Abu Garcia Orra Winch Low Profile Baitcasting Reel Product Review

Reel Review

Cranking It Up with Abu Garcia's Orra Winch

Date:	11/11/16
Tackle Type:	Reel
Manufacturer:	Abu Garcia
Reviewer:	Cal

Total Score: 7.87 - BEST VALUE AWARD!

Introduction: Low speed reels (with retrieve ratios below 6.0:1) are becoming harder to find with each passing season. Once coveted for moving bait applications as a way to keep your bait in the strike zone for a longer period of time, they've simply fallen behind as manufacturers push towards reels with 8 and even 9 spool revolutions per turn of the handle. My personal go-to, low profile cranking reel over the last few years has been Abu Garcia's Revo Winch. But this reel retails for $199.99 - a price while not out of the realm of affordability is still beyond the budget of many crankbait enthusiasts. Abu recognizes this obstacle and has chosen to address it head on with their new, $99 Orra Winch - another counterpart to an established Revo classic.

Abu Garcia Orra Winch Specifications
Line Capacity - Rated	12/180
Line Capacity - Spool Volume	14.4 cm³
Retrieve Ratio	5.4:1
Inches Per Turn (IPT) - calculated	6" - 21.5"
Weight	7.6 oz
Spool Weight	18 g
Handle Length	95 mm
Bearings	7SS+1
Bearings per Knob	1 bearing, 1 bushing
Levelwind Bearings	1 bearing
Tested Max Drag	~19lbs (rated 15lb max drag)
Origin	Made in China
MSRP	$99.99

Introducing the value priced, Orra Winch.

Quality/Construction: The Orra Winch, like the previously reviewed Orra SX, is a lower cost counterpart to the same reel in the REVO lineup. It features a very attractive bluish charcoal grey paint on the sideplates and a medium grey paint on the frame. The two work together very well and flow together almost seamlessly with the chromed front plate.

Same profile as the REVO, just value spec'd for affordability.

The reel's 95 millimeter handle has the ever so slightest backplay in it and the knobs also have just the tiniest of wiggle room when push and pulled into and away from the body of the reel. Honestly, out of the box, the Orra Winch looks and feels like a reel fifty to one hundred percent (50% - 100%) more in retail price.

Ready for some action.

Quality Ratings for Abu Garcia Orra Winch
Finish (1-5)	Frame & Sideplate Tolerance (1-5)	Handle Tolerance (1-5)	Knob Tolerance (1-5)	Total	Possible	Rating (= Tot/Pos * 10)
5	5	4	4	18	20	9.0

Spooled with 12lb Spiderwire Ultracast Ultimate Mono.

Performance: I spooled the Orra Winch with some twelve pound (12lb) test Spiderwire Ultracast Ultimate Mono and mounted it on a TackleWarehouse exclusive 7'-6" Daiwa DX-Bass cranking stick to see if it lives up to its namesake.

The nice, 95mm handle aids in this reel's smooth retrieve.

Retrieve: The Orra Winch's main gear is made from a brass alloy instead of aluminum which is the case for its REVO counterpart. This change in material gives the Orra Winch a very smooth retrieve as you crank the reel's ninety five (95) millimeter handle. It's smooth almost to the point you could argue the Orra Winch is more buttery than the REVO Winch, but given the age of my REVO Winch, that statement might be premature.

Performance Ratings for Abu Garcia Orra Winch
Retrieve (1-5)	Drag (1-5)	Power (1-5)	Casting Range (1-5)	Brakes (1-5)	Total	Possible	Rating (= Tot/Pos * 10)
5	4	4	3	3	19	25	##

A look at the Orra Winch's brass main gear and single disc drag system.

Drag: The Orra Winch is specified with a max drag of fifteen (15) pounds but we tested its Power Disk Drag System to a better than expected peak of nineteen pounds (19lbs) on The Machine. As the chart below demonstrates, behavior at this lock down drag was quite erratic but that behavior can be attributed to any number of things including line dig. The important characteristic to note is how smooth and consistent the drag performs, and as the lower curves show, the Orra Winch's drag performance is relatively smooth and consistent.

Fig 1: The Sweet Drag Performance chart above shows the consistency in drag performance of our Abu Garcia Orra Winch.

Out on the water, I was once again thwarted at my attempts to hook anything worthy of pulling significant drag on this reel, but what I did manage to hook helped show me that the Orra's drag at low to mid-range settings was acceptably smooth and consistent. Our results out on the water are usually more forgiving than what we chart in the lab and that was certainly the case with the Orra Winch.

Of course, as Winch, this reel sports a slow retrieve ratio.

Sweet Drag Performance for Abu Garcia Orra Winch
	Lock - 8	Lock - 6	Lock - 4	Lock - 2	Lockdown	Avg % Change
Start Up	4.0	4.0	5.0	6.0	11.7
Sustained	3.6	4.1	6.6	6.8	14.7
Lowest Value	3.0	3.4	3.9	4.8	7.9
Change in Startup vs Sustained	9.8%	4.2%	34%	12.4%	25.2%	17.1%
Biggest Drop from Sustained	15.5%	17.9%	41.1%	29.0%	46.4%	30%
Drag on this reel was tested with the dragstar fully tightened. Then with each successive test, the drag was backed off with two short pushes of the dragstar with our thumb.

The Orra Winch's gear is slightly smaller than that of the REVO Winch ...

Next Section: A more compact gearbox