Islander TR3 reviews

[Pineapple Express]

Exactly!!

Marketing says we have a new exclusive product that Canadian west sporties want. If we can get the price we get for our
MR3's, buyers will surely pay a much greater premium for our new product!! Also, the Islander market is very small I'd have to guess. Very few would or even want to use a 1:1 reel. There just isn't enough material, manufacturing or parts required to expect such a cost. And of course other than the certain few that are going to pay that ridiculous price just to say they have it. And now the MR3's won't seem so expensive!!

There is no doubt TR3's are significantly overpriced.

There are two kinds of businesses. One that sells on volume. Sell many at a lower cost. The other sells much less quantity for a lot more dollars. Any idea which J.S. Foster/Islander might be??

Send that baby overseas and see the real cost to produce it. I'd bet less than $200.00!!

I agree with you Chuck!

Check out Allen Fly Fishing to see the differences between North American production and offshore production.
http://www.allenflyfishing.com/fly-fishing-reels/ (made offshore)
http://www.allenflyfishing.com/omega-reel-series/ (made in USA)

I know some guys are using the Kraken reel for trolling. I've got one myself for my 9wt fly rod. It's a nice product at a good price.

 

[scott craven]

I know some guys are using the Kraken reel for trolling. I've got one myself for my 9wt fly rod. It's a nice product at a good price.

As long as you use braid, no problem.
I initially loaded mine with mono and blew up a spool pretty quick.

 

[Chuck]

I have no problem paying a premium for a quality built product at home as I believe Islander is but their prices are absurd!
I'm sick of getting it up the ringer and in my mind Islander is making it very difficult to spend my cash at home.. Especially for the TR3!

Guess they believe their in a class of their own!!

And yes I want 2 of them but not a chance at that price!!

 

[Towney]

Here lies the beauty of capitalism.

If you don't think you are getting value for money, buy a cheaper reel. If enough people do that, the prices come down to a point where consumers see value.

This is a wallet based voter democracy.

Nice reels, but not worth the cash IMO.

 

[Chuck]

Totally agree Towney.

And vent in public places for all to see..

 

[advTHXance]

Just get TMX-5s instead. You can almost buy 3 for the price of a TR3. Had mine for about 2 years or so now and havent done a lick of maintenance to them.

 

[Chuck]

Just get TMX-5s instead. You can almost buy 3 for the price of a TR3. Had mine for about 2 years or so now and havent done a lick of maintenance to them.

Will be getting my hands on one to see what their like.

 

[Aridhol]

I agree with Towney. They're great reels and it's nice to employ folks in Canada but it's out of reach for a lot of us. There has to be a breaking point in terms of price or are some people saying they'd pay $2500 / reel to keep business in Canada? How much is too much?

When I upgrade I'll likely be going the TMX-5 route unless there are other contenders at that price point.

 

[J-ROC]

Just get TMX-5s instead. You can almost buy 3 for the price of a TR3. Had mine for about 2 years or so now and havent done a lick of maintenance to them.

Definitely - I have a pair of these TMX - 5 they are great - clicker is awesome, drag is extremely smooth, Zero creep, basically no maintenance and price you can swallow, I will never go back to a cork drag reel.

 

[Samnjoe]

On the topic of MR3's.
Does anyone know how to extract the bearing under the drag disc?

 

[J-GLOBAL]

Haven't seen one yet. If the clicker is backward won''t be buying one. Had a lot of fun playing with the Peetz last couple of weeks.

Running Abels for the most part, with 1 remaining MR3 for those that want to try, and a Peetz, with a couple of Shimano/Daiwa on board for when the new kids are fishing.

Was thinking of trying a TMX5, haven't made it there yet. Looked at the Kraken, looked interesting, might give one a try if I come across one.

 

[walleyes]

I don't see why everyone is in love with those noisy clickers not good for anything but alerting the seals and sea lions to the fact there is a fish on. And if you think for one minute those critters don't get trained to the fact thats what's happening you understand very little about animals. Stealth mode for me when I'm up against the rocks loaded with them fish stealing bastards.

 

[Chuck]

I don't see why everyone is in love with those noisy clickers not good for anything but alerting the seals and sea lions to the fact there is a fish on. And if you think for one minute those critters don't get trained to the fact thats what's happening you understand very little about animals. Stealth mode for me when I'm up against the rocks loaded with them fish stealing bastards.

Dinner bell for sure, but just doesn't sound cool and isn't it the idea to signal everyone that a fish is on and peeps can all look at what a great fisher person you are??

 

[J-ROC]

Dinner bell for sure, but just doesn't sound cool and isn't it the idea to signal everyone that a fish is on and peeps can all look at what a great fisher person you are??

Wouldn't totally disagree.. but if those bastards are close enough to hear your clicker over your engine and everything else going on they are going to be on your fish either way... You don't see a bunch of seals flopping off the rocks when you are letting your gear down on the riggers... same noise... or at least I don't.
They know as soon as the fish hits.. if they are reasonably close and in the water.

I like it because it is awesome to hear a screamer peelin off line.

Its the hootin', hollerin' and hi-fives that will alert everyone what a great fisher person you are ;-)

 

[fishin_magician]

Dinner Bell Schmell....when seals are a real problem they're on the fish in the first 30 seconds after the strike.

 

[TomicTime]

the $ is in the fancy CNC machine then labor, then materials
cost to make vs value is in the eye of the beholder...

i caught my first single action Spring on a Peetz $47 special with a wingnut drag....
i am sure that Tyee did not give a hoot when i slid him into the fishbox

i am no saint but it does seem to me Islander is a company worth supporting but also giving honest well meaning feedback to..

they are responsive on Facebook

and have a contest to win a new reel

 

[Chuck]

the $ is in the fancy CNC machine then labor, then materials
cost to make vs value is in the eye of the beholder...

i caught my first single action Spring on a Peetz $47 special with a wingnut drag....
i am sure that Tyee did not give a hoot when i slid him into the fishbox

i am no saint but it does seem to me Islander is a company worth supporting but also giving honest well meaning feedback to..

they are responsive on Facebook

and have a contest to win a new reel

Material is nothing and they don't run those expensive machines to just build reels, you can bet on that!!

 

[Hookin'up]

Abels aren't worth what they are asking either!

nothing is really, especially when they sell in the volume that they do they should be a fair bit cheaper,
one off's maybe but not production models

 

[saanauk]

The CNC machine is not the big expense it is developing the cutting file for the CNC machine. Depends on the personal or people but they could easily have 1000 hr+ on developing the cutting file. There are probably only a couple people that even have access to their cutting files. There are probably only a couple copies of the file that are kept under lock and key.

Not sure how it is in Canada but patents cost a ton of money to get in the U.S. Islander could very easily have a couple million dollars tied up into the reel development which is a lot of capital for a smaller company before they even make a single sale.

 

[SpringVelocity]

The CNC machine is not the big expense it is developing the cutting file for the CNC machine. Depends on the personal or people but they could easily have 1000 hr+ on developing the cutting file. There are probably only a couple people that even have access to their cutting files. There are probably only a couple copies of the file that are kept under lock and key.

Not sure how it is in Canada but patents cost a ton of money to get in the U.S. Islander could very easily have a couple million dollars tied up into the reel development which is a lot of capital for a smaller company before they even make a single sale.

Patents are completely useless and easy to get around. In this case your going to have a tough sell getting any patent on this type of reel. I doubt one exists with islander.

Everybody sticks patent pending on fishing equipment but it's very hard to get approved and even have money for it to get the patent initiated.

I think you guys think it's cheap to make this stuff locally. Designers are not cheap and either is machinery or upkeep. It takes a lot of time and investment to get your 3d model right and the codes to run machines. I get if you don't want to pay the price but company's also need to make money. Some choose not to go to Asia and employ locally. I wish islander success with it. Amundson is an Asian reel. So is trophy and rest of them. I heard Peetz mentioned. Not entirely CNC made and low tech compared to machined reel. It has its market though. Those are made here so I give them credit.


The reason other reels are priced low is they went offshore because everyone wines they want something less than 500.00. Well that means a company needs to make at least 50 percent it's retail cost to make money. So that is why we have offshore gear. Let's not bash islander for trying to make stuff here. I get the price is high and that fair but saying it's easy and not expensive to make is not realistic especially on this island.

Anyway point of this thread was to ask if it's a good reel vs the abels. I tried one it's nice and the boat I was on had abels too. Personally I liked drag on islander better and looks like a more solid reel.