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364290_Cabela's

Kingpin "Imperial" Centerpin Reel – First Impression

| February 18, 2011
Kingpin (http://www.kingpinreels.com/) owner Stuart Ward sent me an Imperial reel for me to test.  It arrived in a very nice Kingpin box with a excellent quality neoprene Kingpin reel cover.  As soon as I removed the reel from the cover my very first impression was this is a very high quality reel.  The precision in the manufacturing of this reel is very evident.  For example, the spool sits inside the back plate and the clearance of the spool to the backplate is so fine you can not slide your fingernail into the gap, in fact you can barely see a gap at all. This is incredible when you think that the spinning spool has to be completely round within the smallest thousands of an inch or it would rub against the backplate.  After a very close inspection of this reel I can not find one imperfection, nothing wobbles, nothing is loose.  When you go to the sports store and spin one of the centerpins that they are selling, look at the edge of the spool as it spins and see if there is even the slightest wobble, most of the new reels have a very small imperfection like that. The Imperial has none, in my video you will see what I am talking about.  I had to drive downtown to get my daughter, so I took this reel.  I spun it as hard as I could when driving out the driveway, and it spun all the way downtown. Probably a 5 minute drive.  Very impressive.  The brake is stronger than my Okuma, and the Imperial has a very convenient lever that clicks down to engage the brake.  Plus, this reel has cool looking marble like handles.  The Imperial reel retails for $385, check out http://www.kingpinreels.com/ .

I can’t wait to take this reel to the river and give it a try. I’m heading out to some remote rivers next week…

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Tight lines,
Ian B.

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Category: Imperial, Kingpin, Product Review, steelhead

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