PennLevel Wind Reel 309M 1152034

We snag a lot on the river so we need something reliable.. these have been the best we found in 40 years

This was a Christmas present and they loved it.

what can you say but, it's a Penn...very smooth and light weight...used them for years... this was not a replacement but an addition. they rarely have any trouble. If they do, they are cheap and easy to fix.

Tried to send reel back its junk, first the handle started moving up and down, the spool shifted back and forth catching my line between the spool and the side of reel, the clicker stopped working properly as the spools tention was not right when the spool was engaged with the clicker on.I diss-assembled the reel, first the brass shaft the handle is attached to, that brass shaft is simply and cheeply riveted into the back plate inside the side disk. The rivet is loose causing the handle to wiggle up and down. The other side, the spool has a small shaft through its centre which also has a toothed disk which controls the clicker, ontop of that is a small brass pinion gear, that should be press fitted to the spool shaft but is not and wiggles side to side with your finger.This Forza sports whom i bought the reel from is stating i cannot return the reel, because its been four months, i used the reel four times, often internal defects only show up after the product is used which is the case here the is still brand new with no marks at all of usage, they cannot resell it because of internal defects. All manufactures have some defective products that are missed on inspection before assembly, this is common, but not accepting a return based upon what is clearly a defective item is not an error it is shear ignorants by the retailer, since the defects are clearly visable when the unit is taken apart for proper inspection which i did. Riveted fishing reel handle shafts are a no no as over time the rivet loosens and the handle shafts constant stress from reeling in, will eventually cause the rivet to pop on the inside, and then handle and brass shaft will come flyiing out.I am going to fight tooth and nail to get my money back or they replace the reel or amazon gives me a credit so i can purchase a new reel. The defect cannot be repaired because they will simply re rivet a new rivet into the brass plate inside the reels side housing, which again will loosen over time and break. Horrible construction and if you have a hundren lbs fish on line i can assure that handle will snap if that rivet lets go. Mine loosened after four uses of the reel. I could repair it on my lathe by drilling a centre hole on inside of the brass shaft and then tap a bolt thread, using bolt to hold onto the back plate, but that does not cure the other problem on the clicker button side where the tiny brass pinion gear is wobbling on the spool shaft. The parts involved are #3 the Bridge assembly, and # 98 the Gear Sleeve.At the clicker end the defective part is the Level Wind Drive Gear is part number # part number 66.

Penn reels are some of the best! Can't say anything negative!