Review: Sporasub One 50 Reel

Introduction

I was looking for a reel to put on my Beuchat Marlin Revolution but I didn't like the Beuchat reels. I wanted a vertical reel that had:

• some sort of drag/lock mechanism
• was reversible or had the winder on the right side when the gun was not flipped over
• had a low profile

I ended up choosing the Omer One 50 reel (black version) after searching and reading a lot or reviews:

Generally spearfishing reels are a joke, they are extremely simple and do not have many technological advances. I found that this one had some interesting features not found in other reels. I had to buy an adapter to make it fit my speargun. Here is a front view:

The 'Mimic' version

Build

As stated above spearfishing reels are very simple compared to line fishing reels. In the regard the reel is simple and has a build quality equivalent to other reels, I cannot say I was impressed but I cannot say it is bad since all reels would be bad in this case. It has a low profile as I wanted and the winding leaver is out of the way. I will talk more about that below.

Winding lever

This is one feature that is a bit innovative, the lever is stored inside the inner tube thus out of the way until you need it:

It then pops out so you can use it, it is made of metal. This does mean that to use it you have to do an extra step, some people may not like that. Also it feels a bit flimsy, this may be psychological. It is used like a line fishing winder once it is out. Also it can be reversed, although I could not find anywhere where on Omer's website on how to do this and I was afraid to force anything. Eventually a Speardiver forum user (Don Paul) posted some pictures on how to do this (original post available here):

I must mention to be very careful when doing this, the spring's "arm" broke on me even though I was careful. I got it replaced for free by Omer after explaining how it happened. Usually you can go through a local Omer representative (i.e. a store) but I was in a landlocked country when this happened and there was not a single store that carried spearfishing supplies, this is why Omer handled it directly for me. I have to say their support was swift and efficient, I can recommend them as a brand because on this, at least based on my experience. Usually people don't reverse the winding leaver unless they are left handed. I really didn't want to have to flip over my speargun and I wanted to be able to fight a fish from above a bit like a line fisher would. The line goes from the reel to the speargun's head through a small metal ring.

Line drag/lock mechanism

I am not too sure about this one. It has a ring around the winder that allows you to regulate the tightness (see all the above pictures); this allows you to lock it if needed or add drag. it also has a flap that presses against the wound line (hence the famous spring) that allows you to leave your reel with no drag/unlocked but still keeps the line tight enough:

The 'Mimic' version

This works great on my speargun since it has a special open head that grips the spear and should work great on closed heads but I am not sure if it puts enough pressure on the line that it would work on a fully open head. I can see how it could unwind and the shooting line would slacken and come off the line release and cause tangling. I am not sure the spear could fall out bit if it could that would be dangerous. I think some reels actually untighten as they spool but this one does not. I believe they untighten so that you tighten them to prevent the above issue and once the fish darts off it untighten to give it line. I originally suspected that I was using it wrong or maybe it is my reversing the handle that causes this, but I think that this reel never had this behavior because that it has the other mechanisms I spoke of earlier (even though I am not sure they suffice). Which is correct, which is better? I am not sure, being rather new to reels (I have 2) I can only speak with my limited experience. I have a reel that untightens when spooled, it works ok, I have used it only once so I cannot really judge it yet, I believe I was not impressed with the speed or ease at which it starts to untighten but I don't really remember. The Omer, as it works with me, is loose when hunting and once shot is stays loose but I can tighten it manually to augment the drag which can be useful when fighting a fish, I guess the other reel I have would make this more difficult since it would always need to be re-tightened. I would be interested on having more input on all of this from someone with more reel experience.

Conclusion

I think I am happy with this reel, so far it does what I think it should do (see my above discussion). I was impressed with the support Omer gave me, so I would consider other Omer products. I cannot yet say I recommend this product as I am not 100% sure of how it should work and if it does work correctly. As stated above somewhere I am not sure it would work well with a real open head speargun but I may just not be using it correctly.