Penn casting special

[nearly70ty]

Hi gents
I'm thinking about buying a new reel and the Penn casting special is on my radar, I read somewhere that there were a few issue's with the PCS. Is there anybody that can enlighten me to the specific problems.

 

[wingnut55]

Biggest gripe for many users was the position of the mag knob I believe. I have the Penn Fathom II 15 SD's, very similar reels.

Ian.

 

[Shirleycodlin]

Happy to be corrected, but I think build quality became an issue, something gearbox related?
@blakdog is back will know more.

 

[flappy]

Biggest gripe for many users was the position of the mag knob I believe. I have the Penn Fathom II 15 SD's, very similar reels.

Ian.

Mag knob…

 

[nearly70ty]

Isn't it a relatively easy fix to change nobs to a mag 2 or 3, I know you shouldn't have to but needs must. I'm really not interested in adjusting mags when I'm fishing, I've done enough of that over grass.

 

[blakdog is back]

Easy to change the mag knob over to the 525 version (you need the 525 screw as well) but the gearbox has a crappy double collar system which doesn't seem to help with longevity of the thread on the drive shaft ...

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1112909787509347&set=a.527968796003452&locale=en_GB

 

[chesilpete]

Buy a fathom 2 simple and reliable.

 

[blakdog is back]

Buy a fathom 2 simple and reliable.

Same iffy gearbox

 

[nearly70ty]

Same iffy gearbox

Thanks b/dog, much apreciated, what would you buy in the £200 price bracket

 

[chesilpete]

Thanks b/dog, much apreciated, what would you buy in the £200 price bracket

Blue 7ht

 

[chesilpete]

Same iffy gearbox

oh oh lol

 

[blakdog is back]

oh oh lol!

Different star drag though and the std FathomIIs don't seem to be losing the threads like the Casting Specials.

Thanks b/dog, much apreciated, what would you buy in the £200 price bracket

Go for a normal MKII Fathom .. nothing much better in that price range in my opinion despite the known issues. Being aware of the weak points is half the battle.

 

[chesilpete]

Generally I think the casting special is definitely not a casting special other than by name only!.
My experience with them has that they are not special at casting at all.
That's a big spool to spin up and when loaded with line it has a lot of inertia to overcome.
Gray the Ray and I had some time during lockdown and we took a lot of gear down his field one day for a mess around.
I had all the penns at that time and we had a range of rods all mediums and one heavy rod.
The results were pretty much as expected from the 12s 15s and CS the 12s outranged everything else but the CS was behind the 15s by a chunk.
In fact the akios nitron sat between the 15s and the CS.
To add some context here they were all within 15 yards of each other and we are definitely average casters.
The CS was definitely the hardest to control.
Since then I have only used 12s they hold enough line for anything I am going to do.
They also seem more solid, I guess they have the same sideplates etc and as such because they have a shorter smaller spool logic would dictate they are more rigid.
I flogged my CS because I thought I would never use them.
The biggest shame on the day was the akios nitron.
For absolutely no visible reason sometimes it flew sometimes it didn't. If we had not had the issues with it it would have been better than the CS.
Anyway the Casting Special is not a Casting Special in my opinion.
On the day everything was outranged by the 7HT STs by a chunk but that's no news to anyone I am sure.

 

[X525]

Buy a fathom 2 simple and reliable.

stick with original fathoms ( magged)

same as the 525's, regardless where made, the mk1s battered the 2 3 4 etc hands down

 

[blakdog is back]

Since then I have only used 12s they hold enough line for anything I am going to do.

Once you take that lump of a cement mixer handle off them they are quite a compact reel ... good size for casting but with much more strength than the Ambassadeurs, 7HTs etc. My go to reels for all but very light stuff now.

The biggest shame on the day was the akios nitron.
For absolutely no visible reason sometimes it flew sometimes it didn't. If we had not had the issues with it it would have been better than the CS.
Anyway the Casting Special is not a Casting Special in my opinion.

I'm not by any means anti-akios at all but the basic issue with the Nitron is that it's junk (or at least the original was .. I've not handled the new flavour). The design of it seems to have ignored some basic engineering principles, particularly in respect of helical gears and that big gear is a con as only half of the gear depth is meshing in drive. I'm also convinced that the quality of the plastic used is not up to much as they seem to go out of true for no reason .... but that seemed to happen to the early Chinese built Penn 525 mags too.

To be completely honest I avoid having in the Chinese made plastic models now as they are not cost effective to work on.

I'd echo what you've said about the Casting Special ... I've always wondered why they bothered really.