It’s that time of year again for ICAST and we here at MVF are going to try to take you through the show one manufacturer at a time and give you the highlights of the new gear that has been showcased.
Let’s start with Quantum who once again, have managed to debut a totally new product without a lot of pre-show publicity. Last year they debuted the Smoke baitcasting series with the Smoke rods.
This year they are adding a spinning reel and rods to the Smoke lineup. The spinning reel will be available in two sizes. A 25 series and a 30 series. These reels utilize porting everywhere they are able to reduce weight but maintain structural rigidity throughout the reel. Both are 10 bearing systems and both weight less than 8 ounces.
The rotor is made of a proprietary material called C4LF which is responsible for a good portion of the overall weight reduction. They come in the same matte black color schemes as their counterparts which will go very nicely with the colors on the rods.
The Smoke spinning rods use the same technologies as the casting rods. They feature a split EVA foam rear grip, Fuji micro guides with hardened inserts and are being produced in seven models ranging in size from 6’3” to 7’7”. The actions will range from medium light to medium heavy.
The Smoke baitcasters are unchanged from last year as are the rods. They continue to offer high performance at a reasonable price and are available in a number of retrieve speeds in both right and left hand retrieve.
The Accurist series will have a new size available along with Accurist branded rods which will feature PAC-BAY micro guides, a PAC-BAY reel seat and split rear grip among other features. They will also add a 40 series spinning reel to the line-up and both the Accurist spinning reels and rods retail for about $80.00 a piece.
The Catalyst spinning reels have re-designed cosmetics as well as two additional bearings over last years models. They will be available in 10 – 40 series and will retail for about $120.00. That’s $20.00 less than last years models.
The Energy spinning reels have new cosmetics, will be available in 25 and 30 series models. They maintain all the features of last years models but will retail for about $140.00., which is $30.00 less than last year.
The Kinetic series spinning and casting reels have been re-designed and had a complete cosmetic facelift. Both types of reels will have an increased bearing count, from 6 to 8, maintain all the other advantageous features, have some weight reduction and both will retail for about $100.00.
Quantum will introduce a new reel specifically for cranking named the Tour KVD Cranking Classic. This reel features 11 bearings, new gearing and drag systems, weights only 7.5 ounces and will come in one retrieve speed, 5.3:1.
There will be modifications to the Tour KVD casting rods as well as the spinning versions. So what is the big news with Quantum? The new EXO series!
The Exo Series
The new EXO PT series will be available in both spinning and casting reels. The casting reels construction is exactly what you would think of in terms of an eko-skeleton. There are holes everywhere on this reel. Wherever the engineers could port to save weight, they did. The end result is a reel that is very rigid, ergonomic, has 11 bearings, and weights 5.9 ounces without the use of magnesium. The EXO casting reels will retail for about $250.00.
The EXO spinning reel borrows all the weight reduction from the casting version to deliver a 20 series reel that weighs 7.1 ounces and a 30 series that weighs 7.4 ounces. Both share the same gear ratio of 5.2:1 and will retail for about $200.00.
Quantum has designed the EXO rods in casting and spinning configurations to go specifically with the new reels and match them well in terms of the highlights that are used on the rods. Both series feature EX4 carbon blanks, split EVA foam grips, Fuji Alconite Micro Guides and new Fuji reel seats. Both series will retail for about $180.00.
Stay tuned for more news from ICAST 2011.
See ya’ on the water …