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Post 15 Jan 2016, 15:20 • #1 
Sport
Joined: 05/10/15
Posts: 47
Location: SC
I've gotten lots of valuable information from this board so I thought I would post this in case it helps someone. Here's a HI I picked up some time ago. I assume it's a knockoff of a Pflueger Medalist. Apologies - for some reason photobucket won't let me rotate the pics.

ImageImageImageImageImage


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Post 15 Jan 2016, 15:34 • #2 
Master Guide
Joined: 11/28/15
Posts: 378
Location: US-NC
If it's a knockoff, it's a good one. Unless someone has another idea, it looks like Pflueger made and rebranded it for HI.

BB


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Post 15 Jan 2016, 17:19 • #3 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
in every way, that looks like a Medalist, but clearly marked made in Japan.
I wonder if maybe it was made under license to Shakespeare for import.
Looks better than the Olympic Seiko clones.


Last edited by bulldog1935 on 16 Jan 2016, 08:16, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 15 Jan 2016, 20:03 • #4 
Sport
Joined: 12/06/15
Posts: 59
Location: US-AZ
It also appears totally unused; the drag ratchet plate doesn't even looked scuffed. I've seen the other Medalsit knockoffs (Orvis, South Bend with the red frame, you all know the one's) but never seen an H-I. You never cease to amaze Bulldog, nice score!

Jason


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Post 16 Jan 2016, 04:54 • #5 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/11/06
Posts: 2516
Location: Nature Coast Florida
I'd like to compare weight of this reel to same size Medalist. I seem to remember handling these reels and if memory serving me correctly they feel like made out of a lighter material.

Barry


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Post 16 Jan 2016, 07:11 • #6 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
Pretty sure that is a copy/knock-off from the late 1970s from the time when Pflueger itself still manufactured in USA.. Japanese-made, like various others such as one sold by Herters, from an unaffiliated manufacturer. Phillips head screws, cheaper aluminum alloy for the plates, more fragile plastics for the drag plate and, especially, the latch cover and winding knob. Don't know how formalized licensing agreements were. Somewhere around this same time, Pflueger itself offered a less expensive reel, with similar cuts in material quality, and less expensive Japanese manufacture, the green/gold Progress. The reel shown may be a licensed cosmetic variant of that and or the Shakespeare Omni. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13648&p=84041&hilit=green+Pflueger+progress#p84041

As to the Orvis mentioned above, that wasn't a copy or knock-off. That was a spec reel manufactured by Pflueger for Orvis with variant cosmetics (and label, of course), the same frame, same drag mechanism, but a different lever-based adjuster.


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Post 16 Jan 2016, 08:09 • #7 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/21/09
Posts: 369
Location: US-TX
I've had both the HI 1857 & 1858. They were decent functioning reels but the reel seats won't fit a lot of rods. The seats are not interchangeable with Pflueger.


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Post 16 Jan 2016, 08:15 • #8 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
ok, thanks, if the feet aren't on the same centers as Medalist, then they probably are one of the Olympic Seiko clones (later variant?) - but that one looks so much better (and Different) than any of the others I've seen. And yes, it looks just like the Shakespeare Omni.


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Post 16 Jan 2016, 09:35 • #9 
Sport
Joined: 05/10/15
Posts: 47
Location: SC
I'll take a few more pics later (actually heading out fishing in a few minutes) but here are a few more facts/guesses.
1. The box has "HI Company, Utica New York - Division of Gladding Corporation Japan" From what I can tell Gladding owned both South Bend and HI - And South Bend and Pflueger made reels and rods for one another, so I guess it's somehow related to that.
2. Not to be argumentative, but the reel foot appears indistinguishable from a mid 60's Pflueger 1494 Medalist that I have on my shelf (though the reel itself is quite a bit larger). I'll look more closely later.

I'll take the line off and weigh it later.

Thanks for the comments, conjectures, etc!


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Post 16 Jan 2016, 09:59 • #10 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
the mechanism is totally different from the SB, though, and looks like an exact medalist patent drag, with white nylon drag plate.


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Post 16 Jan 2016, 20:59 • #11 
Sport
Joined: 05/10/15
Posts: 47
Location: SC
Weight - 5.9oz
Size
Image

The reel foot seems quite close to my 1494 - perhaps a bit less rounded?

Image


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Post 16 Jan 2016, 21:38 • #12 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
It's visibly on different centers


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Post 16 Jan 2016, 22:54 • #13 
Sport
Joined: 05/10/15
Posts: 47
Location: SC
Yep, I see that now - quite a bit off in fact - measures an 1/8" different actually. Thanks Bulldog.
Lonefisherman, I stand corrected :-)

Thanks again everyone.


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