Anyone out there every experience problems with your Cronarch? I bought mine just before Christmas last year and my bearings were totally shot! I sent it up to John's sporting goods in Everett and just got it back with a price tag of $60.00 for repairs, what's up with that!!! I lubed it every month and it's always clean. I think that the reel should have gone at least another season before all that work need to be done. I've had one of my Ambassidor's (spelling) for about 15 years now and just last year only had to go through it and still only costed $25.00, anyone else besides me have a problem like this?

Never owned the Chronarch, but did do a major overhaul of Curado once (abused the hell out of it). I had a buddy work on it, but I had to buy the parts. Bearings are pretty expensive (up to $15 a piece depending upon which one). So with a $60 price tag, price and labor, you probably didn't have to replace more than one or two. Did John specify? May have been a pull'em and soak'em job with perhaps a replacement or two.

Generally the bearings on the shimanos are pretty good. Drag washers are a different story though (replace mine when ever the reel gets overly wet; kind of hard to prevent when your fishing!). Did you use the reel in salt or in sandy areas? Salt water is a no no and a strategically placed single grain of sand can muck up the performance of a reel big time and can screw up bearings, as well.

Thats why I'm so leary about the pricey reels. They sure are smooth, but its tough keeping the stuff that doesn't belong out of them. And as you alluded too, price DOES NOT equate to durability with reels. Going on four seasons with my Ambassador 5500. Good Luck with it.

[This message has been edited by obsessed (edited 09-22-2000).]

I've had my Chronarch for 3 years now. It still works like it's new out of the box. I've never had any problems with it. I don't baby it, and it keeps on working.

Although.....for what it is worth, I still like the new Curado I purchased for summer steelies. The Chronarch does fine with heavy winter steelhead gear, but has a really hard time with ultra light gear. Even after tinkering to death with the settings, I can't cast light gear for crap with the Chronarch. Aside from that, the retrieve on the Chronarch can not be matched. It's fast and is damn smooth when fighting fish.

So, I use the Chronarch for winter steelies and the Curado for summer steelies. If I go really ultra light, I just switch over to the 1000 or 2000 Shimano spinning reels.

Parker

Hey brian, stlhdr1 here, I've burnt out two chronarchs myself. The first one I probably caught 150 steelhead and then used it for the meathole on the lewis where I was using 2oz. of lead, between that and the 75-100 chinook it has landed it finally started making alot of noise when reeling. I took it back to fishermans marine supply in portland oregon and they just gave me a new one over the counter. The new one I've used off and on over the last 2 years and caught 150 steelhead on it and never have lubed it. It definately needs some work but still casts well. I just bought a shimano calais now that is a real for summer and winter steelhead. It is well worth the $325 I paid for it. It's by far the smoothest reel that I have ever touched.
PARKER- about the chronarch you have, you need to take the side piece off and adjust your pins. With 8lb test you should have two pins down and with just a bait of eggs and no lead, be able to cast 30 yards without a backlash. If you have any other questions email me at stlhdr1@hotmail.com

------------------

I've used two Chronarch's for the last two years troublefree. Although I must admit I use them mostly for summer-run drift or float fishing, and they have never seen the salt. My experience has been the opposite of Parkers. For me they seem to throw the lighter weights farther and with more accuracy than a Curado.

As for John's Sporting Goods, I no longer seek their services for reel repair. I started using them about five years ago for servicing my Calcuttas, and I had no problems paying the fees, which averaged about $25. But last year I had a bad experience, similar to Brian's. I took in a brand new spinning reel for a warranty repair on a defective part. What they did was send it back to the company for a new one. When I went to pick it up, John charged me $25 for the new reel. It seemed odd that I would be paying so much for an exchange covered by warranty, but I paid it anyway. When I got home I opened the box and found an invoice that read "$3.00 S&H." I haven't been back since.

Hohwaiian you got ripped in that situation. Like I said earlier the chronarch is much better of a real to cast but I have never casted anything like the calais you should give it a try.

------------------

Forget the repair centers,send your shimano's directly back to the company.If the reel is less than a year old it is still covered under warrenty.I recently sent back a citica and a curado and they replaced them both with brand new curados.Tough to beat that.The reels I have sent back that were not still under warrenty were repaired for a nominal fee,as Hohwaiian found out the hard way.

[This message has been edited by ReiterRat (edited 09-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by ReiterRat (edited 09-23-2000).]

Calais is the best reel I have used so far. I can cast a mile. I can even outcast those guys with a 10 1/2 11 1/2 foot rods with calcuttas and abu's. I could not do this befor with my calcutta. It is spendy but It has a platinum warrenty.


Calais and Stella reels: Platinum Service When you submit your Warranty Registration Card for either the Calais or Stella reels, you will receive coupons for discounts on clean and lubes (from half off to free!). Also included are Priority Shipping labels guaranteeing a 48-hour turn around time from Shimano or any of its Authorized Warranty Centers.

This is a great light reel with excellent warrenty and a excellent craftmanship. Not to mention that the drag will impress you.

[This message has been edited by Aerofly (edited 09-24-2000).]

Thanks for your replys guys, I talked to some people at Outdoor Emporium and the one guy said that he just sends it into shimano for them to fix. He said that everytime that he send his reels in he gets a new reel back! Not his old reel but a brand new reel, even updated to the new style for that year. He says that they never downgrade him, they always upgrade him for no charge!!! What a deal, I think next time I will follow his instructions. That's what I get for trying to get my reel back ASAP. Oh well, keep on fishin!

Thanks for the advice guys, but I do know how to fully adjust my reel. Trust me, my Chronarch just doesn't cast light gear for squat.

Anyways, I think I jinxed myself when I said the Curado kicks ass. I took it out fishing on Saturday and it was making loud screeching noises upon casting. I think one of the bearings is either fubar or dirty. I've only used the reel twice, once being yesterday. Sigh...

I was going to take it to John's, but now I'll just call up Shimano and *****/complain. I did that for a 4000 POS spinning reel and they replaced it, no questions asked.

Parker