My New Aldebaran 50HG

[MTBF]

Hey guys! Well going back what feels like forever last month I did the pre-order for a Aldebaran through JapanTackle. 100% Impressed, they were very good through emailing and send me a proper receipt with the reel as asked, box was well packed with bubble wrap. It shipped out Friday and arrived Tuesday morning.

I love the new handle design, very flat hard yet soft paddles. Definitely a little different feel than before, good grip but without the bulge like the previous bigger grips Shimano was known for. The spool is quiet, free spool is 5 or 10 seconds nothing crazy but I have half the breaks on. Drag star clicks nice drag seems to lock down pretty good. In terms of smoothness, it is a very smooth reel with a little bit of that geary feel much less than my Chronarch D7's/Core 50Mg7's. The Core's are smooth, and this is not much smoother just a hair smoother I find, but I haven't "worked the reel in yet". Makes the Core's feel "heavy" now you can tell the difference.

I put the reel on my NRX873 and wow...this is one light pitching setup, then I put it on my XX Jerkbait Special/6'10M Shimano Expride. If you plan on using this reel for finesse/light line casting it makes these shorter rods feel like a feather in hand. This will be such a pleasure to fish this summer. I have this JDM Aldebaran and will be ordering one from the Shimano Canada next month. One for pitching one for light line casting should be a great duo.

On with some pictures, I'll take some more with different rods. Looks badass on the NRX/Expride. Think I'll stick with the Core's on my XX Megabass rods.

Front View in the snow


Bad angle, side view.


Another Front shot


Beauty. Calcutta Conquest still holds it's own as the smoothest reel I've ever turned the handle on. I wonder if the Metanium gear set's in micro gearing would fit into this reel. My guess is no. $499 vs $519 for the Aldebaran over the Metanium. I wonder why Shimano didn't jack this up to $549 range and get the Micro Module gear set put in. Maybe it's a strength thing, regardless this reel holds it's own and I'm very impressed.



Thanks for looking guys,

MTBF

[fishballer06]

Looks great, and makes me want one even more.

Now to just wait for your background to melt...

[the hooligan]

Awesome, very sweet reel.

I need some on water reviews when the ice melts. My next reel is this or the met hg.

[Hennessy]

Do you know the line capacity of this reel. I think TW says 10/105 & another place said 8/100. When I held the reel at the Classic, the spool looks to be around 8/100.

[cndbasshunter]

It's listed as 10/100,12/80,14/70 on jdm and us websites.

[Bootytrain]

That's a fair observation on its smoothness. These things are on the next level in small lightweight reels.

[H8R]

Good picture, the meta flake pops!

[jpd0144]

I wonder why Shimano didn't jack this up to $549 range and get the Micro Module gear set put in. Maybe it's a strength thing, regardless this reel holds it's own and I'm very impressed.

Congrats on the reel ... !

Here is a little info Dan shared on this:

Re: 2015 Shimano Aldebaran

Postby Bantam1 » February 24th, 2015, 11:29 am

Micro Module gears can only be used in reels with metal side plates. Since we decided to go lightweight we went with CI4+ side plates. This means no Micro Module gears.

[stingray23]

I want one for my jerkbaiting.

[Basscatcher99]

It's listed as 10/100,12/80,14/70 on jdm and us websites.

Is that us line or jdm line? (i.e. sunline 12 lb is 8 lb us dia.)

[Bootytrain]

I want one for my jerkbaiting.

That's what I'm going to use it for mainly, its so light that it will be effortless to jerk on it lol

[Hogsticker2]

It's like holding a hamster in your hand

[MTBF]

Interestering to know about MM Gearing, question answered. The reel is a different colour than the Exsence and Core's. I like it looks good.

[haoz]

is there any handle back play in the new Aldebaran?

personally, I find there to be a slight handle back play in my Metanium, and I solved that by changing to Hedgehog carbon handle. absolutely no back play since then.

I find the tolerances for Shimano's reel handle can be improved upon.

I was wondering if we could tune the Metanium spool to include the spring loaded bearing that is supposed to increase spool stability and casting distance?

really hoping someone would test this out and post the results on this forum!

[Bootytrain]

is there any handle back play in the new Aldebaran?

personally, I find there to be a slight handle back play in my Metanium, and I solved that by changing to Hedgehog carbon handle. absolutely no back play since then.

I find the tolerances for Shimano's reel handle can be improved upon.

I was wondering if we could tune the Metanium spool to include the spring loaded bearing that is supposed to increase spool stability and casting distance?

really hoping someone would test this out and post the results on this forum!

Tolerances are noticeably tighter on the new model, the retrieve is a little smoother, not sure about back play as thats not something I check for. That spool bearing is probably why the spool is over 1 gram heavier than the previous model.