Avet SX 6/4 - MC ... The good, the bad and the ugly

Rockfish season is over and for me that means it is "Tani Time". Just finished rebuilding all of my saltwater reels and saved my Avet for last. I have been using the Avet SX 6/4 for 2-3 years for jigging and have been very happy with it. Really no problems except for having to replace one bearing. When the magnetic cast control models came out I thought it might help with my casting. I won't say I have the most educated thumb and do get a backlash from time to time. I asked Steve at the Rod Rack what he thought of the MC he said it was good for people who don't know how to cast.  Anyway I decided to switch my frame to the MC version which I bought from Charkbait. So here is my personal review...

The Good - The frame switch out was really easy and does not require any retrofitting of the spool. The MC actually does not require you to thumb the spool when casting a variety of weights which actually took some getting used to. I have had not backlash with over 50 casts in my backyard.

The Bad - The MC brakes the spool my magnetizing the left spool bearing and even at the lowest setting, there is significant braking which means you don't get the maximum freespool. For me this is not good since you get more line bowing on a verticle drop and less casting distance. How much less distance depends on the lure weight.

The Ugly - The color of the frame didn't match my reel so I have a 2 tone reel.

Bottom line - wasn't worth the $130, IMO.

scott

The Bad - The MC brakes the spool my magnetizing the left spool bearing and even at the lowest setting, there is significant braking which means you don't get the maximum freespool. For me this is not good since you get more line bowing on a verticle drop and less casting distance. How much less distance depends on the lure weight.

That seems like a real pain when rockfishing... especially when you're trying to get your lure to the bottom past a swarm of hungry blues/olives!

I have the Avet MXJ 5.8:1 which I received for a five year present from work almost two years ago. I just sent it into Avet and for $35 they replaced all the bearings and the plastic clicker part. It's just like new and I didn't have to loose any small parts. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an Avet and not too mechanically inclined like myself.

rob
jrsyboy

cool post scott.

apparently the magnets usually work by generating an 'eddy current' via some serious electro-magnetic voodoo and it operates on non-ferrous metals, just need a conducting metal (repetetively redundant,  ). the bearings should be independent of the magnetic brake unless avet decided to do something very different than everybody else.

http://www.100megspop3.com/oldvalkyry/pennmag.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current_brake

So is it for sale