Ari 't Hart LA II reel

The Ari 't Hart reels are known all over the world for their quality, which makes a review somewhat unnecessary, but still. As this is one of the newer large arbor reels from this company I thought it would be a good idea to test one. Here comes my thoughts about this reel.

First, let me say that the braking system of this reel is probably the best there is. The smoothness of the drag on this reel is close to unbelievable. I personally know of just one other reel that comes close, and that is the Loop Evotech reel. Trying the drag under water gave no decrease in performance.

In my relatively unscientific approach I compared this reel with two different Loop reels (Traditional and Evotech), a Bauer M2 reel, a Lamson reel, a Guideline Inex reel and a Vision XLA reel.

Not one other of those reels has such a feeling of robust quality as this reel. The finish is excellent and the reel has a really nice design.

With the robust feeling comes some extra weight compared to the some of the other reels, not much but enough to be noticed. I draw the conclusion that this extra weight is from the manufacturer wanting the reel to be a lifetime companion and not something that will break if dropped.

All in all this is an excellent reel and highly recommended.
Manufacturer is "Dutch Reels" in Holland, www.dutchreels.com

/Roger