Penn Torque II Spinning Reels Review

5500 size

this reel is awesome. I use it to throw plugs, shads, and metals for stripers and blues. Holds a ton of line and has a ton of drag. Might not be the smoothest reel but it for sure won't let me down.

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Went 5500 bailless for surfpole and its amazing

great reel. Got it for a surf pole and couldn't be more happier with it. 50lb braid and landed a shark first time out

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Pretty nice reel

The 7500 worked well on Mahi-mahi’s and 30lb Yellowtail..... The only problem I had was when it battled Bluefin to 100 lbs.. Drag was flawless but the handle stripped out when cranking on a Bluefin in the lower 100lb range..... the reel was junked by this fish!

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Bad engineering.

If you buy a $700 CNC machined Aluminum reel you would expect the most reliable features in the industry. Upon receiving this reel, it does not spin freely like a Shimano. Not even a Shimano Sienna ($30 reel). While I thought this could have been a manufactuer's error, i watched as many videos of this reel as I could. Not one video showed how "free" the reel was. Every single,… read more no exaggeration here, person holding this reel and cranking it would always keep their hand on the knob. No one would let you see how fast the reel stops spinning on its own. Maybe once this reel is fully broken in it will free up a bit.

Second, the clear friction plate is secured with 2 screws, glue, and the middle snaps into the aluminum pinion gear housing. There is very little clearance between the rotor and the friction ring, so if it comes loose just a little, it messes the whole reel up. The Stella's have this problem with their friction devices, which is sad because the old Penn 704 and 706 had excellent long lasting systems.

Third, the drag click system. The most annoying thing about this reel. If you want to get an idea of how it works, it is much louder turning the spool the other direction versus pulling line out. It is a skinny compression spring with two pins at the ends. One pin is placed in a slot and a 90 degree turn brings the other end out (which strikes a toothed plastic piece that covers the drag system. What's the problem you ask? The spring does not protrude at 90 degrees, the slot isn't long enough and let's the spring sit at about 70 degrees. Of course it's favoring the right hand side, which is the reason why it's not very loud going in the direction which you need to hear. When a fish is taking line... All this could have been avoided had the engineers placed the slot on the other side, so the spring is angled to the left, and it is loud in the correct direction. I will probably have to grind out the slot myself and risk destroying the part.

There are things i really like, one being the cnc machined aluminum oscillation slider. Massive upgrade over the cheap cast ones in just about every non-worm gear oscillation reel. I've seen enough of those fail to not want to own another. The slider is also assisted by a ball bearing, not a flimsy little rod.

This reel has a very comfortable handle. It includes a torx wrench for servicing the reel. CNC aluminum drag knob and bail arms. The handle doesn't have a pivot, so there is no free play between the handle and the gear. There are no acting reservoirs for saltwater to collect. Spool, rotor, and rotor plate are all drilled out.

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Very nice reel!

Although the gold is a bit too flashy for me this reel is an absolute tank in the surf. You dont see many torques around but man oh man they’re one baaad reel

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Great Reel

Great reel. Reels in nice and smooth, cast great only down fall is i have it set up for right hand retrieve and the handle loosens up after while.

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Strong Reel That Performs in the Pacific

I like to buy Penn. Recently went on a 6 day trip to Papua New Guinea to catch GT and Dogtooth Tuna. Everyone else had stellas. The 7500 performed perfect for popping. right gear ratio and drag. I also had the 9500 hooked into a monster doggie. The drag does heat up a lot so you have to be mindful with numerous long runs. the 9500 had the line capacity to handle long, deep tuna… read more runs.

The Stella is a bit smoother, but the Torque can take a serious beating and still perform well. It is also easy to get in and fix on those long fishing trips away from everywhere. If a Stella breaks down, good luck.

If Penn can smooth out the Duradrag a bit more this will take this reel to the next level.

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