Abu Garcia 7000 made in China and Sweden difference

[vardpet]

What is the difference between Chinese and Swedish Abu Garcia 7000 series?

[CDubbs]

some plastic parts and cheezy springs under the hood

[quan808]

Abu 7000's made in Taiwan are fine. Parts are interchangeable with Swedish made Abus.

 

The Abu 7000i's have different parts, and don't seem to be as well made. I have owned them all and this is only my opinion.

 

Currently, I have Swedish made 7800's, 7500's and Taiwanese 7500's and 7000's. My reels made in Taiwan are solid and would not hesitate to buy more!

[jimmy z]

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by quan808 

 

Abu 7000's made in Taiwan are fine. Parts are interchangeable with Swedish made Abus.

 

The Abu 7000i's have different parts, and don't seem to be as well made. I have owned them all and this is only my opinion.

 

Currently, I have Swedish made 7800's, 7500's and Taiwanese 7500's and 7000's. My reels made in Taiwan are solid and would not hesitate to buy more!

 

I agree Quan. Those Taiwan reels are made by Omoto, who makes a darned good reel, IMO, of course.

 

 

 

Anyhow, about the OP question. I, for the life of me, don't know why Abu changed their 7000 reel. Those "i" reels with those confounded springs just doesn't make sense. I liked the 7000i pro rocket when I had it a few years back, but just didn't like those springs!

 

 

 

 

 

 The top pic is from an " i " reel, There are those tiny spring on the return lever than can give someone a hard time if they don't know the springs are there and fly off while disassembling the reel. 

 

The bottom is the simple 7000. Just easy!

 

[quan808]

 

 

I agree Quan. Those Taiwan reels are made by Omoto, who makes a darned good reel, IMO, of course.

 

Anyhow, about the OP question. I, for the life of me, don't know why Abu changed their 7000 reel. Those "i" reels with those confounded springs just doesn't make sense. I liked the 7000i pro rocket when I had it a few years back, but just didn't like those springs!

 

 

 

I owned the Abu 7000i Rocket for a little while too, but hated those springs, and didn't want to service 10 Abus with all different parts...didn't make any sense. There were no true upgrades to the "i" series reels were there to justify the change in parts?

[levari]

I own the 7001HS made in Taiwan and it is a pure garbage...I also own the 7001i and the 7001c3 made in China and both are solid reels.

[Stewie]

The smoothest 7000 I ever used was "assembled in Sweden" from parts made in Taiwan. It was a green 7000B. I would buy another in a heartbeat.

[mako20ft]

You have to admit...it's the same Abu gear heads that pop in on these questions. By a large margin the "loosest" and fastest casting (out of the box) Abu 7000 series IMHO has been the "Assembled in Sweden" variety. Proof??? Take a gander at the prices over the last few years. In the beginning folks shunned them since they weren't made by elves of the far north. Once the word was out this series was every bit the equal to the "Made in Sweden" (if not a touch better) the dollars started rising damn quick.

 

I have only one issue with the Chinese "I" series...scratch that, 2 issues. First is the location of the 1 way bearing in the handle boss. I know it sounds minor but by adding nearly 1/2" an inch to the length of the boss (placing the handle that much further from the chassis) the reel becomes out of balance in any normal fishing situation. 2nd issue...I'm just flat out tired of sending dollars to overseas, "I make $250 a month" plants that install nets to keep their employees from leaping off the roof. Rant over...

 

Their are so many of the original Swedish version (for now anyway) available at reasonable prices it seems silly to invest your money in a Wally World special with a "plastic" life expectancy.

 

Hey, that felt kind of good...

 

Dutch

[Makule]

I own the 7001HS made in Taiwan and it is a pure garbage...I also own the 7001i and the 7001c3 made in China and both are solid reels.

 

This is quite surprising as it's exactly the opposite of my experience of products manufactured from Taiwan versus China. China product quality seems to be like the way Japan product quality soon after WWII. It took Japan perhaps 20+ years before their product quality got to where people started to think it was worth much. Perhaps the specific model (7001HS) wasn't a very good one, and it may not have been to your liking even if it was made in Sweden.

[Abu caster]

I have some old made in Sweden 6501 C3, I have a couple of Records also made in Sweden and I have 2 7001i reels made in China. I have had my old 6501 reels for probably 20 years and the 7001i reels for 6 or 7 years never have had any problems with any of them they are built solid and very upgradeable. The Swedish made reels are just smoother. If you take care of them an service them. I don't see any difference in durabilty as some have claimed.

[exp2000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by quan808 





I owned the Abu 7000i Rocket for a little while too, but hated those springs, and didn't want to service 10 Abus with all different parts...didn't make any sense. There were no true upgrades to the "i" series reels were there to justify the change in parts?

The BIG difference between the classic 7000's and the newer "I series" is the drag. There is zero comparison.

 

The "I series drag" is infinitely more powerful and could winch any denizen of the deep off the bottom.

 

From memory I think that the AR bearing has also been upgraded as a consequence.

 

I have not used one extensively so I am interested to hear exactly why some owners reckon they are garbage?

 

As a service tech, the one flaw I can see is the new clutch release design.

 

You have a very large lever 1116151 tensioned by a very tiny spring 1116145 (almost invisible in the schematics).

 

This balancing act is so fine that I reckon it would only take some light corrosion to upset the operation of this design.

 

I am looking forward to seeing what has changed in the latest design if anything (now made in Sweden again?)

~

 

[Mtd35]

The big issue for me with the I series is the little 1116145 spring that tensions the clutch. It is very delicate and if not placed properly it will pop off the shaft, leaving you a reel that you manually have to place back into gear.

 

I find that I have to test my 7500i Elite's clutch at least a dozen times to make sure the 1116145 spring does not pop off. I much prefer the simplicity of the older push button 7000 series clutch for this reason.

 

Other then that I love the reel. It cast far and just plain winches fish.

[exp2000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mtd35 



The big issue for me with the I series is the little 1116145 spring that tensions the clutch. It is very delicate and if not placed properly it will pop off the shaft, leaving you a reel that you manually have to place back into gear.



I find that I have to test my 7500i Elite's clutch at least a dozen times to make sure the 1116145 spring does not pop off. I much prefer the simplicity of the older push button 7000 series clutch for this reason.



Other then that I love the reel. It cast far and just plain winches fish.

Hi Mtd35,

 

Yes it is not the most stable design for sure and the fine spring shoulders a sideplate support post which does not help matters any.

 

Check the support coils on the end of the spring and tighten them up if they look distended.

 

Check that the spring sits naturally in position and is not distorted or try a replacing with a new spring.

 

The spring is so fine that it could easily be deformed during installation if not careful.

 

Check the ends to make sure they are seated properly in the positioning grooves and make sure no other parts are fouling the spring during operation causing it to dislodge.

 

Good luck.

~

[pagsfish]

I currently own 4 7000's. 2 older Swedish models and 2 newer Chinese models. All have performed very well . However I did have an issue with my newest; a 7000iC3 with it's casting performance. When throwing heavy jigs a long way, the auto engage level would try to slip into gear under the momentum of the cast. After a couple of snapped off jigs and a damaged drive gear replacement, I removed the linkage for the auto engage feature (the feature that shifts reel into gear automatically when you begin the retreive). Now the reel is a "manual" shift reel and it has completely solved the problem I was dealing with. The thing now casts like a dream.

[Calson]

The quality of a reel or anything else depends on the product engineering people's input. They are the ones who decide where to cut corners, not the guys in the factory. No different than with "American" cars and trucks where the bean counters save pennies and the customers have to deal with parts failing long before they should or that are insanely expensive to repair.

Chinese factories make products for the German market and no people are more demanding of quality in everything. We don't get the Germany quality goods in the USA. What we get at the Wal-Marts are two levels below "Japanese" quality. This is where I find Shimano to be so exceptional. They cut cost by using better designs and factory automation and so they dominate the reel market in the same way they came to dominate the market for bicycle components.