I was at the mall a couple of days ago and thought I would stop in Dicks and pick up a spare reel. I have somehow injured my hand and have been picking up right hand reels to replace my left hand setup.

Anyway, I saw a Abu package already put together on sale for $129.00. It was a Orra sx reel with this Abu garcia rod. I thought what the heck, 129 I will give it a shot.

Oh no. First cast I knew I made a mistake. 2nd cast upon reeling in my line, I hear and feel this noise. Look at the threading of the line through the eyes, everything looks ok. Still resistance and noise.

Break out the reading glasses and inspect. The tip eye is cracked and the line is going in the crack.

Bummer, set that down and finish the day.

Very next morning I went back and returned it. I should have known better.

Well I went with old faithful Lews $79 cheapie.

Paired that with a St . Croix Mojo bass rod for a extra $49 over the original $129.

Not sure why I keep buying on a whim. I knew the Lews was what I wanted in the first place.

It's my 3rd one and for the money, I can find nothing wrong with them.

Am I reading this wrong?  Seems the rod was the problem, not the reel.  The rods are usually the weak points in those "special" combos.

Replacing a tip top is a $5 fix and takes 5 minutes. Of course it's annoying to fix something new. Slight damage like that is somewhat understandable given the amount of handling they endure. Check retail rods carefully regardless of brand.

It ws a combination of both. The reel to me appeared to be a blue " Silver max" and didn't retrieve as well. I must add that after short slow period, I put the new reel on another rod to get a good feel for it. I didn't like it nearly as much as the Lews reel. It was noisy right from the start. So much so, that I was pretty sure that noise was transferring to the lure.

I just bought an Orra; the "Winch" model.  I fished it for three days last weekend and it seems perfectly fine.  I didn't know the Orra SX came in blue.  I thought it was silver.  Maybe it's a cheaper package reel?

 

Tight lines,

Bob

I just bought an Orra; the "Winch" model.  I fished it for three days last weekend and it seems perfectly fine.  I didn't know the Orra SX came in blue.  I thought it was silver.  Maybe it's a cheaper package reel?

 

Tight lines,

Bob

it is weird. I tried to research it that night. I was finding 2 different reels under the " Orra sx " search.

One had magnetic drag with internal adjustments. Then there was the one I had. It looked very similar to the"Silver" model without the flip switch. External drag adjustments.

I felt the Silver max was better than this. The Max is like less than 50 bucks.

First generation orras dont have mag brakes only the the second and.the first are a.diff size also

If this was a combo at dicks, it was almost certainly older version of the orra.