TackleTour

Daiwa's New Workhorse Has Thoroughbred Tendencies : Tatula



Introduction: In 2011, Daiwa created a stir with the introduction of their innovative T-Wing level wind. The final product, the T3 and T3 Ballistic casting reels, were met with mixed reviews here on TackleTour. Now, just two short years later, they've embarked on a large R&D campaign titled "Project T" to introduce the next generation of reels enabled with this levelwind technology. This so called project is teased in a 10 part youTube video series aimed at creating excitement and intrigue over two new reels. By most accounts, despite a few obvious technical faux-pas by their prostaff, it worked. The buzz on our discussion forum alone was out of control with readers taking screen shots of the videos and sharing them so they could offer their thoughts on exactly what Daiwa was up to with Project T.

Complete Article: http://tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatatula.html

I am pretty shocked at the MSRP of $149 and its proximity to the Lexa. It does seem like a lot of features at that price point. Not sure if that's awesome or scary. Has there been any specs/price released for the Type-R version that was mentioned?

Great review and looks to be a great offering by Daiwa.

A bit disappointed in the 8 ounce weight. I'm not a weight "weenie", but with others introducing reels in the mid to low 7's and even high 6 ounce range, well, was thinking something around 7.5 ounces would have been their target weight.

$150 price point for all the features and potential upgrade-ability is huge IMO.

I'd bet if most are happy with the way the reel fits their hand, the Tatula will steal much of the market share at this price point from the other manufacturers.

"Game on!"

Daiwa is really looking to take market share with this one. I wonder what the Abu and Shimano camps will do. I think things like this will make life really hard on little guys like Lews, Okuma, etc...considering most consumers aren't weight weenies...this might put a few fringe players out of the market. If Shimano counters with a well thought out reel too...look out.

Finally...a series to get into the Curado/Revo/Quantum/Pfleuger/Lew's/Okuma/OEM camp from Daiwa; that actually appears able to "bear arms against".

Great review boys, can't wait until these hit the market.

Super review
looking good Daiwa

Type R will be 199$

Nice review!

Looks like I'll have a replacement (Type-R Tatula that is) for a Fuego or two......I do have to keep at least one though!

The TT review of the Tatula is dated July 5.

See http://tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatatula.html

I have read mnay TT reviews, and I have bought products based on the excellent reviews. Conversely, I have also avoided buying some products.

I read through the Tatula review, and I was reminded of the way Consumers Union obtains the products they review. They buy them in the open market just like any buyer would. Products provided by manufacurers are not tested. Obviously, they believe that products provided by manufacturers would be carefully selected to be high quality and without any defects.

There are two paragraphs in the TT review that reminded me of the Consumers Union practice. The two paragraphs are:

Earlier this year, prior to any of the videos being debuted, we received a call from Daiwa at HQ. They had a product they wanted to send up to us for a private, non-biased comment and evaluation. The only catch was we had to keep everything under wraps and not say a word until ICAST. Not an issue considering they'd be one of many manufacturers for which we extend this courtesy. A couple of weeks later, the product materialized at HQ and we've had a chance to take it out on the water and subsequently take it apart in the lab. Here now is our exclusive REVIEW of Daiwa's 2013 ICAST debut product, the Tatula Baitcasting reel.

The result? Spooled with the afore mentioned 16lb Sunline Supernatural Monofilament and mounted on the Zillion TDZL691MHXB casting rod, I was able to comfortably cast and pitch lures down to one quarter of an ounce in weight. This is not a threshold I'd expect to reach with a reel in this class. Instead, three eighths (3/8) of an ounce is the usual norm. I was truly surprised.

My take....It is entirely possible that Daiwa provided a super-tuned reel to be tested. They would certainly provide a reel that was nearly perfect. I would be more inclined to accept a product review if the product was purchased in the open market.

I'm sorry to make this comment, because I enjoy TT, and via forums and product reviews, TT has contributed to my becoming a much better fisherman.

Conspiracy theories....
On a serious note,the majority of products received for testing/reviewing are provided by manufacturers long before they are commercially available.If one was to wait for stock from retailers,the reviews would be based on extremely short testing periods.
I would much prefer long term user feedback before I pull the trigger on a 'new' product.
With the detailed testing/reel break downs,there is little room for deception.Daiwa would be shooting themselves in the foot if they tried to pull that stunt.There are way too many eagle eyed tackle enthusiasts on TT that would expose any anomalies in a wink.

I understand what you're saying but I don't think this is the case and the reason is that the anglers reading TT would spot problems with the review no matter what the price point so I doubt TT would accept a version that could hurt their reputation. Consumer Reports has no credibility when it comes to cars anymore after it was revealed they were giving high marks to manufactures that provided them free cars and when examined it was found different parts were used that weren't available on production models so nobody uses consumer reports for auto info anymore and the same would happen to TT if that was the case.

I don't know how TT can do the great job they do in field testing reels for a length of time before they are available to the public, and providing us addicts with thorough reviews to help us with our decisions concerning which reel to buy next, without the manufacturers help in supplying reels long before they are on the market.
Of course they won't send out faulty reels for field testing, but I doubt TT would be a party to any "bait and switch" stuff, where the actual production reels are inferior to the test reels they were provided with. TT has too much at stake. This site is all about anglers trusting what these guys say.

mark poulson wrote:I don't know how TT can do the great job they do in field testing reels for a length of time before they are available to the public, and providing us addicts with thorough reviews to help us with our decisions concerning which reel to buy next, without the manufacturers help in supplying reels long before they are on the market.
Of course they won't send out faulty reels for field testing, but I doubt TT would be a party to any "bait and switch" stuff, where the actual production reels are inferior to the test reels they were provided with. TT has too much at stake. This site is all about anglers trusting what these guys say.

x2!!

x3 to what mark said. one of the things i like most about the TT reviews is they fish gear for a long time before reviewing it, often a full season or more. i've had plenty of experiences where i loved or hated something at first and, after a couple/three trips, did a complete 180 on how i felt about it.