Shimano Corsair Update

[Killertraylor]

I posted last week about my Shimano Corsair going **** up on me. I had purchased two of them in 1998. I called the return center and spoke with a real jerk who chastised me for wanting to actually talk to a person about my problem than follow the recorded instructions about sending reels in for repair. I just boxed up my two 1998 vintage Corsairs and sent them to Shimano with a nice letter asking them to replace them (I also asked them to transfer the new 20lb Maxima to the new reels but they didn't) with new reels and WALAH! Today I received two brand new Gold colored Corsairs in the mail, minus line. Still a good trade considering the old reels only had a one year warranty. If anyone else has freespooling or drag problems with their silver Corsairs, I'd send them back for the new ones - they apparently had some sort of recall and are honoring the replacements outside the warranty period.

[THE REEL HEY_YALL]

Save that address to Shimano because you just got the white speck on top of a pile of chicken "poo". That white speck is "poo" too. Those gold corsairs are grade-A P.O.S.'s Silver or gold lining, if it's crap, you'll know it. I just hope those aren't your only 2 reels for fishing. And to think I used to product test for those guys..... images/icons/blush.gif Maybe you'll be one of the few who got a good batch.

[Killertraylor]

Interesting. They are actually my two backup reels. I use 4 Calcutta 400's and one of those new Daiwa cvz-300A's as my primary reels for both Salmon and Sturgeon - The Daiwa is as smooth as the Calcutta, but the same $200 price. I remember others posted good stuff about the gold Corsairs when I posted my original thread? What's you're favorite reel?

[Pete]

My Corsair 400 (Silver) did the free spool, dump the entire spool in the ocean while trolling thing. My first response was to take it to Ollie Damon. They are, after all, a Shimano warrentee center. Thirty bucks later I still had the same problem. After reading the thread here a few days ago I decided to give Shimano a call. They said "box it up and we'll try to fix it. If we can't, we'll 'do something about it'". That seemed kind of ambiguous, so I called Fishermen's. They replaced the 400 with a new gold 400A for the difference in price, $10.00. Considering the old reel had 3 years and a lot of miles on it I have to give Fishermen's a thumbs up for customer service.

[Killertraylor]

Wow - that's super, Pete. I took my silver Corsairs to Ollie Damon's and they were the ones who told me about the recall and to send them back to Shimano.

[Thumper]

Fisherman's Marine --- the fisherman's friend! Took two Corsairs back a few months ago and they offered to trade retail for retail on anything I wanted. Two Curado's and a few bucks later and I am one happy guy.

[Matt H.]

Yup, I had the same problem. Was trying out my silver corsiar down off the Florence Jetty. When I went free spool to cast, it never engaged again. Traded mine in for the new gold corsair a couple days later.

I guess some of you may not like the new reel, but the improved version has never let me down, casts beautifully, retrieves smoothly. I have no complaints about it what-so-ever. Of course I have never had the luxury of using a $200 reel to compare it to. $70 was a lot of money for me to spend on a reel.

I know for some ppl, only the best will do, but even though my corsair might be a volkswagon instead of a bmw, it still reels in the fish =).

Matt

[Deleted User]

I had the same prob. with the silver Corsair, I printed up a lot of the comments from this bb, about the Corsair, sent it in to Shimano, with the comments, 6 days later, got one of the new gold ones. They did me right, now I need to get out and use the thing.

[TheRogue]

Hey....could you post that Shimano address here?? I've got two of the silver Corsair's, one with the free-spoll problem. I'll send off immediately.

T.R.

[Killertraylor]

I sent mine to:

Shimano America Corp.
Attn: Reel Repair
One Holland Drive
Irvine, CA 92618

I had the new reels back within 7 business days.

[TheRogue]

thanx.....

[boone]

I took my corsair back to where I purchased it and talked them into trading the gold version for a Abu 5600-C4. Works for me!!!