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Daiwa EMBLEM-Z 5500 T

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Tomasas

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Anybody own one??? Need some feedback. Thanks

"Because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns and the ones we don't know we don't know." Donald Rumsfeld
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Got three of em.

 

1)Great distance reel. Longest dist I've ever got outta any reel ( I've got a lot of reels).

 

2)No IAR. A terrible lack of engineering. Not having that feature makes the reel very vulnerable to strain breakage ( the handle bangs back against the shaft). I jig - IAR is a must.

 

3) Generally, I think the reel is fairly " cheesey". Just hasn't got the gonads I want in a reel because I beat my stuff to death.

 

4) I was hoping the new Daiwa Saltiga would clear up the negative features on the Emblem.

Time will tell.

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Tomasas....If your refering to the Za, ( white w/ gold trim) they are nice reels. If your looking at the one on Ebay, (140.00 buy it now) is a good deal biggrin.gifbiggrin.gifbiggrin.gif They love Power Pro biggrin.gifbiggrin.gif

 

 

AllenC

" Deer hunting is hours and hours of sweet anticipation graced with moments of incredible excitement" - Steve Chapman, Christian write/singer/songwriter/artist
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EMBLEM-Z 5500 T

 

That what it says on the box... Couldn't find anything like that anywhere (even on the daiwa's site)... Maybe it's produced in europe????

confused.gif

"Because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns and the ones we don't know we don't know." Donald Rumsfeld
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Tomasas... All Daiwa reels the ST's, XT's and ZT's do not have IAR bearings. They are offered mainly in European countries.

 

Main difference between the XT (offered in the USA) and the ZT is that the ZT has three more bearings (total of 6). The lowest in the "T" series is the ST which has only one ball bearing.

 

The Difference in quality between the USA XT and these ZTs is similar to the difference between the higher grade XA and ZA reels.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Sergio

 

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"Because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns and the ones we don't know we don't know." Donald Rumsfeld
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I am brutally honest .... sometimes too much for my own good.

 

well...anyway ... here goes....

 

All those daiwas are only semi- pro and good for just "futzing around"...

 

but when the going gets hard and heavy then you gotta "baby them".. or else "snap" some thing goes flying off.. the toughest of the lot odly enough are the good older reels like the BG's.

 

The new stuff for all its high tech does have its share of "bugs" still built in..

 

The IAR is a definate issue in the lower priced models.. I mean like its the year 2003 and we are all getting on in the years why the hell should I still drive a tractor when there are BMW's out there to be used in comfort?

 

Any way I dont want to sound like a artsy fartsy writer for "The New Yorker" so I'll just get to the meat of it surf style...

 

I threw all my stinken Daiwas spinners in the garbge can "except one" and odly enough that is my favourite heavy surf spinner at the moment... it is the EM 5500 ZA (British made "Dark green" model) they are hard to find but worth the trouble to look for...

 

Our brethren surf casters in England are a very demanding lot.. because they have some extremely serious tide forces to deal with over there and in some places just reeling back a empty hook and sinker is enough strip most semi-pro reels.

 

Well seems these guys really complained about the performance of the standard "Yuppie" version of the EM 5500 ZA (the stupid "Liberace" looking white one) and the britsih Daiwa plant beefed up the pertformance of the british ZA series and gave them a cool dark emerald green metal flake finish.

 

The one I have really cranks!

Power and speed...! its a great reel..!

The casting ability is the same high performance but the cranking power is much tighter and firmer...

 

Its my favourite big spinner at the moment and I must admit that its a solid piece of engineering. When placed side by side with "the white USA / Japan version" it has a definate performance advantage...

 

If you can find one (good luck cause its gonna be tough) I would recomend you snatch up that sucker in a heartbeat... try emailing Veals UK for a lead as to where to look because they are out of them)...

 

SORRY DIAWA I USED TO BE A HARD CORE DAIWA GUY (in my 20's through my 40's) BUT YOU GUYS HAVE TO BEEF UP YOUR STUFF CAUSE NOW I'M AM A NASTY OLD GRUMPY 50 YEAR OLD SALTY SURF RAT THAT DONT WANT TO FOOL AROUND WITH KID STUFF:

 

MAKE EM ALL LIKE THAT HIGH QUALTY BRITISH MADE DARK GREEN EM ZA AND YOU GOT ME BACK AS A CUSTOMER .. frown.gif

 

I should be able to get a great pro reel without spending 650 bucks on a Saltiga... frown.giffrown.gif

 

The capricorns are a step in the right direction but still "not pro gear"...

 

(hey I just got an offer to write for the "New Yorker" as a critic due to my aloof and chic writing style....

How quaint...

"Perrie mineral water anyone?"wink.gif

 

[This message has been edited by Awesome John (edited 04-01-2003).]

The Horizon Calls..........
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John... I fished today with a UK EM Z5500A and also with a USA EM Z5500A and my conclusion after comparing both reels is that the only difference is... the color! I can assure you now that cranking effort is the same and overall feel is also the same. I will try to see the guts of it tomorrow, but I could bet my USA ZA vs a UK ZA that the difference is only cosmetic.

 

I think that some advisor for Daiwa UK emphatically mentioned that the white color would be a marketing problem, so they decided to use the body of the EMX5500A on the EM ZA reels sold in the UK.

 

Trust me on this one AJ, I am almost sure that it is the same reel, but I can try to convince my UK friend tomorrow to open it or maybe he brought the parts diagram with the reel. Let me check to be completely sure. A good excuse for me to open the reel and service it is that he had his reel splashed by a wave today.

 

Either that ala Liberace white color caused a strong reaction in the form of a psychosomatic response that severly weakened your cranking arm when using the reel or... most probably, the reel you tested was defective. smile.gif

 

Best wishes and please be careful out there my friend.

 

Sergio

 

 

 

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Hi Sergio...

 

The Diawa agent in the UK says they are identical except for the color but the fisherman in the UK surf scene have a different opinion as do I...

 

I have also put them side by side and cranked them and the UK Green one seems stronger to me... two different factories... the UK plant gets parts from japan and korea as well but the UK daiwa reels are known to be a tougher reel...

 

Is that a psychosomatic response as you suggested? Could be.... that white sissy Yuppie Liberace looking USA EM ZA brings out the closet fisherman in me. My wrist gets limp... cant crank the thing...

 

Colin Powell is arriving here tomorrow to talk with the senate and Prime minister here... security is super tight .... the Turkish police are on the ball.... I hope they work everything out , the Turks are allies with USA for the last 100 years and have fought side by side in many campaigns together... but alot of funny stuff going on now because those Kurds want those oil fields in Northern Iraq to start their own country... this whole war is such a big can of worms... I just pray that our US troops get home asap and that needless Iraqi civilian deaths be avoided... and that Sadam is caught comes to justice for his crimes against humanity.

 

 

The Horizon Calls..........
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I think Awesome John slipped and bumped his head when he woke up this morning.

there is nothing wrong with the White emblem reels and I have won a few tourneys with mine. They are smooth, they have the cranking ability, but i will give ya this, they look "Yuppie" with the gold trim. But as for performance, for my type of fishing, bait fishing for Drum, Stripers, nothing can stand up to them. Casting, cranking, SMOOOOOOOTH. They love Power Pro too.

 

 

AllenC

" Deer hunting is hours and hours of sweet anticipation graced with moments of incredible excitement" - Steve Chapman, Christian write/singer/songwriter/artist
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On balance I like these reel a lot. As Mr. Powers said, great casting reel.

 

I have to agree a bit with Awesome John on the lack of ruggedness of the Daiwa reels.

 

Case in point: much of the body is made of thin, fairly brittle plastic. On one of my Daiwas I was removing the shaft retaining nut and in the process cracked the rotor, with very little pressure! It was an easy (but not cheap fix) but man you have to really be gentle with these reels when disassembling them. I wonder what would have happened if I dropped it on a rockpile. cwm31.gif

 

And I've already mentioned a dozen times that the things don't like to be dunked.

 

-WW

 

[This message has been edited by fishweewee (edited 04-01-2003).]

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You are correct Alan. I warned about the nut unscrewing CW in this reel report of the ZA and XAs I posted in 2001 http://www.stripersonline.com/ubb547...ML/007938.html

 

The EM ZA and XA reels are the strong enough for some serious work when you know their limitations. The drag is great and they are very light reels for the job they are capable of doing.

 

I personally think that plastic parts are not a sign of lower quality when the design is good and proper plastic material is chosen, Even some of the best sports cars like Ferrari have plastic parts and you can't say they are "cheap" cars because they do.

 

Sergio

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