I have purchused two okuma reels
1- indiron LX 400
2- nitrix 250 Lx
I have the same problems with both reels. The casting button will not go all the way down unless I use two fingers. When I do get it to go down the handle will not turn to retrive the bait. Has anyone ever had this problem with these reels? There both not even 1 year old yet and I can't use either one. I want to send them back for servise but they won't tell where to send them.
I'm begining to think these things are junk and getting ready to sell both of them.
Has this happed to anyone here

Joe C

Joe
Sorry for the confusion, sounds like something isnt right here. Okuma's customer service has been nothing but outstanding in the past. I have used all these reels and have no problems. Did they issue you an rma#? I will do what I can to help you. I need your full name and the rma#. Feel free to email me if you dont want to put it here. My email is team_okuma@yahoo.com

Sent you an e-mail

Got it and I'll get on it 1st thing in the morning. Dont send em back without the return #. I'll be in touch via email.

Joe...I bought a Induron 400 about 10 months ago and I had the same problem right out of the box. When I told Okuma about the problem they gave me a HUGE runaround. I paid to ship it to them and they took three weeks to get it back. They said they repaired it but the first time I took it out it did the same thing. I asked them for a new reel and you would have thought I was asking for stock in the company. I started posting about the problem to warn others. They finally sent me a new reel and it still has the same problem.
That reel now sits on a shelf because it is not worth it to me to fight them over the continuing problems.
Hopefully Lake can get the problem solved for you... he obviously has some kind of connection with Okuma. Good luck.

Wish I would have caught your orginal post about the problem, sorry.

John Lake
Okuma Pro Staff

Lake...I wish you could have helped me too. I went round and round with the Okuma folks for almost two months before I finally got a new reel...the one that I don't use and won't sell to anyone because it is functionally unsound. I was so dismayed with their lack of customer service I posted warnings on a couple other sites along with this one. I couldn't believe it when I had a guy on SD Fish post that I was just a whiner. I thought the whole purpose of these boards was to share information. I don't personally dislike anyone at Okuma, but was absolutely incredulous at the overall lack of willingness on their part to resolve the problem in an equitable and timely fashion. I never asked them for my money back, I just asked them to PLEASE make the deal right by giving me a reel that worked and to quit asking me to pay for multiple shipping costs to have a brand new reel repaired. The worst thing I ever said to them was that in my experience Shimano would never allow a problem like this to go unresolved.
I'm glad there is now someone out there who is offering to help Joe. I don't want anyone to go through the frustration and expense I went through for a product they cannot use.
I sincerely hope you can solve his problem.

First I would like to thank Lake for helping me with this matter. He got me in touch with Mike over at Okuma. Mike said that they would have my reels repaired and shipped back to me in 48 hrs as soon as they receive them.They should be getting them tomorrow 11/17.If it all works out I have to admit thats some pretty fast service. Lake is going to get back with me on this to find out how it went.
I'll post up what happens.
Thanks Lake

Joe C

Hi guys,
unfortunately I have had nothing but problems with my okuma reels. I have an ID 400 that makes this awful grinding noise and seizes when I reel in and I just bought a nemesis 200W and have the problem like you with the casting button. Both had these problems right out of the box. I returned the ID 400 with good fast service only to see it did the exact same thing only worse. I tried calling again (more than once) and never got any answer. Any help would be great. I hate to have nice new reels sitting on the shelf for nothing...

I'm on it guys, I hope to get info for you all soon

babaganoush
Like I told bassdaddy. I have been in contact with Okuma about these posts. Please call Ron at 800-466-5862 x135. He is the man and will help you. Be sure you tell him your calling in response to John Lakes post on calfishing. Let me know if you have any more problems.

John Lake
Okuma Pro Staff

Just got back from a small trip. I will give Ron a call. Just wanted to thank you John for going out of your way to help us out. It is very appreciated. I will keep you posted. Thanks again...:-)

>Hi guys,
>unfortunately I have had nothing but problems with my okuma
>reels. I have an ID 400 that makes this awful grinding noise
>and seizes when I reel in and I just bought a nemesis 200W and
>have the problem like you with the casting button. Both had
>these problems right out of the box. ...

Had the same grinding problem out of the box with an ID 400 which I had bought on eBay. Was refunded my money quickly. Went back to Shimano for my swimbait reel.

Joe
Your reel's are in transit to you due to arrive at your place today. They completely overhauled both the reels. The paperwork you will get with the reels will explain everything they did. Let me know if all is good when you get them.

John Lake
Okuma Pro Staff

bassdaddy
I have been in contact with Okuma over the last week about these posts. Please call Ron at 800-466-5862 x135. He is the man and will help you. Be sure you tell him your calling in response to John Lakes post on calfishing. Let me know if you have any more problems.

John Lake
Okuma Pro Staff

John
Thank you...I will call...I had given up hope...I'll let you know how it works out. Regardless of what happens I sincerely appreciate your efforts.
Tree

Not a problem, keep us posted. Ron is the man and will do you right.

I got my reels back today Im going to try them this friday. I'll keep you guys posted.

Joe C

Has everyone here been taken care of? If not anything I need to do?

Lake
I did not get a chance to try my reels yet but just by flippin them around they seem to be just fine.When I do I'll let you know.
Thanks again for your help

Joe C

Well I got to throw my Induron today and on the 3rd cast the button stuck down and I could not reel in the line. It took almost 5 mins to get it to were it would reel again.I did not even throw the Nitrix because I got so frustrated with the Induron. I'm not real sure whats up with these reels the said they rebuilt it but it is doing the same thing as when I sent it to them.
I don't know what else to say.
I'm going to call Mike at Okuma tomorrow and find out what can be done.

Joe C

unacceptable

Ron if you read this I believe this reel should be completely replaced, thoughts?

Hey Joe

So far your scenario is EXACTLY what I went through. Although I appreciate Lake's offer to help, I haven't made the call yet because I wanted to see how your deal worked out before I got back into the drill.
Believe me...I know your frustration that's why I haven't been too excited about trying again.
Think about this...after they finally sent me a "new" Induron (I won't really ever know if it was new or not)it did the exact same thing (thumb bar locking in the down position) in the first 10 minutes of use.
Now you know why I was hoping you didn't have to go through what I went through.
Please continue to keep us posted so I'll know if it's worth the trouble to try again.

I just took a minute to read this thread. I don't know exactly what the source of the problem is that you guys are experiencing but seen this once before on a reel I have. When I first got the reel it really irritated me but what I realized after a little while was that it had to do with how I was depressing the thumbar. I was used to just barely pushing down thumbar on the outside edge of the bar with my thumb. On this reel that gave me trouble, I found that I needed to push directly down on the bar and slightly toward the spool. Once I started going that, I stopped having the problem. When the reel does get stuck half way in and out of gear, I can get it out of gear immediately by pushing firmly down and toward the spool while reeling forward.

I'm not saying you should have to do that with your reel. Your reel could be unacceptably out of tolerance on the parts that have to do with disengaging the reel, but it's something to try anyway. I attached a lame diagram below :)

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/4387-thumbar.jpg

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)

Thanks SB
I'll give that a try I'm not going to hold my breath tho.

Joe C

Well I thought I would keep ya'll up to date on this. After talking with Ron over at Okuma last week to see about fixing the problems I was having with my reels he told me that they were going to replace BOTH reels with 06 models all I had to do was ship them over to Cal and he would make sure that everything went smooth.Well I just received them UPS today and they look pretty sweet and they have changed a few things on them ( which is cool). If they preform like they look (and I don't see why not) that would be just fantastic.
I would like to thank Lake for getting the ball rolling about this and a BIG thanks to Ron for helping get this mess worked out. If anyone has a problem with there reels contact Okuma and I'm sure they will help with them.
Its hard to find a company that will stand behind there product now a days but in my personal opinion these guys are a bunch of stand up folks that back up what they sell.
So thanks to Ron & Lake and the folks over at Okuma.

P.S
I'm going to try them out on monday throwing some swimbaits at Canyon.
I'll let ya'll know what happens.

Joe Chubbuck

Your welcome, I'm glad I could help and I'm happy that Okuma came through for you. I look forward to hearing how the 06 models work for you as I have yet to try them.

Lake
They are SWEET I'm very pleased with them I had no problems at all.Once I got them dialed in they worked great.
Thanks again for your help.
P.S no fish today.
Joe

i have a 10 bearing okuma spinning reel and it's a reel piece of garbage, a 5 bearing stradic is 20 times a smooth as the garbage okuma. i sent it back to them and they sent it back and said nothing was wrong with it.

The Strdic cant even compare to a high end Okuma spinning reel. They cost about the same but The Okuma is FAR superior.
I own 8 Okuma spinning reels. Epixors Metaloids and the VS. NONE of them have let me down EVER The first one I ever bought is smoother than a stradic and it has been used almost extensivly in the salt.
That one reel has probably caought 1500 bay bass. The finish is worn off and it looks like hell but it is still super smooth.

www.mattlures.com

you honestly think the metaloid is a smoother reel then a stradic?

about a year ago I was fishing with my friend and he had a stradic that was about 6 monthes old. He was teasing me about my beat up Metaliod. This is the first one I ever bought and it was about 2 years old. I told him to trade me for 10 minutes. it only took about 2 minutes for him to admit my reel was in his words " a superior buit reel" Now dont think I have anything against Shimano because I dont. I own several high end shimanos and I love them. But if you want to talk about spinning reels it is no competition. Unless you want to pay 3 times as much the Okuma will win every time. Compare reels around the same price and its not even fair.

www.mattlures.com

I have had my share of problems with the Okuma Induron, but I couldn't agree with Matt more regarding the Okuma spinning reels. I own several (4 Okuma Metaloids and 4 Shimanos Stradics ) and buck-for-buck the Okumas win hands down. I have given several of the Metaloids to my employees and they love them too. The first time I fished with one of my guys he noticed I was using a Shimano Stradic (but I had given him a new Metaloid)and he busted my balls about it. I told him he should try both of them and he could have either one at the end of the day.
He took the Metaloid.

I have posted (multiple times) in the past regarding the problems I had with my Induron 400 LX and my disatisfaction with Okuma's customer service.
I would now like to express my appreciation to John Lake and Ron (the service manager at Okuma) for dealing with my concerns. Due to Lake's influence and benevolence the problem has been resolved.
Yesterday, I received a new '06 Induron from Okuma. I spooled it up last night and I am anxious to use it this afternoon.
I can't thank Lake enough for all the help he gave me in resolving this issue.
Tree

I am glad I could help and Ron came through for you. Thanks for the update. Go git some big uns