GEAR REVIEW SHIMANO TRIBAL XTR SCALE POUCH

[David.F.Scobie]

I picked up one of these cases for my Ruben Heaton Scales and was quite surprised by it, it's a reinforced box with a foam liner cut out to fit your scaled in it so they are protected for transport.

They come in green and camo so the carpists who insist in all things being “carpy green” are happy and the camo one keeps the rest of us happy I like the camo one. It measures 27cm x 26cm x 12.5cm Shimano have made a series of them to go with their luggage I've two of these boxes one holds the Pike floats the other holds the scales the bottom and sides of the boxes is reinforced and it doesn't cost the earth.





I am unsure what is currently going on with Shimano they pop up every now and then produce something great then it's the devil to obtain because it sells out then they stop that line of gear for some reason, I picked up a couple of their Aero 4000 FA Feeder reels for my summer feeder sessions I ordered two of them both of them went to bits within 3 to 6 month's so were sent back to Shimano they were replaced by the Aero 4000FA Spinning Reel version of the reel because the spinning reel version was somehow made better with a better gear ratio suited better to feeder fishing, and again both of these reels went to poop and had to be sent back giving up hope I was sent the Aero 4000 FA versions again and these have lasted at least they lasted so far. Shimano used to be the daddy when it came to reels but I'm not sure what's went wrong?

I mean is Shimano as a company going south or what's the story? Either way the above mentioned luggage is ok I'd happily recommend it.

[Slug]

That range has been discontinued now but they still have that scales pouch in the new one. The quiver though which is what I’m after has been dropped by looks of it and can’t find the old one anywhere.

[David.F.Scobie]

That range has been discontinued now but they still have that scales pouch in the new one. The quiver though which is what I’m after has been dropped by looks of it and can’t find the old one anywhere.

If I see the quiver anywhere on line buddy I'll post a linky to you.

I know Shimano has had issues with quality control on their reels this seemed to stem from the reel production being moved to the third world where the standards and quality simply aren’t there. The mid range reels that I've seen come out have all had various issue with them, as mentioned above I've personally had Shimano reels fail on me.

Please don’t take this as me panning Shimano I still use them, trust me if they were gash I'd not be using them. I've a set of the old 10000 XTEA Super baitrunners I got them in 2004/05 I think and I've used them around the world and they are still on my rods today I've had issues with one reel where the spool would slip when your winding in during a fight it's like the clutch was malfunctioning I've sent it back to Shimano to be fixed and the issue doesn't seem to have been sorted because the same reel has started slipping again not sure what fault this is? That been said the reels are over a decade old they have been well and thoroughly tested and I cant complain about their performance.

[The Fatchap]

I returned a Shimano st6000RB reel which had a malfunctioning clutch. It was still under warrenty. It was posted on 14th November and returned, working correctly on third February. FFS that's half the pike season. Speaking to my local tackle dealer about Okuma reels which I also have, he said any Okuma reurns under warrenty we just replace them with new. Something to think about?

[David.F.Scobie]

I returned a Shimano st6000RB reel which had a malfunctioning clutch. It was still under warrenty. It was posted on 14th November and returned, working correctly on third February. FFS that's half the pike season. Speaking to my local tackle dealer about Okuma reels which I also have, he said any Okuma reurns under warrenty we just replace them with new. Something to think about?

The Shimano ST6000RB is part of the family of reels that are aimed at anglers who don’t want to spend big money on gear that having been said you'd at lease expect a build quality that is going to pass the quality control Shimano used to be a name where if you picked up a reel from them then you knew you were on safe ground regarding quality and performance.

I do know that companies that folk would have said are budget manufacturers are upping their game in huge leaps and bounds my beach casting reels are Okuma reels that cost me under £60 I've had them 5 years and there still going without any faults or issues, I hold my hands up that sea surf reels won’t have all the bells and whistles that freshwater Shimano reels have but if they can produce a smooth reel with excellent line lay and a spot on clutch that can handle 6oz leads being punched to the horizon then what is wrong with Shimano, the answer surely just can’t be laid at the feet of them moving manufacturing plants to third world locations for cheaper labour?