Kistler Reels

Reels are the hottest topic for TackleTour. Everyone wants to know what the latest and greatest is and how they compare to the old guard. What's the best for light stuff, or what's your suggestion for heavy cover. Do we really need different retrieve ratios? It's all in here.
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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by Drakestar » Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:44 am

Fishing4Fun wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 3:23 am
Sounds like you should buy 5 of these Kistler reels. Should be no drop off compared to the 2020 Met.
I’d take 5 Met20s over 5 Kistler reels any day, but it’s not a fair fight to compare a brand new platform that retails at $420 to a $250 reel that’s built on an old one.

If pressed to take 5 Curado 70s over 5 well-designed Doyo $250 reels (produced for a company that design their own platforms) I’d hesitate. Based on personal experience/preference, I’d want 3 Curados and 2 of those “Korean reels”. Or 2/3, depending on use (cranking over bottom contact, for example).

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by rando » Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:01 am

My friend has lews bb1 for cranking and that thing is great. Smooth, feels tight, and casts crazy far. At $200 I would trade my scorpion for it without hesitation if it came at 6:1 lefty.

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by Johnny A » Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:41 am

rando wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:01 am
My friend has lews bb1 for cranking and that thing is great. Smooth, feels tight, and casts crazy far. At $200 I would trade my scorpion for it without hesitation if it came at 6:1 lefty.
Are you referring to the old style BB1?

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by rando » Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:51 am

Johnny A wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:41 am
rando wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:01 am
My friend has lews bb1 for cranking and that thing is great. Smooth, feels tight, and casts crazy far. At $200 I would trade my scorpion for it without hesitation if it came at 6:1 lefty.
Are you referring to the old style BB1?
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lews_BB ... e-BBN.html

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by Johnny A » Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:17 am

rando wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:51 am
Johnny A wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:41 am
rando wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:01 am
My friend has lews bb1 for cranking and that thing is great. Smooth, feels tight, and casts crazy far. At $200 I would trade my scorpion for it without hesitation if it came at 6:1 lefty.
Are you referring to the old style BB1?
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lews_BB ... e-BBN.html
thanks

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by CFDoc » Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:47 am

SSS wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:11 am
What's so cringe about it?
The idea that Shimano/Daiwa offerings, of any kind, are without flaws. As if God-almighty himself sent not only his son, but also the blessed hands that work in Shimano/Daiwa factories, to save us from our reel buying sins.

That and I can give a laundry list of use cases, applications, first-hand experiences, scientific reasonings, etc. as to why the Shimano/Daiwa worship is not always grounded in reality.

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by Fishing4Fun » Sat Nov 21, 2020 2:23 pm

CFDoc wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:47 am
SSS wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:11 am
What's so cringe about it?
The idea that Shimano/Daiwa offerings, of any kind, are without flaws. As if God-almighty himself sent not only his son, but also the blessed hands that work in Shimano/Daiwa factories, to save us from our reel buying sins.

That and I can give a laundry list of use cases, applications, first-hand experiences, scientific reasonings, etc. as to why the Shimano/Daiwa worship is not always grounded in reality.
What does God have to do with any of this? #kastkingforlife?

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by CFDoc » Sat Nov 21, 2020 3:50 pm

Fishing4Fun wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 2:23 pm

What does God have to do with any of this? #kastkingforlife?
Are you illiterate to simple metaphors?

I'm genuinely asking...

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by SSS » Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:31 pm

CFDoc wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:47 am
SSS wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:11 am
What's so cringe about it?
The idea that Shimano/Daiwa offerings, of any kind, are without flaws. As if God-almighty himself sent not only his son, but also the blessed hands that work in Shimano/Daiwa factories, to save us from our reel buying sins.

That and I can give a laundry list of use cases, applications, first-hand experiences, scientific reasonings, etc. as to why the Shimano/Daiwa worship is not always grounded in reality.
Sure, there are flaws, the T3 being one of them, but you compare these flaws to a brand that doesn't even make their reels (beeing made for them in Korea/China), and the said flaws aren't even worth mentioning. What have these brand made that is innovative? When you look at Shimano and especially Daiwa, they've made a lot of things. All these noname brands such as Piscifun or even the likes of Kistler/ZPI that try to wet their feet in the reel's market have no reason to exist unless they produce something that is special to their brand. This doesn't exist when your frame and spool are the same as a BPS $45 reel made in the same factory with minimal quality control.

This is not about woreshiping a brand. Its just spending money on a brand that has good quality control, engineers that strive to build something better with every iteration and features that aren't available elsewhere.

When i see the likes of KasKing selling their reels for $130 (more expensive than an SLX lmao), i am the one cringing. Without youtubers shilling these noname brands, they'd go out of business in a year tops.

Once upon a time, these brands had a niche because they were cheap. Now, not only do they have a bunch of models going over $100, but Shimano and Daiwa has quality cheap models such as the SLX.

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by Drakestar » Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:51 pm

CFDoc wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 3:50 pm
Fishing4Fun wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 2:23 pm

What does God have to do with any of this? #kastkingforlife?
Are you illiterate to simple metaphors?

I'm genuinely asking...
Let's keep it civil. Everybody here loves fishing tackle, let's rally around that.
SSS wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:31 pm
CFDoc wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:47 am
SSS wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:11 am
What's so cringe about it?
The idea that Shimano/Daiwa offerings, of any kind, are without flaws. As if God-almighty himself sent not only his son, but also the blessed hands that work in Shimano/Daiwa factories, to save us from our reel buying sins.

That and I can give a laundry list of use cases, applications, first-hand experiences, scientific reasonings, etc. as to why the Shimano/Daiwa worship is not always grounded in reality.
Sure, there are flaws, the T3 being one of them, but you compare these flaws to a brand that doesn't even make their reels (beeing made for them in Korea/China), and the said flaws aren't even worth mentioning. What have these brand made that is innovative? When you look at Shimano and especially Daiwa, they've made a lot of things. All these noname brands such as Piscifun or even the likes of Kistler/ZPI that try to wet their feet in the reel's market have no reason to exist unless they produce something that is special to their brand. This doesn't exist when your frame and spool are the same as a BPS $45 reel made in the same factory with minimal quality control.

This is not about woreshiping a brand. Its just spending money on a brand that has good quality control, engineers that strive to build something better with every iteration and features that aren't available elsewhere.

When i see the likes of KasKing selling their reels for $130 (more expensive than an SLX lmao), i am the one cringing. Without youtubers shilling these noname brands, they'd go out of business in a year tops.

Once upon a time, these brands had a niche because they were cheap. Now, not only do they have a bunch of models going over $100, but Shimano and Daiwa has quality cheap models such as the SLX.
Maybe we are throwing too many things into the same discussion. I agree that there are, indeed, a lot of samey knock-off reels all made in the same Korean factories. And some companies go to those factories to add a reel to their product line, ultimately just putting a logo on reel that is very similar (and not at all innovative) to other offerings that already exist. But at the same time, there are companies with an incredibly rich history of developing fishing reels that also manufacture their reels at places like Doyo today (they didn't use to).

ABU Garcia has existed since 1921 and has made fishing reels since World War 2. There's a lot of history there, and they've pushed the state of the art through the years. Meanwhile, Shimano didn't start making fishing reels until 1970, and started their legacy on the shoulders of these earlier reel makers. So to me a reel is more than just its origin. Companies like ABU don't just go to Doyo to add a reel to their product line; they go their for production of the reels that they develop. In many ways they ARE the reason Doyo is making the reels they're making today.

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by Slazmo » Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:26 pm

Abu didn't start making fishing reels at all... They diversified into that market.

Shimano didn't start making fishing reels either, they diversified into that market.

Daiwa well the information is sketchy, but it seems they didn't too...

With all their R&D they've vested into the years, you'd think that these up and coming startup companies could Ripoff & Duplicatea a little better.

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by Fishing4Fun » Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:36 pm

CFDoc wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 3:50 pm
Fishing4Fun wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 2:23 pm

What does God have to do with any of this? #kastkingforlife?
Are you illiterate to simple metaphors?

I'm genuinely asking...
No I am too stupid to know the difference you better explain it. I am genuinely dumb...

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by Hogsticker2 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 9:18 pm

Fishing4Fun wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:36 pm
CFDoc wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 3:50 pm
Fishing4Fun wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 2:23 pm

What does God have to do with any of this? #kastkingforlife?
Are you illiterate to simple metaphors?

I'm genuinely asking...
No I am too stupid to know the difference you better explain it. I am genuinely dumb...
So much for being the sharpest tool in the shed 😅

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by CFDoc » Sun Nov 22, 2020 5:34 am

Fishing4Fun wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:36 pm


No I am too stupid to know the difference you better explain it. I am genuinely dumb...
Your candor is appreciated.

As others have stated, Doyo makes very good reels. Reels that easily compete with, and exceed in some cases, the performance of some Daiwa/Shimano offerings. The US company name that slaps their sticker on a Doyo reel is irrelevant to the discussion.

In the case of Kistler; no, Mr. and Mrs. Kistler will not be opening up a machine shop that manufactures Kistler reels to be sold to John Q fisherman. However, that doesn't mean Kistler can't and won't be offering a $250 reel that performs similar to other $250 reel options. It is also possible that Mr. and Mrs. Kistler will be offering a $250 dud.

And for those suggesting a company that re-brands Doyo products can’t have good reels need to explain this: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Daiwa_C ... e-CA8.html

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Re: Kistler Reels

Post by rto » Sun Nov 22, 2020 7:20 am

Based on clues I see in the two vids posted Friday by Kistler my hunch is that these might be produced by Banax. Nothing at all wrong with that, in my opinion. I have several Banax produced reels and have had zero issues. Moreover, I enjoy fishing with them. The brake dial does look more like Doyo, but the Kistler logo is screened on, not the recessed oval Doyo stick on. Once we see a schematic there may be more clues. Banax uses a second driveshaft bearing above the ARB on most reels above $100 and a gear side plate pinion bearing. I haven't seen that second driveshaft bearing on stateside Doyo relabeled reels, and only a few Doyo's have a quasi dual bearing supported pinion where it's standard for most Banax produced reels. Also the series 1 spool shown is more Banax-ish than Doyo-like. The series 2 spools look like neither and more like a Shimano Curado's. The braking system looks to be SVS infinity-ish. Interesting.

I'll give Kistler credit. At least they didn't invent a tale about inventing new reels. They're straight up about the sourcing.

Series 1 vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dls7ZP8ZIDk

As far as quality control goes with Korean reels: Is the suggestion that they're unable to produce in- tolerance parts consistently, or their engineering is subpar, or that they simply pass finished products that should've been rejected? That's possible on any assembly line. As a high-schooler in the 70's I worked in a machine shop where we could hold tolerances of 10ths of a thousandth of an inch all day long on machinery produced in the 60s. It seems unlikely that they can't do this today just because of their location. Seems silly to me to if that were to be suggested. Absurd actually.

Anyway, it's fun to have more options out there. The braking system is different than any of the stateside offerings seen from 13, Lews, ABU, Okuma, or Quantum. Maybe there's some goodness in it.

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