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Posts: 114
Location: Eagle Grove, Iowa | I bought 3 of these reels brand new for me, my dad and a friend for casting cowgirls. They casted like a dream and pulled the lures awesome at first . Then about 20 minutes in my gears started grinding and was noisy. I called okuma and sent it in they repaired it putting in new gears and assortment of parts. First cast after getting it back same problems called them up again and they said they would replace it with a reconditioned one. Not really what i thought i should get but if it worked i would not complain. I opened the box up this time and am sure it is the same one i sent in( scratch on side plate) I just put line on it and casted it in the backyard you guessed it same problems. My friends work a few trips out and it had same problems he sent it in and when he got it back it was still not right. My dads lasted the longest working great but finally gave up and started grinding and skipping after 6 days of casting . I am not sure what to do now maybe they can't handle cowgirls like my garcia 7000's has anyone else had same results or have you had good luck?Any feedback i would like to hear. Tracy |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | I can't believe it. I have been using a 400 for the whole month of September solely for cowgirls, and spankys. Its a great reel for cowgirls with the lower ratio and its smoothness. I did do a cast where I forgot to press the freespool and now it works like you are describing (noisy and skipping). I admit that I messed up and ruin the reel by forgetting to depress the freespool. |
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Posts: 392
Location: KY | Mine did the same thing. 1st day it was making noise and reengaging half way through casts. The "free spool" does not stay engaged. Sent it back. Same problems first day back very noisy etc. I will be sending it back AGAIN. Very disappointing.
Bruce
Edited by BruceKY 10/9/2008 8:28 PM
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Posts: 32880
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I have several 400s and several 250s. I had a problem with one reel a few months back, they fixed it, and no problems since. I will say I did what I do with every reel I buy, no matter the brand...I break down every reel i buy and lube 'em before the first use, and again as soon as I detect things are getting dry. This includes my Okuma, Shimano, Garcia, Daiwa, and Bass Pro reels I use for Muskie, Bass, and Walleye.
Try this:
Open the reel side plate and remove the spool. There are bearings on both sides of the spool, use a high grade reel oil and add a drop to all the bearings and both spool shaft seats. Lightly oil the main gears. Reassemble.
I can guarantee you Okuma will take care of you, and will get your reels working right. Mark is on his way to MN right now, so expect an answer when he hits ground long enough to read the problems you have encountered and offer a resolution.
You may have noticed Okuma's above mentioned own Mark Rogers answering questions, sending out free power handles, and generally supporting the products he sells. Just in case you haven't I suggest you drop him a PM. He's a muskie angler too, and I'd bet he will do his level best to help you solve your problems.
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Posts: 227
Location: Maple Grove | I too have been having the issue with the reel not fully dis-engaging into freespool and thus engaging during cast. I've been communicating with Mark over the last month and a half on this issue. Mark told me Okuma has a problem and they are working on a fix in hopes to get parts out to folks which will remedy this. Hopefully soon as it's been going on for sometime now. I am assuming they want to make sure they got it right. As Steve said send him a PM as he's typically very responsive. |
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| This past winter I bought the Okuma Red Isis reel. I heard only good things about the Okuma products and decided that it was worth the investment. Well, from the word go I had trouble with the reel. Then after ony catching one muskie on it my drag system breaks on a 36" northern.
My question is:
How do I go about talking to Okuma to see about fixing/replacing?
This is by no means meant to be a knock on their product. Just looking for informaton on what to do.
Thanks
Nate |
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Posts: 32880
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I'm going to step out on an obvious limb here; there's been a spate of posts lately about all sorts of products saying something like ; I broke my WIDGET. I bought my widget thinking it wouldn't break! How 'this', and how 'that'! What should I DO?'
Well, you should do the obvious.
If you have a product that needs warranty work, get out your warranty papers and send/bring/drive/pull it in to a repair center. That's why companies have warranties. Look on the company website under 'warranty', 'customer service', or a similar heading.
In this case, we have a company representative who is a regular here and is more than willing to help you. I've spoken to Okuma, and they are aware they have a run of 400's out there where some might have a problem and are, RIGHT NOW, testing some product that they hope will solve the issues.
They welcome posts about issues, and so do we, but once an issue is identified, and a resolution is pending or ready to rock, asking the same question in different words just to toss a stone or two doesn't accomplish a thing.
Now if you have a problem you think someone here can help you FIX, ask the question and I bet if it's a user fixable issue, you will get an answer.
Okuma will figure out what the fix is, and take care of everyone with an issue. That's what good customer service is all about! |
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Posts: 663
| Excellent point Steve. Being on the retail side of things we hear this all the time with rods, reels, lures, etc. This is a tough sport that we do and some things are going to have meltdowns from time to time. I encourage customers to ask about or look up the warranty on products that they purchase. Some (fewer all the time) allow the retailer to handle the problem while the majority of companies are asking the customer to deal with them directly on warranty issues. Warranties usually mean that something was wrong with that product when it left the factory and your use brought that issue to light. Something that breaks down after extended use is most often the customer wearing out something or using the wrong thing for the job (light rods casting heavy baits for example). That doesn't seem to be the case here since the company acknowledges that they're working on a fix or modification. Your input is valuable to a company. I've seen some ridiculous things like 5 year old lures full of tooth marks, hook rash, etc. and the guy wants a new bait because the glued in plastic eye fell out. SHEEESH! |
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Posts: 1504
Location: Oregon | I have two Induron 400's that I put alot of time on this summer without a single problem.
Mark with Okuma has been very good to me.
Jed V. |
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Posts: 2378
| Havent had any troubles with mine in the two years I have been using them, and Mark is one the nicest guys I have ever dealt with. That goes a long way in my book |
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Posts: 1316
Location: Madison, WI | Well put Steve, Mark's testing out some possible changes in Mille Lacs this week. I've had some minor issues with a couple indurons this year, but they all have still caught me fish! I think one reel has put over 20 fish in the boat for me this year and still running strong. I am 100% confident Okuma will find a fix. |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | IMO the best products you will ever find out there are the ones that had previous product problems AND the company listened to its customers. Those products are and/or will become the new standards in the industry for those product lines. A good company will embrace all negative comments and product failures and never stop improving and innovating. No matter how much a company tests its products they will occasionally miss things. The good thing is that your customers will beat the crap out of your product(s) and find these issues for you... Not that you want it to happen that way but you can only quality test for so long until you have to get products out into the market.
I for one already have a standing order in for the new Red Isis when it hits the market with its improvements. I know Okuma watches these boards and they try very hard to improve product quality from what they see and hear form customers. That means more to me than anything!!! How many other fishing reel reps do you see on this or other boards? I love my Shimano reel, Abu reels, Rapala lures, Diawa rod, etc. etc. etc. but I have never been able to chat with them on a chat board to get the inside scoop on their products and have the opportunity to get to help make their products better for my fishing interests.
Just my two cents and as you read, I will put my money where my mouth is 
James
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Posts: 717
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | The only problem I've had with Okuma is the anti-reverse. I have an Induron IDX 250 that has put a dozen and a half fish in the boat for me this year so far. I figured I'd just send it in. It bothered me a little, but not enough to stop doing business with them. I've even got a 400 ordered now. Actually, it's been about 8 wks now since I've ordered it...... |
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | i got a induron 400 new at the beginning of the season , i have used it most of the season switiching off between my avid and calcutta. so it saw a little less time than the 2 of those. it has worked out great. no issues with it. i also use okuma epixor spinning reels (not for musky) and i really like them alot. mark (californiamusky) has been one of the best guys in the industry to deal with. i would have no problems recommending okuma to anyone. if you bass or walleye fish take a serious look at their spinning reels as well! |
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Posts: 299
Location: Ontario, California | Hey Gang... Sorry I missed this one. I was on one heck of a road trip where I didn't have email access for most of it. I just saw this pop up so I will address all of the issues.
Iowamusky... I can help you out here. There were some reels that we produced which had had a problem with the thumb bar / free spool not completely disengaging. If the reel went into gear on the cast, the pinion could end up getting damaged. As far as someone telling you about a replacement, if you could send me a PM with who you talked to, I will make it right for you.
Bruce... same thing. I think we have talked before but maybe not. Shoot me a PM and well make it right for you.
Nate... The drag giving out on you I bet was actually the spool shaft breaking loose. We changed the spools out as soon as we heard of this problem and 20 pieces of the "P" and "T" version got out on the initial run. Most were ok but we did hear about a couple that broke free after the initail report when the drags were locked down. I have 3 from the initial run and it hasn't happened to mine but unfortunately... it did you you. Shoot me a PM with your address and I will get a spool out to you free of charge.
JimTenHaff... We changed the anti-reverse bearing in the IDX-"A" versions to a "KOYO" bearing. The older bearing was still a good bearing but not as good as the current one. The Koyo is one of the best anti reverse bearings made today and is put in most high end fresh and saltwater reels. Shoot me a PM with your address and I will send you the upgraded bearing free of charge. If you are unable to work on reels (like myself), feel free to send it to me and I will have the techs install it for you as well as service your reel free of charge.
To those that gave the kind words about Okuma and myself, thank you. We take pride in our gear and try to offer the most durable reel at a reasonable price that we can. If you have a problem, we try our best to accomodate you. If anyone is having problems with the thumb bar, we are still working dilegently to solve this. Not all reels have the problem which is what is driving the engineers crazy. The product manager is actually at our factory right now working on this. I know because he woke me up at 2am to ask me questions.
If anyone has a problem with an Okuma product... feel free to shoot me an email or PM. My email address is in my profile that you can click on and sorry once again for the late reply. |
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| Mark...you're allowed to go on trips, no need to apologize - i just hope you were fishing!
thanks again for being so available to everyone here on MuskieFirst, and standing behind your products by both making things right and (imho, more importantly) listening to feedback from the end users!
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | To those that have the problem with the thumb bar not engaging or spools not disengaging properly on the Indurons:
If you push the thumb bar down, let up on the bar and let some line out. If you let out a few inches of line, and the bar stays down, you should be good to go. I have made this somewhat of a habit in my casting routine with my Okumas that do this (especially with the heavy baits), and it's pretty rare I have the spool come to a sudden stop in the beginning of the cast.
It still does happen at times, and it doesn't have to happen too often for the pinion gear to get rounded off and wrecked - especially if you're throwing 3/4 pound baits when it happens. So, Mark sent me some replacement pinion gears in case this happens enough to go bad. He sent them to me fairly early in the summer, and I just replaced one the other day.
If you just let off the thumb bar and let some line freespool, you should not have the problem. Sometimes when you let up on the thumb bar, it will go back up and stop the spool. Those times would be when the spool engages and bad things happen to gears.
I will be looking forward to Okuma finding a fix for this problem, but if you have a reel with this issue, it isn't the worst thing to work around. I am still pretty happy with how the Okumas have held up this year to a diet of heavy baits and double Cowgirls. No other problems with them to speak of.
And like everyone else has said, Mark is VERY easy to deal with on this site through PM's. Thanks Mark.
curleytail
Edited by curleytail 10/21/2008 10:54 PM
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Posts: 240
| I have bought a few Okuma products including the Convector line counter, Bait runner, and more recently, the Induron 400.
The Okuma Convector line counter is an amazing trolling reel. Stainless steel gears, big handle and ease of operation. While many other reels have failed me trolling, this one has been rock sold for three years now. Great value for the money!
I have been using the Okuma bait runner spinning reel for a year now and has worked great for walleye fishing. No complaints.
When I first bought the Induron 400 it felt smooth and worked good. Had to be very conscious of pushing the thumbar all the way down. Did not really like that but lived with it. After the third trip my level wind gear tore up. Worst I have ever seen on a reel. This part should be made of stainless instead off brass. I know of two others who have had the same problem. This looks like a good reel in principle but needs some work. I don't expect reels to be indestructible but they should work longer than a month and should not have any idiosyncrasies out of the box. I hope they can get the kinks worked out as this looks like it would be a nice reel.
Cory |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | Has the thumb bar issue been taken care of ?????? Thinking of a RED ISIS for a backup reel. |
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Posts: 299
Location: Ontario, California | We've been testing 3 different modifications of the thumb bar design over the last two months. The latest version was pretty close to finding a fix for the problem that some reels had. I just received additional test reels from our engineers in Germany on Friday. I will be testing them within the next ten days. This version feels exactly like the reels prior to the issue. I feel fairly confident (as do the engineers) that this will solve the problem. Once we determine if this is a fix and get the parts in... anyone with a thumb bar issue can send the reels back to Okuma to have the reels upgraded free of charge.
PIKEMASTER... Pretty surprised to hear that you want to try a RI. You are a diehard Shimano guy based on all of your posts in the past. Why you want to stray to the darkside? |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | Price !!!! |
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Posts: 135
Location: Irvine, KY | mark, im sold.
It seems that you and your company take great care of your customers. That goes a long way in my book, and I will be one of those customers soon.
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | I can not wait to try a Red Isis! FYI-Love my TE400 but the price/quality is bringing me to try the Red Isis. Plus it looks very nice! Only reason I bought the TE400 was a pile of Cabelas coupons and gift cards. |
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Posts: 3
| Mark and the people at Okuma take care of their customers. I love the Induron reels and he got me back up and running. I wish all businesses worked to satisfy their customers like Okuma.
Remember, when cleaning your one-way bearings ... LIGHTLY grease. They tend to stop locking up like they are supposed to if your pack them like a wheel bearing.
Thank You,
Mike |
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Posts: 743
| I thought they were coming out with a replacement for the Induron? Make the levelwind eye taller. |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | KSauers - 11/8/2009 1:45 PM
Make the levelwind eye taller.
I second that... |
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okuma induron 400's/Red Isis