Daiwa Sol TD 2500 vs Daiwa Advantage 2500A

[luke-k198]

Here is the deal:

Daiwa Sol TD 2500 $179 US ea
Model: TD SOL
Number: 2500
Action: ML/L
FW/SW Bearings Gear: 3CRBB, 3BB
Ratio: 4.7 : 1
Line Per Handle Turn: 27.6"
Wt. (oz.): 9.2
Line Capacity (Lb. Test/Yards): 6/210, 8/170, 10/140
Drag Max(lb): 15.4
Spare Spool: Yes

Daiwa Advantage 2500A $125 US ea
Model: TD Advantage
Number: 2500A
Action: ML/L
FW/SW Bearings Gear: 2CRBB, 6BB, 1RB
Ratio: 4.7 : 1
Line Per Handle Turn: 27.0"
Wt. (oz.): 10.2
Line Capacity (Lb. Test/Yards): 6/210, 8/170, 10/140
Drag Max(lb): 15.4
Spare Spool: Yes

Target Species : Whiting (Deepwater), Snapper, Pinkies, Squid, Bream (Bait Fishing), Salmon

So the question is : Is the Sol a $54 (US) better reel than the Advantage?

The only key differences I can see are the weight and the extra CRBB.

Your thoughts?

Cheers
Luke

[Roo]

no. the sol isn't that different but I'd pay the extra $54 for the funky orange colour tho'. otherwise the advantage should be fine.

[plaztix]

Depends how important that $54 is to you.

The new advantages look like really good reels and i was actually considering one myself for a new bream outfit i'm getting (ended up slowly upgrading my expectations and now have chosen a certate)

I'm sure the difference between the sol and the adv. is hardly noticeable but personally i would go the sol. But maybe i'm bias cause i've got one

[bayfisher]

Absolutely not, they really are almost identical but different colour obviously, Funnily enough in Australian the advantage actually costs about $10-$20 more, now figure that out. If you shop around on ebay you should pick up the advantage for even less around the $115usd mark.

Cheers Chris

[TonyM]

no. the sol isn't that different but I'd pay the extra $54 for the funky orange colour tho'. otherwise the advantage should be fine.

hehe yep it is a pretty colour isn't it!

My 3 year old son saw the new Fuego in Candy Apple Red on my screen 2 days ago and then said "I want it, you can't have it"

Where on Earth do they get this kind of behaviour?

Cheers
Tony

[smoked]

sol beauty buddy

[kevvie]

I'd go the sol...its a proven performer.

I have two older advantages and reckon they crap over the new ones...cost a heap more though. They went for a more budget model this time round. Some like em i dont particularly...In fact i'd go a certate for the extra investment...awesome reel, super smooth and faultless so far after 1 year of heavy use.

[NAGG]

I bought an 2500 Advantage as a gift for a colleague & while it is a good honest reel ...... It is more a general purpose spin reel
The Sol is a little more refined IMO ...... Certainly smoother

Nagg

[BtotheM]

Yer go the sol

[luke-k198]

Thanks for the input guys.

Bayfisher, not sure why you say the Advantage is $20 more..Campbells shows it as $20 less.

The more I think about it the more I feel like I should really get a Certate!

I always buy 2 of everything (minimum), it might just mean I need to wait 12 months to obtain the 2! (1 now, 1 later).

I was originally looking at the Tierra, something to replace/compliment the single Capricorn 2500 I have.

The SOL will certainly do the job that I need, but $54 x 2 = another TD Advantage (well almost) and 3 TD Advantages would be nice.

I'm not keen on buying anything on eBay (burnt in the past), so I will stick with a genuine shop, but $350 for a certate is what I am looking at if I want to go down that road....

Decisions, decisions.....

Cheers
Luke

[plaztix]

The more I think about it the more I feel like I should really get a Certate!

Cheers
Luke

Thats the idea, your getting the hang of it now

Go the certate, you know you want to.

Actually we could probably be of more help if you told us what you are intending to use this reel for and with what rod? You say it is to replace/compliment a capricorn 2500? is the capricorn in need of replacing?

[bayfisher]

Have a look at the mo tackle prices, the advantage is priced more, it certainly got me puzzled .

Cheers Chris

[bayfisher]

Ebay is not all bad as long as you buy from big respectable sellers you will be right, A lot of these actually also have shop fronts in the USA but also have ebay shops. I have bought plenty of lures and reels from ebay and never had any dramas the saving can be too big to ignore.

Cheers Chris

[kevvie]

Ebay is not all bad as long as you buy from big respectable sellers you will be right, A lot of these actually also have shop fronts in the USA but also have ebay shops. I have bought plenty of lures and reels from ebay and never had any dramas the saving can be too big to ignore.

Cheers Chris

I totally agree. Stick with the big shops and everyting is sweet. I have made over 80 purchases and never been burnt.

Too cheap to ignore!

[luke-k198]

Thanks for the input guys!

Now I remember why I dismissed the Certate - the lack of the spare spool (They are about $120 from Japan). As much as I want a Certate, I have too many other wants in the fishing department to justify it.....(see what effect a sleep can have).

Going back to the Sol vs Advantage vs Tierra, my need for the reel is multipurpose. I regularly bait fish for snapper in Port Phillip Bay, and apart from fishing with Shimano Bait Runners 4500 (although I don't use the bait runner function, I just find these reels to be robust and reliable).

Over the last few seasons, I have started to fish lighter gear, and apart from making the fishing more "sporting" and fun, I am finding that I am catching more snapper too. For this lighter outfit, I have been using my Capricorn 2500 and a Berkley Dropshot 6ft 10" 2-4kg rod. I bought the Capricorn 2nd hand and it only had one spool, so I've been fishing 10lb braid on this.

I'm a big fan of the Dropshots, and between myself and brother (who I regularly fish with), we own quite a few of them (all the same type). I use these rods for everything, from throwing plastics at pinkies and snapper, to trout, trolling for salmon, squid and whiting.

So the problem now is reels - although I have a few Shimano Symetre 1500's, they are not up to the job of what I need to do. A second spool is critical, as I do a fair bit of squid fishing (baited jigs) and much prefer to use mono than braid for this job. Similarly for Snapper, I would prefer to fish with mono for bait, but use braid for plastics and when bait fishing for whiting in deep water weed beds (the braid helps cut through the weed if you snag up).

I have already checked out the balance of a Shimano Raider Rod (closest I could find to a Dropshot in a local shop) and the Tierra vs Sol in the 2500 size. The Sol did feel a little better balanced due its lower weight, but the difference was marginal.

I also tried a 3000 size Tierra, but this was just a bit too heavy for the outfit. 3000 would be nice for the extra line capacity, but the 120m of 10lb mono is plenty for snapper. The extra weight is probably fine if you were just bait fishing (paired with a heavier rod), but it would get tiresome if you are throwing plastics (which I occasionally do).

So that's the long and a short of it....I originally started off looking at the Tierra, got focused on the Sol....then starting questioning the difference between the Advantage and the Sol. I'm looking to get best bang for buck for a multipurpose reel that has enough quality to last me a long time.

It's hard to see what the difference is between the Sol and Advantage. On some other forums, I gather an earlier model of the Advantage did not have the waterproof drag.

Any comments?

Addendum : Having just visited the store again, spending 5 minutes with each reel, doing side by side tests, smoothness tests, etc, I am struggling to find key differences. Both are made in Thailand by the way!

The advantage and sol share most of the same components on the outside. A noticeable difference being the bail arm and assembly, which is slightly better on the sol. The advantage is a longer reel (the gear housing seems to be about 10mm longer) which would explain the increase in weight.

Obviously the internals are different, but I had no success in find any difference in smoothness. I guess there will be unit to unit manufacturing variations, and this may account for some of the comments about smoothness (also, we are talking shop demo stock - who knows what damage previous testers have done to the product before you check it out).

From the outside and a smoothness point of view, there is definitely not $54 worth of difference....but the insides might be a different story, as might be the performance after 5 years of use.

There is a good review of the Sol here:
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewtdsolspin.html

Review info on the Advantage is much harder to find.

Food for thought...sometimes too much choice is a bad thing.

Cheers
Luke