to worry about and more than good enough to use and catch fish.

sam vimes · Dec 17, 2011

£9.99 would have been a good option for me. I'd have come to realise that centrepins aren't the be all and end all and not ended up with a much more expensive door stop.

mark brailsford 2 · Dec 17, 2011

mol said:
Have you tried the 'cheap nasty' Cortesi?

I have and for the money it's fantastic. Mines had a hard 14 months catching alot of chub and barbel on the river and it even had a few run outs after carp and tench and it's still going strong. No doubt a Lythe would be a better reel and would last longer than a Cortesi but roughly speaking at £470 more than a Cortesi I would expect that. You simply can't compare a £30 reel to one costing £500 with a 24 month wait.mg:

For anybody after a first pin or one to use in rough areas the Cortesi is a fantastic choice. It's cheap enough not to worry about and more than good enough to use and catch fish.

I would sooner pay £500 for something that is giving a nice English man a wage and give years of pleasure than line the pockets of Mr ''rip off'' dragon carp!!!!

Mark

S-Kippy · Dec 17, 2011

Me too....but I and many others simply have not got £500 to spend on a reel.

cg74 · Dec 17, 2011

soffit said:
Yer. Any watch will tell you the time. I spent £36 on a Cortesi As long as it spins reasonably freely it will do the job it was designed for. Good to see stuff that gives any chap a chance to try the centerpin for peanuts. Nothing beats it on a river trotting a float... total control. Really enjoyed mine today winkling fish out of tiny slacks of a river in spate... Technically the fixed spool isn't far behind and will catch as many fish, but.... for the price of forty fags? You owe it to yourself

I take it you're a Timex man, not a Rolex one then? Following on with your watch analogy, I think it'd be more accurate to say; any reasonable quality watch will tell you the time, as those ones you used to get free with about five gallons of 4 star, certainly couldn't keep good time.

Got to be honest this had me in stitches: "Technically the fixed spool isn't far behind and will catch as many fish" Though it did leave me wondering what technical advances need making to fixed spool reels to catch up with pins and how many pin users can cast 100+yards?

Everyone that uses a pin will have to excuse my ignorance but for the one exception of trotting, how can a £500 pin out perform this example?
Also worth bearing in mind most pins these days are used for legering by barbel anglers.

---------- Post added at 11:31 ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 ----------

mark brailsford 2 said:
I would sooner pay £500 for something that is giving a nice English man a wage and give years of pleasure than line the pockets of Mr ''rip off'' dragon carp!!!!

Mark

Just out of curiosity, what make of car do you own?

As for "Mr Rip Off" I'd award that title to the man charging £500 for such a crude bit of tack but I can't fault him; if fools want to pay...............

sam vimes · Dec 17, 2011

I rather like posh watches, however, the watch analogy isn't a brilliant one. I set my "good" watches by a twenty quid Casio.

tigger · Dec 17, 2011

S-Kippy said:
Me too....but I and many others simply have not got £500 to spend on a reel.

Yeah, that is true ...but there are plenty other cheap options to look out for that are of much better quality than the cortesi etc and not much more expensive. Take a look at the second hand market, reels like the okuma's, greys bewick etc are well investing in and you'll find many of them simply haven't been used more than once as the owners just bought on a whim and maybe didn't get on with them. That's my take on it anyhow :w

.

mol · Dec 17, 2011

mark brailsford 2 said:
I would sooner pay £500 for something that is giving a nice English man a wage and give years of pleasure than line the pockets of Mr ''rip off'' dragon carp!!!!

Mark

How can you call it a rip off when you've had no experience of the reel?

Personally I think at the £30 I paid it's an absolute bargin, lets face it a centerpin reel isn't cutting edge technology. It certainly works well enough to trot with, least the barbel and chub think so:w

George387 · Dec 17, 2011

I've got a wide range of centre pins like I know some of the previous posters on here have also, Yes I do own a couple of reels at £500, which due to my financial situation I can afford to do so, and yes I do own a Cortesi and I enjoy using the Cortesi just as much as using the other reels I have which are a lot more expensive.

There are some folk who look down their noses at the cheaper reels but I tell you what they catch just as much fish as the £500 ones and if I drop it accidentally or fall in which I've done a few times when deep wading I'm not worrying if I've dented it or chipped the paint on it.

You live to your means and if you cant afford a £500 reel then you buy something else and after the amount of Cortesi reels he has sold in the past 12 months there must be something going for them and I know what I think of them, and other experienced Pin users think of them, definite value for the £30 and still going strong as the day I bought it over 12 months ago. That will do me

mark brailsford 2 · Dec 17, 2011

cg74 said:
I take it you're a Timex man, not a Rolex one then? Following on with your watch analogy, I think it'd be more accurate to say; any reasonable quality watch will tell you the time, as those ones you used to get free with about five gallons of 4 star, certainly couldn't keep good time.

Got to be honest this had me in stitches: "Technically the fixed spool isn't far behind and will catch as many fish" Though it did leave me wondering what technical advances need making to fixed spool reels to catch up with pins and how many pin users can cast 100+yards?

Everyone that uses a pin will have to excuse my ignorance but for the one exception of trotting, how can a £500 pin out perform this example?
Also worth bearing in mind most pins these days are used for legering by barbel anglers.

---------- Post added at 11:31 ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 ----------

Just out of curiosity, what make of car do you own?

As for "Mr Rip Off" I'd award that title to the man charging £500 for such a crude bit of tack but I can't fault him; if fools want to pay...............

The reason they cost so much is that they are machined to very high tolerances from high grade alloys and the tooling needed to make them is very expensive.
I do not own a car as I try and do my bit for the planet!

Mark

---------- Post added at 15:46 ---------- Previous post was at 15:36 ----------

George387 said:
I've got a wide range of centre pins like I know some of the previous posters on here have also, Yes I do own a couple of reels at £500, which due to my financial situation I can afford to do so, and yes I do own a Cortesi and I enjoy using the Cortesi just as much as using the other reels I have which are a lot more expensive.

There are some folk who look down their noses at the cheaper reels but I tell you what they catch just as much fish as the £500 ones and if I drop it accidentally or fall in which I've done a few times when deep wading I'm not worrying if I've dented it or chipped the paint on it.

You live to your means and if you cant afford a £500 reel then you buy something else and after the amount of Cortesi reels he has sold in the past 12 months there must be something going for them and I know what I think of them, and other experienced Pin users think of them, definite value for the £30 and still going strong as the day I bought it over 12 months ago. That will do me

I will let you all in to a secret, I only decided on the lythe pins when I won £1200 on the irish or it would have been a definite no no!!

Mark

PS: Sorry if I let my feelings be known on the cortasi issue but I just don,t like the idea of those poor folk down at the sweat shop in old hong kong!!

soffit · Dec 17, 2011

mark brailsford 2 said:
You know the saying, buy cheap buy twice!!
The companies that market these cheap nasty reels know that in these times of hardship it is easy to sell something that, on the outside looks like a bargain, but, they know that in a couple of months (or weeks!) you will be back to buy a replacement.
Someone said that ''any watch tells the time'' maybe so, but take a look inside a Rolex and you will see whey they cost a lot more than a Sekonda... Craftsmanship! (before you ask, no, I do not own a Rolex, I could not even afford the servicing never mind buy one!!) that's why a Chris Lythe pin costs a lot more than a cortasi, and I know which one will last longer...AND hold its re-sale value!

Mark

A centerpin reel is a simple thing. It only needs to be reasonably free running to fufill its purpose[ you can egg it on with your thumb] and you can possibly do that for a tenner nowadays. Its nice to have engineering marvels but they aren't essential. At a tenner or even thirty quid holding its re-sale value is not an issue either.

Your argument is more suitable to fixed spool reels where the engineering/design/quality of execution has more impact on the end-user

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