Ross v Orvis
- This topic has 15 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated May 19, 2006 at 6:41 am by
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I am in the market for a new reel and have narrowed it down to the Ross Cimarron or the Orvis Battenkill Mid-Arbor.
I have a couple of Ross Cimmarons and I like them. My only complaint is the drag range is pretty small. Meaning one click of the adjustment knob adjusts the drag a whole lot. This makes it kind of difficult to get the drag adjusted right. Overall I think they are good reels though. My favorite reel especially for the $$ is the Teton Tioga. It is slightly cheaper than the Cimarron and in my opinion has a smoother more adjustable drag and is better looking to boot. I’ve never owned an Orvis reel so can’t comment there. I do think the Orvis reels are now made overseas whereas the Ross and Tetons are not. I’m not 100% sure of that though. Good luck.
Greg
Its pretty easy to adjust the drag range on a cimarron.
As for the Orvis vs Ross thing, those are both good reels, I think the Orvis is cheaper and probablly a better ‘deal’, they are pretty comparable reels.
I always go with the lightest reel. Even if it means a China reel which is rare, but happened on my 1 wt.
The Orvis BarStock is the lightest reel I could find without spending $300 and IMO the best deal on a “lightweight” reel on the market. I own 4 of them along with 2 Ross Evo’s that are light but not cheap.
Carter
As far as adjusting the drag range-been there and done that. You can tweak it somewhat but IMHO it is not ever as smooth or adjustable as my Teton. I’m not saying the Cimmaron is a bad reel. I actually like it. I’m just not wild about the drag.Kid I feel you made a great purchase with the CLA. A few weeks ago my wife purchased one of those limited edition “pink” CLA’s. She loves it and I feel the drag is a definite improvement over the Cimarron. Again just my opinion.
Greg
I’ve come around to the school of thought that says a reel is more of a hands-on tool than an automated machine.
When we’re talking 6wt’s and the fish that you’d fish on them be it fresh or salt there isn’t a disc drag reel on the market from the major manufactures that will ever fail you and not get the job done (that’s cheap reels aside) its really all a matter of preference of the buyer…price, looks etc…
I’ve been on the same thought lines as Zach as far as my most recent reel accusitions, 4″ Hardy Boule, Hardy St. John, Farlows of London…these are the kind of reels that I started out on but as I got a little older (not that I’m old at 32) I wanted the newer flashier ones but now I find my self drawn back to these kinds of reels for a lot of my own fishing.
I do like the Ross reels a lot though. My biggest complaints about them are the looks of their most recent designs…which has nothing at all to do with their performance. Like Zach said they’ll take a beating and then some. I will say that I do think that as far as disc drags go that the Canyon BG is arguably the best I’ve seen in my 27 years of flyfishing and 15 years running a shop. The only one I’ve seen recently that comes close is the new power matrix by Loop.
I almost think that there are too many reels, rods, etc… on the market right now.
Zach there are some SM2’s on ebay now if I recall. 😉
Rip
that Ross Canyon BG drag is great, I’ve come across people that adamatly hate it though, mostly die-dard cork guys.
Zach you have an interesting take on fly reels. I agree with you on a lot of your points. But for me personally I do a lot of my fishing for tailwater trout in MO and Arkansas and I frequently use 7X tippet. For me in those instances I feel a smooth drag is imperative. The drag isn’t really that important in a sense but it has to be totally smooth and be able to be adjusted to what I consider the “sweet spot”. This sweet spot is not so loose that when you strip line out or the fish makes a hard run that the spool overruns and not tight enough to break the 7X when a 20″ plus fish makes a sudden hard run. A lot of reels are hard to adjust to this “sweet spot” I’ve found that on certain reels I just lose more fish (the bigger ones). Maybe a good smooth reel/drag compensates for some of my deficiencies as an angler? I don’t know. I do know that if I fished only with 5X tippet or above I wouldn’t be nearly as picky.
Greg
I read where Lefty Kreh has all of his reels (fresh and salt) set for about 6 pounds of startup inertia. He also said a pretty good test for an ideal setting is to adjust until you can comfortably pull line off the reel with your lips.
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