Date: 3/06/2006
Feel
the Burn.....
 Well
after loosing all my equipment to thieves this past year I had several
opportunities to fish with many different rod and reel companies.
As you know Kistler Rods had been my tool of choice for many years
and thankfully so. Yet with the recent changes to the line and climbing
prices it was harder to point the average angler to the line. The
reality was that when I went back to my back up equipment there
was a brand that stood out for durability and longevity, Quantum.
Well, Quantum came up with
a deal for me that included both rods and reels as they wanted staffers
to commit to both products. After long studies of what Quantum
is doing in there R&D facility and the continuing really bring
the Performance Tuned equipment to anglers that truly seek performance
and Value.
With
a name like “Burner,” you know the thing is going to
be either blazing hot or super fast. The new Quantum “Burner”
model Tour
Edition PT and Energy PT baitcast reels are both hot and fast.
Gear ratio is a blistering 7:1 that gobbles up an incredible 28.8
inches of line for every one full turn of the handle. That’s
almost 3 inches more line per turn than achieved with the high-speed
6.3:1 reels so popular today. That’s a foot more of line in
just four turns.
 Speed
is important to serious bass anglers, and as a result, Tour Edition
Burners are the hottest selling baitcasters on the market. Here’s
why the new reels are so special.
Quantum engineers had the luxury of building the Tour
Edition reels from scratch … they didn’t have to
work within the confines of a previous design. So they got to do
everything exactly as they wanted, including designing a new gearbox,
and the gears for it. The new gearbox gives Quantum reels a distinctive
new look. It also allowed the engineers to resolve the power issue
of going to the ultra-high speed. Quantum product specialist Chris
Strickland explains.
“Our
top pros, including Kevin VanDam, Gary Klein, Gerald Swindle, Shaw
Grigsby, Dean Rojas, and Tommy Biffle, came to a product review
meeting a while back begging for a super fast baitcast reel,”
Strickland said. “Building a faster reel wasn’t the
problem, but building one that didn’t lose its torque, its
cranking power, was. The challenge was how to put a bigger high-speed
gear into a compact, low profile reel like we make here at Quantum.
But our engineers said they could do it, if we’d let them
start with a blank piece of paper … we gave them the green
light.”
“The
Tour Edition PT baitcast reel is the result of the effort. It
does have the distinctive new look with the extended gear box, but
it’s still a sleek, low profile baitcaster that today’s
serious anglers demand,” he said.
Another
contributing factor to the accomplishment is Quantum’s proprietary
PT gears. PT gears feature the hardest gear material in the industry
for lifelong durability. They simply don’t “strip.”
So why did the pros ask for a faster reel? Dean Rojas says the Burner’s
speed is critical for his favorite “frog” bait. “When
a fish hits my frog, he’s turned and headed down to cover
in a flash,” Rojas explained, “and I’ve got to
retrieve line and turn his head, fast.” “With this new
Tour Edition PT, I’m in total control of my bait, line, and
the fish, just as soon as I start to turn the handle. It makes an
awesome difference for me in this fishing technique.”
To
Tommy Biffle, the Tour
Edition Burners model is all about fishing time. “Flipping
and pitching are about covering every piece of structure you can
in a day’s fishing,” Biffle began. “The more targets
I hit, the more fish I catch. It’s that simple. With the 7:1
gear ratio, I can react quicker to a strike and get the fish turned.
If I don’t get bit, I can have the bait back and on its way
again in a split second. For me, this reel means I can make more
bait presentations in a day’s fishing.
Other
Quantum pro staffers have commented on the new super high-speed
reel’s effectiveness for fishing buzzbaits, burning spinnerbaits
and ripping vibrating baits. They say it’s really more about
what you can do with it, than what you can’t. You’ll
see the new blue Tour Edition PT reels on a high majority of their
casting rods.
Other
outstanding features of the new reel include a recessed foot, allowing
it to sit even lower on the rod to provide a perfect palming fit
to the hand, and a spool opening that has been opened up even more
for total thumbing control and better access.
Also
new is the reel’s Dual-Bearing Continuous Anti-Reverse Clutch.
The design provides greater stability and completely eliminates
even the slightest backward movement of the handle for rock-solid
hooksets. A support bearing keeps the spool shaft in perfect alignment,
while the roller bearing provides instant lock-up at a strike.
Other
features include CNC machined aluminum frame, sidecovers and front
support; MaxCast skeletal spool; ceramic drag system; polymer-stainless
hybrid 11 PT bearing system; Ceramic-Zirconia level-wind design;
extra hard PT gears; and a cold forged screw-on handle. A scratch-resistant
titanium vacuum deposition coating in a stunning blue finish completes
the package.
Of course, the Tour
Edition PT baitcasters feature Quantum’s exclusive ACS
external adjustable centrifugal braking system, but it has been
improved too, with 9 weights that are now infinitely adjustable.
That means anglers can dial in the precise amount of cast control
needed for any situation.
 The
Tour
Edition TE1170PT and TE1171PT are the 7:1 gear ratio models,
in right and left-hand, respectively. The TE1160PT and TE1161PT
are 6.3:1 models, in right and left-hand. Tour Edition PT reels
retail for $229.
Without
a doubt, Quantum has taken
baitcast reels to a whole new level of fishing performance a level
called Performance Tuned. And the new Burners model are smokin’
fast on the water
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