# Should I purchase a Penn Battle?



## Just.fish90

Im looking for a new surf reel and was wondering is the penn battle (5000) worth the money? I really want a penn spinning reel because Ive been reading good reviews on them. I was planning on buying the fierce or sargus since they feel great and are cheap but I just came from academy and played with the battle now I cant decide. I usually fish for reds, trout, flounder, and whatever else I can fight with in the gulf. Ill probably spool it with 20lb braid or 15lb mono on a 8 or 9ft rod. 
Also I didnt get to hold the 5000 but I held the 4000, is their a big weight difference?


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## fish bucket

the 4000 battle is well worth the extra money and will be great on a 8-9' rod
go with the 20#braid


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## Phaedrus

I have a Battle 4000, Fierce 5000, and Sargus 3000 and 7000. I love them all. I have read that the Sargus is the best for the money by people more knowledgable than I am.

I would say to try the 4000 and 5000 of your choice with the rod of your choice and then make your decision!

Good luck!


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## Just.fish90

Phaedrus said:


> I have a Battle 4000, Fierce 5000, and Sargus 3000 and 7000. I love them all. I have read that the Sargus is the best for the money by people more knowledgable than I am.
> 
> I would say to try the 4000 and 5000 of your choice with the rod of your choice and then make your decision!
> 
> Good luck!


okay since you own and like all 3 do you think the price difference for the battle is worth it?


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## Just.fish90

fish bucket said:


> the 4000 battle is well worth the extra money and will be great on a 8-9' rod
> go with the 20#braid


I was thinking about getting the 4000 but would rather the 5000 since I like using mono (15-17lb), plus if I ever want to put stronger braid on the reel I could.


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## Drumdum

Just.fish90 said:


> I was thinking about getting the 4000 but would rather the 5000 since I like using mono (15-17lb), plus if I ever want to put stronger braid on the reel I could.


 Just me,but braid has always been the ticket on a spinning reel once it gets broke in.. You can get 5yrs out of it,most of the time it will outlast the reel with me... 

I own the 2000 battle.. Last year was it's first year.. 6lb crystal fireline,7' loomis rod.. Spainish mack,small cobes,pups,trout,pompano,seamullet,small jacks,smallmouth bass,largemouth bass,bluegill, are some of the species that have been caught on it. Last weekend and the weekend before this setup was catching false albacore up to 12lb.. That in itself should give you an idea that the reel holds up pretty good.. It's been used on the sand several times as well as pier and boats,it hasn't gone for a dunking yet,but it sure seems as though it holds up pretty well...

Go with 4000,with the 20 braid it should hold enough line for most anything you could want to catch,imo...


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## Just.fish90

Drumdum said:


> Just me,but braid has always been the ticket on a spinning reel once it gets broke in.. You can get 5yrs out of it,most of the time it will outlast the reel with me...
> 
> Go with 4000,with the 20 braid it should hold enough line for most anything you could want to catch,imo...


well I may use this reel on jetties or piers which is when I switch to mono so I want to have the option to switch to it.


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## BrentH

I have a Fierce 4000 on my plugging rod and a Battle 6000 on my anchor rod. Both are great reels and worth the money.


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## barclayrl

I have a 5000 with 30LB braid on a 10FT Airware and it seems like a realy nice combo.. THe battle is a great reel.

Ryan


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## Drumdum

Just.fish90 said:


> well I may use this reel on jetties or piers which is when I switch to mono so I want to have the option to switch to it.


 Not trying to force braid on ya,but WHY?? I use it on piers,jettys,yaks,boats,and the surf,works great... Would not have it anyother way with a spinner.. But that's just me,if ya like mono,go for it,you can catch plenty of fish on that as well..


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## Phaedrus

Just.fish90 said:


> okay since you own and like all 3 do you think the price difference for the battle is worth it?


Do a search for Penn Battle on the site and you will see what people that are more technical than I am think about the Battle versus other reels. The Sargus and Battle both feel more solid to me than the Fierce. According to most folks, it seems like upgrading to the Sargus makes sense, but upgrading again to the Battle may not be worth the money.


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## CarolinaChuck

I think the whole line is great (Fierce/Sargus/Battle), I have a 7000 Sargus and love it. I do agree withh DD, braid on a spinner. I would think the Battle with the HT 100 drag would be worth the extra cash, I bought the Sargus to match up aesthetically on my rod, and both have the same drag rating.

Not to steal the thread, but DD a 2000 up to 12 lb false albacore? Did you feel a little under gunned? I was thinking about a 2000 for a blank I have to build into a crappie rod-12 lb, that is saying something there.

CarolinaChuck


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## Croaker D

I have the 6000 battle and yes it is worth the few extra bucks! If you internet shop you can find deals I got mine in Feb. this year and paid 76.00 shipped to my door sealed brand new!


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## Drumdum

CarolinaChuck said:


> I think the whole line is great (Fierce/Sargus/Battle), I have a 7000 Sargus and love it. I do agree withh DD, braid on a spinner. I would think the Battle with the HT 100 drag would be worth the extra cash, I bought the Sargus to match up aesthetically on my rod, and both have the same drag rating.
> 
> Not to steal the thread, but DD a 2000 up to 12 lb false albacore? Did you feel a little under gunned? I was thinking about a 2000 for a blank I have to build into a crappie rod-12 lb, that is saying something there.
> 
> CarolinaChuck


 Was cheating a bit was on my boat...  ALTHOUGH,I didn't have to chase,just caught him from a staionary boat.. I filed that reel with 6lb crystal,a little over 200yrds,and it never really got more than three quarter spool on me,but he did that at least twice... Drag and reel both performed flawlessly.. Still got it in my mind,caught 5 that day,all in the same wieght bracket,it happened last weekend.. Even though I was looking for drum or cobe with heavier tackle on board,I didn't feel shortchanged catching alberts,one of my favs lb for lb...


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## map120277

I have a 4000 battle and sargus. The sargus have been known for the bail flipping over while casting. It does not do it everytime, but if you put a little more into a cast it will flip over. I have not had it happen on my battle. They are pretty much the same reel, the battle has a thicker and heavier duty bail. :beer:


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## ReelDeal

I plan on buying the Battle 8000 for a casting setup for smaller sharks. From my research it seems the Battle series is the upgraded Sargus series. In reviews it seems the Battle has 80/20 (good/bad) reviews. Most say they love the reel while others complain of wind knots and the bail snapping shut. If the bail is the only issue the a rubber band will fix that. From all my research the Battle is the better choice.

If you are not in a rush to buy I have a friend in Florida who took out a Battle 8000 to see how it handles medium sharks this weekend and I'm waiting to hear back from him. Also I leave for Florida on the 26th and can repost how it held up.

On the braid to mono subject: if your fishing for smaller fish id use mono but larger fish I would use braid. Just imo


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## NC KingFisher

Just.fish90 said:


> Also I didnt get to hold the 5000 but I held the 4000, is their a big weight difference?


About 8oz


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## lil red jeep

Well it's not like you couldn't form an opinion on the Battle line-up from this thread already. Like the others who have replied, I love mine. I have a 4000 and a 6000 and opted for the 6000 over the 5 simply for the line capacity. If you make the purchase, you won't regret it.


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## NTKG

the issue with the penns was as far as the metal for the gears. i was opting between a battle and a spheros for a new sight casting reel and ended up going spheros. you can google up some more detail

http://www.alanhawk.com/reviews/lists.html


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## 9 rock

NTKG said:


> the issue with the penns was as far as the metal for the gears. i was opting between a battle and a spheros for a new sight casting reel and ended up going spheros. you can google up some more detail
> 
> http://www.alanhawk.com/reviews/lists.html


And u made the rite choice although not a apples to apples comparison battle is a nice reel for money but its not in the same class as a spheros , 



9


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## Too Busy

I reviewed all three for a magazine article last year. After an interfiew with a couple of guys on the design team at Penn I learned the following
Fierce, Sargus and Battle are all built on the same frame
Every step up gets another bearing
Every step up gets an improvement to the drag.

For the money I'll still take an Okuma Trio over any of those three. THe Trio has stood up to 3 years in my kayak fishing guide service and has better, smoother, stronger drag than comparably sized Penn reels.

* I compared the Trio side by side with all 3 Penns.
Tested drag with spring scales and couldn't believe the results, so I carried them to work and tested on our high speed Instron tensile machine. Trio thumped the others.


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## Drumdum

When you tested them and said "Trio thumped the others" what were you basing that on?? Possible drag pressure??? So,if the reel will attain more drag pressure it has the better drag??? I go by smooth,not total drag pressure,at least that is what counts in fighting any fish of size.. Say the reel is designed for 20lb line,I'd say 6lbs of drag is plenty.. That's just me I guess..Although, 6lbs is plenty on 20lb test with a spinning rod for fighting a fish for anyone,and maybe too much in many instances, imho....

Maybe I'm too oleschool,but all these youngbucks think ya gotta have 15 or 20lbs of drag on a reel for it to be worth a chit is just crazy in my book anyway...


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## CarolinaChuck

I too have a question, and I get the sales hipe, but all three in the Penn line (Fierce/Sargus/Battle) have the same advertised drag ratings. The Battle of course boasts the HT 100 drag washers and one would think it superior.

So the Penn dudes said that each step up got an improvement to the drag-what was the improvement? Just making the statement begs the question; so did we ask the question in the interview? Being the pessimist that I am, I wouldn't let sales dudes get away with hipe or false claims.

Now, I see the difference between a bushing and a bearing, but why would someone manufacture 3 reels on a single platform, and then turn around and make 3 separate drag assemblies? Doesn't make any sense; did you pull the 3 drag assemblies apart during the review? I sure as hell would have; and then yanked the Trio drag out and looked at it just to see what is so special?

Is Okuma under rating their drags as advertised? What size Penn and Okuma reels are we talking here, were they the same? If your talking about the Penn 5000 or 6000 size verus the Okuma 55, well yea, the advertised claims tell that story; but 7000 and 8000 Penns both boast higher numbers than the Okuma.

I would like to see your numbers-it is the pessimist thing in me again. How was the test done? I sure your methods are sound, just the radom question that comes with asking for numbers. I am curious though, is that high speed Instron tensile machine the turbo charged model?

I would really like to know the difference in the Penn line; as I have really been curious of thier HT 100 drag claim on the Battle, yet all 3 lines advertise the same drag numbers. Again, I have to go back and say it just does not make sense to have 3 different drag assemblies when you know Penn buys the washers by the boat load? How many pennies could they possibly save doing this? 

Looking at the service and parts diagrams for the 3 reels, Fierce and Sargus drag washers share the same part number, and all 3 share the same earred washers (imagine that). Also kind of funny, the Fierce is advertised as a 4+1 reel: I always thought the +1 was a roller bearing on the line roller, but the Fierce sports a bushing here. The Sargus and Battle sport a bearing there, but don't share the same part number. All 3 reels have two bearings on the spool shaft and two bearings on the main gear, but the Fierce calls for different part numbers on the bearings then the other two reels. The extra bearing on the Battle is for the spool, which one would think will make the drag smoother. Have not figured out the +1 yet, but chances are I am in way over my head just looking at diagrams-I don't know.

I'll make one other observation, the Penn reels all employ a 5 disc stack drag where the Okuma has a 3 disk stack. The Okuma also sports bearings on the spool, 3 of the little boogers over the single bearing in the Battle.


Having never seen an Okuma Trio I am happy you brought it up, looks like a solid reel and in the same money so we are talking apples to apples. I will definitely put my fingers all over one if I ever see one in a shop; and maybe a few other owners will chime in.

DD,

I know what you mean about the winch and cable crowd; some people will never understand the fact that a reel is merely a place to store line.

CC


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## gman1253

CChuck:

Well my issues with the Penn spinners (Own 3 Slammers & my buddy has a battle) are the following:

1 - the gears are made from alloy (see Alan Hawk review) that is no the hardest.
2- the line lay is generally pretty poor when using braid. On the Slammer, Sargus (based on the Pflueger spinner) & Battle, you tend to get a gap near the ends of the spool side that can easily cause a wind knot. This is due to the too short stroke of the bail going up & down. 
3 - the spool is not a long cast design (like a Scepter or even a Daiwa SS2600) 

On the positives:
1 - the Battle's drag is better than the Slammer's as it's a multi disc design.
2 - the Penn's are easy to self service - which is important if you dunk your reels - in which cleaning/ lubing/ packing is a must. The Spheros is a tab harder to do.
3 - The Spheros have better line lay & have en edge in long cast ability (depending on the age) with their Aerowave Oscillation & Propulsion Line Management System (see HPD's post on the other forum on the Stradic).

I would recommend Fireline instead of braid as it's stiffer & tends to work better on spinners that do not have great line lays. I use it on my old Penn 710s as well as my Slammers & it really does help not only in avoiding knots but also taking them apart is much easier, though not guaranteed.

Can't comment on the Okuma.

Cheers -Manny


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## ThePitbullofLove

I've got an Okuma Trio 55S.

I bought it for my girlfriend to use at Hatteras last fall when she decided she didn't like the hand me down Diawa Regal that I'd used for tossing metal for the past decade.

I've got it mated to a Tica Medium Fast Action 9'0" rod rated for 3/4 oz -3 oz. It throws a ton and is really, really smooth. The drag is fantastic, and is excellent medicine for blues in the surf. She likes it a lot, and it's now her go to for plugs, jigs, spoons, and Sting Silvers at Hatteras. Her main 8 & bait combo is a Daiwa Beefstick 11' with an Okuma Avenger, so throwing the Trio 55S on the Tica is a breeze for her. The high speed retrieve is excellent for throwing artificials.

That said, my next spinning reel will most likely be a Penn Battle. I like the one I tried a lot.

YmmV

Here's a gratuitous shot of Suzi's artificial set up taken today with my craptastic camera phone.


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## Drumdum

All I know is my little 2000 battle went through several alberts this year(If you know alberts you know how much drag they can take),as well as tons of fish last year including bluefish,small amberjacks,spadefish,triggers,spainish,had one small king on and pulled the hooks with a gotcha,and 3 small cobes one an inch or so above keeper size that pulled a 100yrds easy off it.. The drag still works flawlessly.. Reel is still silky smooth.. The 4 460 slammers I own still have excellent drags though not as smooth as the battle.. They have caught big cobes and drum in numbers I couldn't say for sure,and drag's still great,and reels are still smooth,again not as smooth as the battle..

Understand this I AM MOST DEFINATLY NOT A PENN FAN,have been burned by the older penns with anti reverse,drags went to chit,and in general could not outlast the diawas and one shimano I had at the time... These two model penns,the battle and the slammer I have to say,are the among the best spinners I've ever owned and have past the "DD test" for durability and fish fighting ability.. The "DD test" means I givem hell,never clean them except washem down each time I use them,hangem out to dry and loosen the drag... I give them an A...


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## Just.fish90

I now started reading great reviews on the penn slammer would it be better for me to get the slammer? Is the slammer better/smoother? Is it worth the cost compared to the penn battle?


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## Drumdum

Just.fish90 said:


> I now started reading great reviews on the penn slammer would it be better for me to get the slammer? Is the slammer better/smoother? Is it worth the cost compared to the penn battle?


 Both are good reels,I have put the slammer to the test and yes,it is a good one... If you are looking for silky smooth though,get the battle... jmho...


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## Cdog

Drumdum said:


> Both are good reels,I have put the slammer to the test and yes,it is a good one... If you are looking for silky smooth though,get the battle... jmho...


 Kenny, what did I catch my cobe on last yr? I know it was a Penn and was shocked that it was as smooth as it was, I have not had much luck with Penn and their drags.


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## Drumdum

Cdog said:


> Kenny, what did I catch my cobe on last yr? I know it was a Penn and was shocked that it was as smooth as it was, I have not had much luck with Penn and their drags.


 Slammer... That has baffled me also Clay,I had never had any luck with Penn until the slammer and battle.....


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## CrawFish

If DD hasn't broken it, everyone should give it a look.


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