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Daiwa expands their brightly colored lineup with the new
Tierra spinning reel (continued)
 Retrieve:
While casting tests were
somewhat humdrum, the retrieve tests with the Tierra sparked everyone’s
interest. The Capricorn was already an especially smooth reel but it is safe to
say that the Tierra effectively puts the Capricorn to shame when it comes to a
silky fluid retrieve. The Tierra is so good it’s actually hard to distinguish
the Sol spinning reel from the Tierra on feel alone. One of the nicest things
about this latest slew of Daiwa reels is the optimal balance between having a
smooth feeling retrieve and still feeling connected to your gearing at all
times.
The Tierra 1500 balanced out our
drop shot outfit nicely
Daiwa
achieves this extremely smooth yet connected retrieve with the implementation of
their premium “Digigear” design, which features computer design gearing that
ensures extremely tight tolerances for a perfect mesh between the ultra-tough
surface treated alloy gear drive and marine bronze pinion gear. The result is a
gearing set that is optimized for speed, power, and durability over a longer
period.
The free switch is located on the back of the
reel
When
fishing even deep diving hardbaits with this reel we felt confident in the
reel’s power, and you never feel like the gears are straining. The reel features
an excellent instant anti-reverse which exhibited no backplay at all.
Yes, even the bail arm is coated
Some reels feel smooth in the
store, but during high speed retrieves in the field anglers begin to notice a
wobble. This is not the case with the Tierra which features one of the most even
rotations we have ever seen. Daiwa has balanced the rotor out nicely on the
Tierra, and even when burning darter heads we never observed any rotor quiver
whatsoever.
The rotor has hollowed out areas
for weight reduction, but more importantly perfect balance
Drag: The Tierra makes
use of a sealed drag system which seals the drag from performance robbing
elements, as well as allows you to rinse off the reel without fear of
contaminating your drag system. We splash and even soaked test the drag system,
a direct 30 second rinse and the drag system was completely dry, but when the
reel was fully submerged some moisture did enter the drag system from the inside
of the spool.
Cranking down
on the reel while burning back single tail grubs
The drag itself is
comprised of 4 felt and alloy washer surfaces, and feels extremely smooth under
pressure. What surprised me was just how powerful a drag the small 1500 Tierra
exhibited. This small reel outputted 13lbs of counter pressure with the drag
buttoned down. Part of the reason the drag is so powerful is the manner in which
the spool is mounted.
The Airbail and titanium nitride line roller
are flawlessly constructed
The spool floats on
another pinion which acts like a second drag surface, similar to dual drag
designs. The drag is simple yet refined, and alterations in drag setting are
able to be done quickly in very minute adjustments. In fact, the settings on the
Tierra are far more refined than the Capricorn and really allow you to dial in
drag settings in .3lb increments.
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The Tierra
1500 has a 4.7:1 gear ratio and is capable of drawing in 23.6 inches of line per
handle turn
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Next Section:
Ergonomics and
durability
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