I've bought a couple early-mid 70s Daiwa 7250RLAs, a 7250HRLA (higher retrieve ratio), and a little 7150HRL,which are easy to convert to right hand crank, for us lefties. These are excellent small spinning reels. The 7150HRL is a true ultralight reel, and was produced pretty close to the transition to the modern skirted spool era.
I went through them completely, used a Fred Oakes-recommended blend of Cal's purple (for use in colder conditions) universal reel grease and synthetic oil on the innards. I made and installed carbon fiber drag discs, greased with Cal's universal grease (the original, tan synthetic grease), per Alan Tani's practice.These reels are routinely dissed by most, but are as durable and smooth as any Mitchell. Actually, they're smoother than virtually all Mitchells. And I'm a sentimental sucker for my Mitchel 305s, my 309, my 301s, my 407 and my herking big 403 with the goofy-ass anti-clockwise drag set up. The only reason I put DAM Quicks in a different uber category with Penn greenies, is their machined bronze gearing (main and pinion). Like the Mitchells and Italian made Orvises, the Daiwas have cast alloy main gears. As with the Penn Spinfishers and Quicks, It's significantly easier to upgrade the drags on the Daiwas than the Mitchells. The Daiwa pinion gears are brass (bronze?), and are supported by a ball bearing like the Penns and DAM Quicks. The spool shaft is supported all the way through the back of the housing on the 7250s, and some of their bigger reels. Also, you can adjust the line lay on the spool with braid using different thickness washers on the spool shaft under the spool. Every Daiwa spinner I've ever bought and reconditioned has had a strong, positive bail spring.
Daiwa made a dizzying array of different spinning reels with different approaches to the internals, and also sold them under different brands like Horrocks-Ibotson. Earlier Daiwas are mostly left hand crank only, with smaller numbers made for us lefties, and their housings are sorta' squarish, not sleeker ovoid or triangular like Mitchells, Itlalian made Orvises and DAM Quicks. Their colors are somewhat...different. A brownish red was common, but my 7250s and the 7150 are silver. There were goldish/brass color examples, even metallic blue. Goofy. Parts are made from unobtanium, so I only buy intact reels with good finishes. In the vintage car world they call 'em survivors. Lack of parts availability is a significant downside to vintage Daiwas, but neglected, under-used examples are common, somewhat mitigating the parts issue. However, Daiwas clean up and fish really well. I haven't needed any replacement parts for the ones I've acquired and reconditioned, other than my carbon fiber drag disc hot-rodding.
I run the 12 pound test Berkely Nanofil on my Daiwa 7250s and the 7150. Line lay is great, and can be tweaked as needed. You can find these reels for about $20.00, and I've never paid more than $30.00. You can find zillions of 80s-90s Daiwa skirted spool spinners for cheap, which is also a great way to go as a value proposition for a competent, low-dollar ultra-light spinning reel.
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