Amazon pricing glitch - decent cheap reel at insanely cheap price

[Kms]

This is the Aventik HVCE “casstle” package, size 7/8 reel with two extra spools, currently priced at $12.99 (size 5/6 is $11.99), which is half the price of the reel alone. It also *may* be the Echo Base reel with the Chinese manufacturer’s name printed on it (I’m pretty sure it is, but don’t sue me).

I’ve been using these since last year, and though I cannot attest to their long term durability, I’ve pretty much retired my Lamson liquid/remix reels for the HVCEs as they have a two characteristics the Lamsons do not: 1) they’re silent, and 2) they’re free spinning. I think they’re a bit undersized and use the “5/6” and “7/8” as 4/5 and 6/7 respectively.

How good is the drag? I really don’t know as i barely use drag, but as line holders they’re more than adequate, they’ve survived more than a few dunks, and at the current price a lifetime supply costs less than a single decent reel.
https://a.co/d/5xkKa6T

 

[falcon]

Use it as a "mule" to transfer lines to different reels.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear kms,

Thanks for the tip. For the price of a pizza and a 12 pack I bought one of each! 😉

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[Kms]

Here’s Kelly Galloup talking about the Echo Base reel (@4:25), which I’m convinced is (except for some frame cosmetics) the same reel, except the Base is $50 without extra spools.

 

[TimMurphy]

Here’s Kelly Galloup talking about the Echo Base reel (@4:25), which I’m convinced is (except for some frame cosmetics) the same reel, except the Base is $50 without extra spools.

Dear Kms,

Nice video but it kind of points out the ridiculousness of everything. I have reels that are 50 years in my possession and that I fish. The backing has never seen the end of the rod, let alone sunlight. If I hook a tuna while trout fishing and the backing gets out, it might go poof. At that point I'll go %$#*()^%$$^^^ and call it a day.

The effort that is put forth in marketing to sell people on things they have absolutely no need for is mindboggling to me.

YMMV

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[Tabasco-Joe]

This is the Aventik HVCE “casstle” package, size 7/8 reel with two extra spools, currently priced at $12.99 (size 5/6 is $11.99), which is half the price of the reel alone. It also *may* be the Echo Base reel with the Chinese manufacturer’s name printed on it (I’m pretty sure it is, but don’t sue me).

I’ve been using these since last year, and though I cannot attest to their long term durability, I’ve pretty much retired my Lamson liquid/remix reels for the HVCEs as they have a two characteristics the Lamsons do not: 1) they’re silent, and 2) they’re free spinning. I think they’re a bit undersized and use the “5/6” and “7/8” as 4/5 and 6/7 respectively.

How good is the drag? I really don’t know as i barely use drag, but as line holders they’re more than adequate, they’ve survived more than a few dunks, and at the current price a lifetime supply costs less than a single decent reel.
https://a.co/d/5xkKa6T

I have one of those reels and the drag worked fine when I unexpectedly hooked into a nice smallmouth while trout fishing.

 

[3wt7X]

I bought 2 last night. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Letort]

Appreciate the alert. Bought a couple for rods that I use for teaching others to fly fish.

 

[Kms]

Just a heads up that when I ordered the 7/8 “casstle” it came complete with three spools as shown in the picture above, but last year when I ordered the 5/6 “casstle” Amazon made a mistake and sent me only the reel in a box with a single spool. I contacted Aventik directly, sent them my Amazon order info, and they apologized and express mailed me the two additional spools at no charge. I never did receive the zipper case for the 5/6 set, but whatever.

(Amazon makes a lot of mistakes)

 

[mt_flyfisher]

Aventik has lots of fly fishing items listed for sale on Amazon, and on EBay. One thing about the Chinese is that they have no hesitancy in copying anything they can get their hands on, with no regards to international laws or business ethics.

Take Tiemco/TMC hooks for example. A qty of 100 TMC 2457 hooks sell for nearly $40.00 today. Aventik has a similar hook, that they unabashedly label as EP-TMC-2457 and sell it for $5.61.

I’m concerned that the more Chinese goods we buy, the more they get imbedded in us, by hook or crook, and if and when we need to extract some of that from our economy it will be very painful to get it out.

 

[Trapshooter]

I ordered the 5/6 and the 7/8 Thursday. The 5/6 came without spools in a torn up bag. I am returning the 5/6.

 

[TimMurphy]

Aventik has lots of fly fishing items listed for sale on Amazon, and on EBay. One thing about the Chinese is that they have no hesitancy in copying anything they can get their hands on, with no regards to international laws or business ethics.

Take Tiemco/TMC hooks for example. A qty of 100 TMC 2457 hooks sell for nearly $40.00 today. Aventik has a similar hook, that they unabashedly label as EP-TMC-2457 and sell it for $5.61.

View attachment 1641241574I’m concerned that the more Chinese goods we buy, the more they get imbedded in us, by hook or crook, and if and when we need to extract some of that from our economy it will be very painful to get it out.

Dear mt_flyfisher,

We don't make hooks in America, so we need to buy them from offshore suppliers. Even in the "glory days" of flyfishing we didn't make hooks. They came from Norway and England.

Then came the Japanese. We rebuilt the country, might as well buy from them, right?

It's a hook, being chemically sharpened using premium alloy steel doesn't mean much when it's stuck to a rock, or in a tree now does it?

YMMV

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

Edited to add. I bought big when Mustad hooks were $ 2.00 a hundred decades ago. I still haven't run out of them either.

 

[Kms]

I’m concerned that the more Chinese goods we buy, the more they get imbedded in us, by hook or crook, and if and when we need to extract some of that from our economy it will be very painful to get it out.

Dude
1) That ship sailed long ago (see my Orvis fly reel)
2) That’s not how commerce works
3) Let’s not fall into another political/socio-ethnic discussion pit.
Ok? Please?

 

[tomgamber]

Aventik has lots of fly fishing items listed for sale on Amazon, and on EBay. One thing about the Chinese is that they have no hesitancy in copying anything they can get their hands on, with no regards to international laws or business ethics.

Take Tiemco/TMC hooks for example. A qty of 100 TMC 2457 hooks sell for nearly $40.00 today. Aventik has a similar hook, that they unabashedly label as EP-TMC-2457 and sell it for $5.61.

View attachment 1641241574I’m concerned that the more Chinese goods we buy, the more they get imbedded in us, by hook or crook, and if and when we need to extract some of that from our economy it will be very painful to get it out.

Thats not always how it works. Lots of businesses from all over the world look to the country with 1 billion more people than themselves to provide cheap labor. The send something to China and ask, "what would it cost to make it there". Guess what? Abundant labor is cheap labor. The iPhone wasn't stolen by the Chinese. Apple gave it to them to make for less cost. Same with everything else.

 

[Tabasco-Joe]

Appreciate the alert. Bought a couple for rods that I use for teaching others to fly fish.

Aventik has some nice rods. At those prices I can afford to leave one in the truck, one in the camper, and a few at the hunting camp. No worries If a tip gets broken. Heck, the #6 9' really casts well and is one of my favorites. If you blind folded me, I'm not sure I could tell the difference with my Sage.

For some reason Amazon has had a lot more fly fishing gear on sale this spring.

 

[tomgamber]

Aventik has some nice rods. At those prices I can afford to leave one in the truck, one in the camper, and a few at the hunting camp. No worries If a tip gets broken. Heck, the #6 9' really casts well and is one of my favorites. If you blind folded me, I'm not sure I could tell the difference with my Sage.

For some reason Amazon has had a lot more fly fishing gear on sale this spring.

Everyone who imports is having sales. Once new imports arrive those crazy high prices will cost-average and everything will be more expensive. That is if they can get anything at all. If it's cost prohibitive and they cant sell it, they just won't bring it in. Remember, it's the importer who pays those tariffs.

 

[Tabasco-Joe]

Everyone who imports is having sales. Once new imports arrive those crazy high prices will cost-average and everything will be more expensive. That is if they can get anything at all. If it's cost prohibitive and they cant sell it, they just won't bring it in. Remember, it's the importer who pays those tariffs.

The Amazon sales started back in early February. So, I don't think it was completely tariff related.
Smaller tariffs are often absorbed by the exporter and/or importer. Especially in China.
Larger tariffs can't be absorbed and will get passed on to consumer. Or if really high may cause the exporter to exit the country imposing tariffs.

I'm fairly well stocked on fly tying materials.
So, no worries on my end.

 

[tomgamber]

China tariffs went from 20% to 40% girst week of March. on top the 25% already being paid. They (including myself) saw this coming. Early April, they increased to 125%. At that point everyone pretty much just stopped shipping until exceptions and pauses were made. Still paying the 65+% but companies like DHL won't even ship to consumers, shipments less than $800 (was $2500). And now it takes forever to clear customs if you do. DHL (and others may follow) will only ship B to B under that amount.

Good time to save your money.

 

[Tabasco-Joe]

China tariffs went from 20% to 40% girst week of March. on top the 25% already being paid. They (including myself) saw this coming. Early April, they increased to 125%. At that point everyone pretty much just stopped shipping until exceptions and pauses were made. Still paying the 65+% but companies like DHL won't even ship to consumers, shipments less than $800 (was $2500). And now it takes forever to clear customs if you do. DHL (and others may follow) will only ship B to B under that amount.

Good time to save your money.

Or buy used bamboo.

 

[Kms]

Aventik has some nice rods. At those prices I can afford to leave one in the truck, one in the camper, and a few at the hunting camp. No worries If a tip gets broken. Heck, the #6 9' really casts well and is one of my favorites. If you blind folded me, I'm not sure I could tell the difference with my Sage.

For some reason Amazon has had a lot more fly fishing gear on sale this spring.

I have both an Aventik 7’7” 4wt S2 glass and an Orvis 7’6” SFG 4wt, and though its components aren’t as fancy, the Aventik compares well to the Orvis. The Orvis is nicer, but it’s not 8x nicer.
—-
Well I see the tariffs have definitely hit this hard. Last summer the 4wt rod and case were $56 direct: Now it’s $95.