I just Purchased a Sustain FG

[Seth S]

I took the leap and just bought a new Shimano Sustain FG 2500.

I was rather annoyed when I first did a dry test in my living room with the sustain... In fact I sent it back to the online supplier. This is my message to the dealer.

"I just received my Sustain,(thanks for the fast shipping by the way,)and our of the box (I haven't used this for fishing yet at all) it seems makes a weird "geary" noise when the spool is at top dead center and bottom dead center.

Meaning when the spool is at the highest point when moving and when the spool is at the lowest point of movement there is a resistance noise. This is different from normal reel noise IMO.

I wanted to inquire if others have had any feedback if this is normal for this reel,(Which I hope not due to the MSRP).

I hope I don't sound too meticulour or anal, but spending this kinda of money on equipment I would like to make sure my product is in perfect condition out of the box.

I'm not saying this reel won't work, but If possilbe I would like to have it exchanged for another...

Thanks Again.

Today I received a different sustain and it has the same symptoms of the prior one..

Feedback?

[tywithay]

Mine did the same thing. I opened it up and it had an obscene amount of grease inside. I stripped and relubed everything, now it's smooth as can be. One of my favorite reels I have ever owned.

[88ms3]

I have a similar issue with my 2500. It only happens when the spool is rising from dead bottom.

When normally spinning the reel, i can't feel resistance. But I can feel he gears clunking at that spot. I also hear a scraping and clunking noise.

When reeling really slow and lightly. I can DEFinitely feel the resistance at that spot. Its enough to stop the reel and requires a little more pressure and effort to spin the reel again. It certainly feels like somethings wrong with the gear teeth. But Im not going to open it to find out.

Def not happy with the quality control at this price. Will be returning it at local store to exchange. Sad part is that this reel was transfered from another store 2 hrs away to my store initially. Now, I have to wait again for the new reel to arrive from that other store again.

[Seth S]

Boy what a bummer.

I was almost hoping that the online dealer just accidently "resent" the original reel back to me, but i guess that just isn't the case.

I have stripped down sahara's and symetres, but I really don't want to open up the sustain. I noticed that they do PACK the grease. My assumption is so that non reel enthusiast don't have to worry about cleanings.. ever?

Seriously bums me out at this price point....What really erks me is that both my symetry and sahara both free spin 1-2 seconds longer and are MUCH MUCH smoother.

Made in Malaysia..... Wonder about the quality control.

[Seth S]

I have a similar issue with my 2500. It only happens when the spool is rising from dead bottom.

When normally spinning the reel, i can't feel resistance. But I can feel he gears clunking at that spot. I also hear a scraping and clunking noise.

When reeling really slow and lightly. I can DEFinitely feel the resistance at that spot. Its enough to stop the reel and requires a little more pressure and effort to spin the reel again. It certainly feels like somethings wrong with the gear teeth. But Im not going to open it to find out.

Def not happy with the quality control at this price. Will be returning it at local store to exchange. Sad part is that this reel was transfered from another store 2 hrs away to my store initially. Now, I have to wait again for the new reel to arrive from that other store again.

On both of the reels I have handled the noise occurs when the handle is at the 4 oclock position.

You can really hear it if you spin it very fast and keep your eye on the handle and its location. I have also noticed it when the spool is at top dead center and bottom dead center if that makes sense.

I also wonder if this issue is only on the 2500 series.

[tywithay]

Mine is a 3000, but they're the same body and gearing.

[88ms3]

I can agree that my shimano sahara feels soooo much smoother and solid than my funny acting sustain. Amazing considering the sahara costs 4 times less. But we'll see how the new sustain feels when I get it. For me it didn't matter so much where the handle was. It always acts up when the spool is going up shortly after dead bottom.

the store I was at did have a 3000 sustain that didn't have this issue. Funny because it was in a 2500 box that I was going to exchange it for. But opening that box showed the 3000. Like I said though, that one felt better.

Im not an expert but, does spinning reels normally have like a break in period. Before buying the sustain, i played around with the patriarch, exo smoke, exo pti, ci4, and none of them seemed as smooth as my sahara. I can't remember how my sahara felt out of the box but currently, its pretty smooth. Just a little too heavy.