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849 Review
72 Karma

Review on πŸ”’ Emma Kites Lockable 8,7-Inch Inflatable: Unmatched Versatility and Security! by Eric Mueller

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Ideal for kites and spinners

The reel is very well made and runs smoothly. The bearings are not sealed, but that's not a problem on the beautiful meadow I fly from. Throwing it on sandy ground or mud can cause problems. I was wondering if the holes for the thumb and rest of the hand are big enough for my average sized male hand and they are. Larger-than-average hands will feel cramped, but it seems the pinky can be hidden so only 3 fingers fit through the reel hub. I tried this and I think it will work fine if you have big hands. I have been using this coil for several hours and I am very satisfied. The only thing I didn't like was the placement of the eyes in the montage. The yellow plastic sleeve that the eyelet attaches to has 2 eyelets to limit the distance the eyelet can move back and forth to evenly lay the line. When I loosened the screw to allow it to spin freely across the width of the spool, the screw loosened fairly quickly and then the screw in the hole in the aluminum eye mount began to wobble. I bought a 4mm machine screw at the hardware store. , a regular nut, a self-locking nut, a pair of washers and a black nylon bushing that fits snugly into the tube that the eyelet attaches to and had a 4mm hole. I assembled it as in the picture and can adjust the tension so the eye swings back and forth by adjusting the lock nut. I'm now very good at laying line evenly across the width of the spool by simply moving the spool left and right as I wind the line. The poor man's wind. photo attached. The kites I fly are small and light. I'm wondering if winding 1000ft or more under high tension can cause the coil to split. I have a 6 inch spool (which claims to be unbreakable) that I used 3000 feet of braided Dacron line on and after wrapping all of the line under tension a few times the spool began to snap. I would be suspicious of using this reel to spool in a lot of line with heavy towing kites. All in all it's a good design, well made and works as I would expect it to for my purposes.

Pros
  • Decent performance
Cons
  • No instructions