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orvis vs abel reels

alex b

New member
looking to get a new reel, and have a couple of questions...if you had a choice would you get the orvis battenkill mid arbor or the abel creek standard#1. i will mainly be fishing for trout on the croton river
 
why did you narrow it down to those 2? I used to have an Orvis mid arbor that I got at the Somerset show that I was given a show coupon for so it was 20% off. It was pretty decent for the price. I believe that it has a disc type drag. I don't think that the Abel has a disc drag (click and pawl) if that matters to you. The Abel is probably better made (I haven't followed them since they were sold). There are many reels out there now that seem to be in that mid price range if that is what you are looking for (that's why I asked in the first sentence). I just picked up a new J Ryall reel on ebay for around $100. It has a conical type drag and they have been around for a long time. I would also check out Lamson and Teton (I think they are back).
So if I had to choose between your two choices I would go with the Abel (I hate Orvis products personnally and thin they are overpriced for what you get)
AZ
 
Both reels are of good quality. While I don't own any abel reels, their reputation speaks for itself. I do own several Orvis reels in mid and large arbor and have zero complaints about them fishing from 10" trout to 40" Salmon. I have never been let down by the drag system in these reels.

So it comes down to the name and how much money you want to spend. I for one would rather buy 2 Orvis disc drag reels over one Abel click/prawl drag reel.
 
I have the Abel Creek and it is a very nice reel. It's my first click/pawl and I finally got to put it to its' first big fish test last week. The drag is very smooth and feels different than a disc drag reel...definitely protects light tippets well when adjusted properly.

That being said, I have an Orvis Battenkill that I've beaten the hell out of for the past 3 or 4 years, and it's still performing like it did on day one.

Last, there's a big price difference between the two, but if you have the money to burn, I'd go with the Abel.
 
I have a nice Lamson but I have about 4 or 5 Orvis Battenkill Mid-Arbors, some are 5 yrs old and still perform like the first day I used them. If you ask me they can't be beat in terms of quality and price- you will not find a better performing reel at for the $120-130 you'll spend. Heck, I doubt a $200-250 reel will outperform it.
 
The Mid-Arbor was my first quality reel. I've dropped it, dragged it, drowned it, and it still works perfectly. I love my Lamson, but it could never stand up to this, its been lightened to within an inch of its life. In my opinion, the anodizing on the Mid-Arbor is more durable than the Lamson Hard-Alox. The Orvis is good bang for your buck, and if you throw some more bucks in, the new large-arbor Battenkill looks nice a winner too.
 
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