Penn fathom 15-have I bought a dud?

[Mingmong]

My 525 mag was falling apart, I decided not to replace it with a Mag 2 as their just not the same reel. My local shop told me to look no further than the Fathom 15 for power and distance. Having looked at reviews online I was convinced and bought one. I was told it would be rapid out of the box.

Although the reel feels well build and smooth, it feels very slow. I've cleaned the blue grease out and replaced the bearing with Abec 5's with red rocket fuel. No brake blocks are engaged but still the thing feels much more sluggish compared to my battered 525.

I'm constantly reading that these are lightening and too fast with no blocks engaged. Which I'm finding is simply not the case. I'm struggling to get anywhere near the speed of the 525 and that was not tuned up at all.

Is it possible I've just bought a dud reel which maybe needs to go back? Or is there something I'm not doing to get the most out the thing?

ANY help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

[waco]

My 525 mag was falling apart, I decided not to replace it with a Mag 2 as their just not the same reel. My local shop told me to look no further than the Fathom 15 for power and distance. Having looked at reviews online I was convinced and bought one. I was told it would be rapid out of the box.

Although the reel feels well build and smooth, it feels very slow. I've cleaned the blue grease out and replaced the bearing with Abec 5's with red rocket fuel. No brake blocks are engaged but still the thing feels much more sluggish compared to my battered 525.

I'm constantly reading that these are lightening and too fast with no blocks engaged. Which I'm finding is simply not the case. I'm struggling to get anywhere near the speed of the 525 and that was not tuned up at all.

Is it possible I've just bought a dud reel which maybe needs to go back? Or is there something I'm not doing to get the most out the thing?

ANY help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

as i only use pen mag 1 ,and never tried a fathom , so this is only a suggestion have u tried tension nut on side pllate as this may be too tight

[lingking]

not to pour scorn on your serviceing abilitys,are you sure the all the blue grease is gone????

[Mingmong]

The screw nut has been loosened but is that an the 'right' way to speed up the spool?

I have fully replaced the bearings and there is no blue grease anywhere near the spindle.

[g.ordon]

If you put new abec 5 bearings in don't forget to give them a good soak in solvent to get all the grease out before lubing up with rocket oil

[lambengland]

I would take it to the shop you bought it at and let the take a look.. rather than fiddle about with it

[dale19]

I have two fathom 15 and my m8 has the same, the only problem we had at first was the blue grease and the brakes once sorted the reels works fine a nice reel to cast .
if you have changed the bearings possible the shop will say the reel has been tampered with and will not entertain you ,you can only ask
the fathom 15 is a cracking reel hope you can sort things out m8

[Juliogeordio]

It sounds like a servicing issue rather than anything else mate. Never ever heard of a 'bad' fathom.... Fully serviced I doubt you will be disappointed.

[zippie]

How many brake blocks engaged ?

[LiamNE]

Hi
I also replaced a tried, tested and trusted 525 about 1 ½ year ago with a fathom 15 after speaking to a trusted friend who was raving and felt the same about it.

I think its difficult to let go of the “old faithful” but I had the same problem and there was no doubt in my mind it was slow. Whilst fishing, my mate removed ALL the grease and sorted the blocks as I don’t like messing with reels further than the basic. No blocks are engaged on mine.

The reel is lovely and smooth, I trust it, but I don’t think its as fast as the 525. Its fast enough though for me, I’m a fair caster.
I think maybe our definition of whats a fast reel may be distorted…I’ve had a go of another fathom when I was talking about this issue and it felt the same as mine.

I cant say it’s a bad reel in conclusion, it’s a great reel actually…but I don’t think its as fast as Penn make it out to be (without service/conversion at least) that is, straight outta the box.

[waco]

My 525 mag was falling apart, I decided not to replace it with a Mag 2 as their just not the same reel. My local shop told me to look no further than the Fathom 15 for power and distance. Having looked at reviews online I was convinced and bought one. I was told it would be rapid out of the box.

Although the reel feels well build and smooth, it feels very slow. I've cleaned the blue grease out and replaced the bearing with Abec 5's with red rocket fuel. No brake blocks are engaged but still the thing feels much more sluggish compared to my battered 525.

I'm constantly reading that these are lightening and too fast with no blocks engaged. Which I'm finding is simply not the case. I'm struggling to get anywhere near the speed of the 525 and that was not tuned up at all.

Is it possible I've just bought a dud reel which maybe needs to go back? Or is there something I'm not doing to get the most out the thing?

ANY help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

was talking to a mate this morning whilst fishing and he had the same problem , but after losing some line on his mag 1 whilst snagged . so he changed to the fathom , and after several casts, it seemed to work ok so mebbe it just needs bedding in with more casting

[Mickybt]

I've had a good few multi''s now including a 525supermag 525 tournymag fathom 15 and a saltist 30h.

The fathom I bought second hand but I'd say it was just as fast as the saltist I have now and a fair bit faster than the 525s I've had. They should easily spin for over a minute with standard bearings (sure they are abec 5 as standard). If the reel won't spin for that long then it hasn't been cleaned out and serviced properly and I'd pay the £8 to get it done by an expert.