3 Tand reels

[luckydude]

I'm looking at upgrading some reels and I stumbled on a new reel made by a company called 3 Tand (where they got that name I dunno). I read that the guy who started the company used to make surf fly reels or something, and while they are made in China, he lives over there part of the year to make sure they are well made.

They got reel of the year in 2014.

Has anyone tried these? I found a few reviews and they were glowing but you know how online reviews can be...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Anyone can have fly reels made overseas if they have enough money to hit the volumes.

Very few actually design the reels.

They already have reels that the major companies have designed in the USA.

People just have them made the size(s) they want with their cosmetics and logo.

The reels in South Korea are far superior to the ones made in China.

I had never heard of that company.

They miht be good reels but down the road you might not be able to get extra spools or parts or warrtany work.


Orvis, Redington, have had good imported fly reels for years now.

[luckydude]

Very few actually design the reels.

I had never heard of that company.

They miht be good reels but down the road you might not be able to get extra spools or parts or warrtany work.


I was sort of the same mind but spent half the day digging into them.

They seem to be a company a lot like Tormach, Tormach makes milling machines, the guys who founded it were a housemate and my motorcycle mechanic back in Madison Wisconsin. Tormach mills are CNC mills on a budget price, they rock. My housemate had to do what this guy is doing,
he had to spend a ton of time in China to get what he wanted. But he did and ask anyone about a Tormach and they will have nothing but good things to say.

The reels this company makes come with a lifetime warranty. So did my beloved Lamson LPs. Except not so much, Lamson doesn't support them any more.

I'm gonna buy a 1-3wt and a 5wt and check them out.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

They look like they might be a good deal.......let us know how it works out.

[luckydude]

So I just got the TF-40 which is their 3-5wt. First impressions (remember this is coming from a Lamson LP fan, in particular the ported 1.5's with a drag):

It's very similar in size the LP 1.5 but it is wider. That's because it's a 5wt reel, the LP 1.5 is probably a 3-4wt (I run 5/6 lines on it just fine, I just use
less backing, I like my reels light).

I would like the 3-tand better if it was thinner and taller, it would pick up line faster. The action is really smooth, the drag is nice, it free spools pretty nicely, I can pick up 5 rotations of backing with one flick of my fingers, maybe 6 on a good day.

On my better LP 1.5s I'm about the same or a little better, on the ones where the clutch is tighter they are less good. I think if I could buy 3-4 LP
clutches I'd stick with the Lamsons for 5 wt. I'm waiting on the TF-20 which is a smaller reel, I suspect I'll like that better than the Lamson LP 1
because the LP 1 is not ported, so it's heavier.

I think for $200 for the reel and $115 for the spare spool, it's a very very nice reel. If I had to use this reel only I'd be happy. I like the Lamson
LP 1.5 better but only ever so slightly and the LP clutch is well known for going out (I've never had that happen but I don't fish 70 days a year,
more like 10-20).

Summary: nice real for 5wt, Lamson LP 1.5 is just as good or better if you ignore the clutch problems. I think the TF-20 will be a winner for
2-4wt. For 7 wt I think I'm sticking with my Ross Evolution 3.5.

[luckydude]

Back after some time fishing the 3-tand TF-70 with 6wt line.

Awesome reel. It is light, spools up line quickly, great drag, just love it.
Only negative I found is you know how you loop a long leader around the reel and back up to the first guide? So the leader is 100% out of the guides? Somewhere there is a sharp edge and it cut my leader when I did that. I think I can just loop around the foot instead of the spool and it will be fine.

I'm enough of a fan that I have TF-20, TF-40, TF-50, and the TF-70. Nice reels. Feel free to ask me about them.

[luckydude]

Some more thoughts on these reels (I posted right as I had to cook dinner for the kids, silly me).

I'm a guy who likes light reels, really likes light. I've been fishing 5wt on a Lamson LP1 for decades, it was only recently that I stepped up to a LP 1.5.
Those reels are ~30 years old so many of you may not know how small they are, they are small, I'd guess well under 2.5 inches across. But light weight. And I like the light weight enough that it's just the norm for me to take what the reel guy says is a 3wt and put 5wt on it.

The 3-tand reels are so light that they are the first reels ever, for me, that make sense for their stated sizes. I've got several of them, here are my thoughts on each size:

TF-20: I thought this would be good for 3/4wt. It's not. It's too small in diameter and it's light enough I think it would be fine on a 1-2wt.
TF-40: I thought this would be good for 5wt, it's not. It's perfect for 3-4wt.
TF-50: I thought this would be too big for 5wt, it's not. It's perfect for someone who wants a light reel.
TF-70: this is the one that got best new reel a few years back. I see why. As a light weight fanatic, I could actually see fishing this on a 5wt. They say it is a 6-8wt and I think it is but wow, what a nice reel. Check back with me in a year and see if I have the TF-50 or the TF-70 on my 5wts.

Too long, don't read: nice reels, first time ever that I've seen reels rated correctly. They are so light you can step down a rod size and still be good.