Penn Slammers

[ChrisR]

Is it possible to distinguish the American made Slammers from the foreign made ones? I am thinking of picking up a couple of 260's. Is there a difference as far as quality, performance, and durability between the two?

[mudfish]

Not sure about the Slammers but my Penn SSG's have "Made in U.S.A." on the label.

[DaveR]

Those made in the US have USA on the bearing cover on the side of the reel and the underside of the reel seat. There is no difference other than that. The parts are all the same. I have 4 of them and aside from my ultralight, I use 260's exclusively on the flats. I use a 460 for my tarpon/king set up.
I was pretty pissed when they outsourced to China. A shame but, these are great reels. Very durable and easy to work on.

[TK]

A bunch of charter captains down this way use them, so they have to be ok. I bought one once, and it didn't last long. Must have got one made on a Monday, because everyone else says good things about them.

[Chief1600]

Haven’t tried the Slammers but have used the graphite Spinfishers for years, had one of the old ones over 25 years before it finally wore out. Suzie recently got a Sargus to replace the old Spinfisher, seems like a nice reel but hasn’t had a lot of use yet. We did try a Captiva which was smooth out of the box but didn’t hold up even a whole season.

[Phnd]

The Penn's are one of the few strong and dependable reels on the market. If you'll service them now and again they'll last a long, long time.

[ChrisR]

Thanks guys.