Metanium vs Chronarch

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.
Kurt L
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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by Kurt L » Sun Feb 18, 2018 10:15 am

DirtyD64 wrote:
Kurt L wrote:
VinnyOA wrote:
DirtyD64 wrote:
Kurt L wrote:The Tackle tour review on the Met. MGL was incomplete and showed many details of the Chronarch not the Metanium they were testing... The lower gear ratio Chronarchs I have seen all had the shorter handle? knob bearings are one place I notice a difference, the levelwind I did not notice when I upgraded my Met. MGL. Both reels are winners it's up to you!

Kurt
Maybe the JDM ones do, my Zillion SV TW and Chronarch MGL have identical handle lengths, the Zillion is a 7.3 (90mm for sure as all Daiwa's are) and my 7.1 gear Chronarch MGL matches it dead even.

You are also the second person to say they felt knob bearings help, I bought some junker Amazon 4x7x2.5's and the feel no different than the bushings... What knob/levelwind bearings did you get???
Bushings in knobs perform just the same as bearings and many times are better than bearings for many reasons.Lots of people here don't understand why bushings are put in knobs over bearings and conclude jdm reels are better.Ignorance at it's finest.
The only time a bushing will out perform a quality bearing is in the resistance to corrosion (salt) or... with a total lack of long term maintenance. Saltwater conditions are the perfect place for bushings, if they were superior in a performance respect premium reels would be supplied with them. Yes the gain in refinement is slight and some may not feel it at all but I notice it. I normally buy Metanium knob bearings strait from Shimano, cheap bearings are a no go I tried that route before as well ](*,)

Kurt

Couldn't have said it better, my first reel I ever broke down completely and worked on was an original Tatula Type R, got the knobs and all where they would spin like crazy... I added those dang Amazon bearings and the knobs would barely rotate after flicked (versus stock 1 bearing 1 bushing).

Have you ever felt the gear issues with the Metanium(s) you own???
Yes I had the gear issues (Gritty feel or Buzz) but I found it was related to the grease they come with, Shimano recommends "ACE2" grease but I found it did not work well in my Met. 13 & MGL, I found that Shimano's "DG06" grease worked amazing on the aluminum gears and I had no further issues. But the trick is you need to switch before the gears wear while the reel is still in good shape. My Anatares was smoother than my 13 until I tried the DG06 then it was the opposite the 13 was butter smooth, I sold the Ant. and never looked back! I had the same results with the MGL... much smoother, no more "Buzz" and much longer between required service! But both reels are in the testing stage with the Brass gears now.

Kurt

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by BRONZEBACK32 » Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:02 am

I love my Metanium 13 and MGL.

My 13 had a bit of buzz until I ordered curado gears, now its smooth.

My MGL is came super smooth and I run shimano drag grease in all my reels.
Last edited by BRONZEBACK32 on Sun Feb 18, 2018 4:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by DirtyD64 » Sun Feb 18, 2018 2:56 pm

BRONZEBACK32 wrote:I love my Metanium 13 and MGL.

My 13 had a bit of buzz until I ordered curado gears, not its smooth.

My MGL is came super smooth and I run shimano drag grease in all my reels.
That's what I ended up with, Shimano star drag grease... Doesn't just work for Shimano's though, my Zillion TWS 9.1 felt ROUGH, added 7.3 gears and Shimano grease (not sure the number of it, just came in a little round white cap container) made it feel amazing.

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by Ovidiu-Andrei » Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:02 am

I decided to go with the Chronarch...for brass gears, handle length, and clicking dial... ;)
I'm going to compare it with my Metanium DC in terms of smoothness...I cant compare it with Met MGL because I dont have it and neither of my friends.

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by Ovidiu-Andrei » Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:07 am

151 MGL just arrived...its a beauty...I dont see any difference between this and my Met DC...I dont know how it is compared to the Met MGL...

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by lmbfisherman » Tue Feb 20, 2018 3:17 pm

Awesome congrats on the new REEL!

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by Ovidiu-Andrei » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:39 am

Tks. Its smooth, powerfull and sleek.
Hope it will cast how the reviews shows on the net :roll:

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by bassm1n » Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:30 am

Long time Shimano user until a couple of years ago. Seems like the trend is to buy Shimano's at $300 to $400 and then change gears and beraings and do an immediate grease change to make them worth the $300-$400. I gradually transitioned over to Daiwa due to these issues. Just sold my last Mets. To each his own but Shimano lost me along the way. Might have to try the Bantam since I prefer aluminum frame.

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by Kurt L » Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:43 pm

bassm1n wrote:Long time Shimano user until a couple of years ago. Seems like the trend is to buy Shimano's at $300 to $400 and then change gears and beraings and do an immediate grease change to make them worth the $300-$400. I gradually transitioned over to Daiwa due to these issues. Just sold my last Mets. To each his own but Shimano lost me along the way. Might have to try the Bantam since I prefer aluminum frame.
I kind of feel the same way but my Daiwa's have not held up much better, To me the Metanium is worth the effort to pop a $23.00 gear in they are my favorite light weight reel to this day (we'll see how the conversion's durability is). But there is also a new Steez SV in the fleet waiting on its maiden voyage ;)

Kurt

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by BRONZEBACK32 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 10:29 pm

Kurt L wrote:But there is also a new Steez SV in the fleet waiting on its maiden voyage ;)

Kurt
What model did you order?

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by Kurt L » Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:22 pm

BRONZEBACK32 wrote:
Kurt L wrote:But there is also a new Steez SV in the fleet waiting on its maiden voyage ;)

Kurt
What model did you order?
I chose the SV 103XSL, 8.1 : 1, I fish light line (mostly 8lb) and wanted to try Daiwa's closest version to the Met. XG. but I'm still waiting on the water to soften up!

Kurt

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by BRONZEBACK32 » Fri Feb 23, 2018 1:26 pm

Kurt L wrote:
BRONZEBACK32 wrote:
Kurt L wrote:But there is also a new Steez SV in the fleet waiting on its maiden voyage ;)

Kurt
What model did you order?
I chose the SV 103XSL, 8.1 : 1, I fish light line (mostly 8lb) and wanted to try Daiwa's closest version to the Met. XG. but I'm still waiting on the water to soften up!

Kurt
How does it feel in hand "vs" the Met?
I might order me one, I think the 8.1:1 has brass gears also =P~
Pic please...

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by DavidSA » Fri Feb 23, 2018 2:02 pm

Don't own the Chronarch MGL. yet :D Have 13, 16 mets and CI4. If for moving baits, I'd go chronarch. The metanium is what I like for bottom bouncing. I don't have an issue with the old CI4 for a lipless crank so the MGL version must be out of this world for apps like that.

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by wilddog66 » Sat Feb 24, 2018 10:57 am

DavidSA wrote:Don't own the Chronarch MGL. yet :D Have 13, 16 mets and CI4. If for moving baits, I'd go chronarch. The metanium is what I like for bottom bouncing. I don't have an issue with the old CI4 for a lipless crank so the MGL version must be out of this world for apps like that.
Yes it is. I put a CI4 on an XX FSS for lipless, 1.5 squarebills, large jerks and spooks. I was never happy with the braking - 2 on was usually too much, 1 not enough, this became really obvious when bombing lipless. 6.2:1 was too slow so I installed the 7.6 gear set which was somewhat better. I bought a new MGL 151HG last Spring and haven’t looked back! Better, more consistent braking with MM gearing in a perfect (to me) ratio. Worth every penny!

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Re: Metanium vs Chronarch

Post by Ovidiu-Andrei » Sat Feb 24, 2018 1:20 pm

I have a 15 Met DC with a 96 mm handle that I want to use it for moving baits, and a 17 Chronarch 151 Mgl with the 90 mm handle that I want to.use it for jigs.

What do.you think?

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