I’ve got three and I love them. I use them with 80 or 100lb braid and 20lb mono. Easy to control and cast well. I know some folks complain about the knob for mag mag digging into your wrist when winding in but I don't find it a problem at all, I just naturally happen to hold the rod a little higher anyway.

The only issue I have had was being over eager and deadlifting an 8lb cod up a cliff in a gale. I just cranked it up without taking any of the weight off, and there is now the tiniest bit of give in the rivets for the footbed, it woobles every so slightly. I dont see that as a weakness or failure, just my bad handling and abusing it. I never just crank it up on the reel anymore, I lay the rod down, sit on it, and take the weight on the line in my left hand and lift a foot or so before winding it on. Slow and steady, but much better for the reels.

 

Hi guys..

Is this reel as good as they say ?

Seen a few reports on fbook of people who have bent or broken handles ?

Cheers

Handles are same on any of the Fathoms and bending if dropped is far better than hard/stiff handle and it is instead breaking casing or main shaft damage as the impact has to be dissipated somewhere and you can always if out fishing and have basic tools take it off if can't do in situ and make it usable for time being!

The issues with them is apart from position of mag control is spool it's "Chunky" ok has different bearings to normal 12/15 but spool is too heavy ie revolving mass. @chichesterpete had many reels down the field for a group Reel Orgy with his wingman and the CS's got sold on along with nitrons.
F12's we all mostly use as not far behind 15's on capacity as load them right to edge of spool with line and mags still control unlike 15 which can get sketchy!.
12 is also a stronger reel if hauling as shorter spindle and cage so less twisting.

 

Hi guys..

Is this reel as good as they say ?

Seen a few reports on fbook of people who have bent or broken handles ?

Cheers

I think the translated version of what tourno is saying is that during lockdown we had all the rods and many reels out a few times we have a lot of multipliers (too many TBH)
Anyway if your bored enough and have access to a turf farm boys will be boys.
We pretty much took most of the 5-8oz rods we own and,
Magged fathom 12s
Penn CS
Daiwa Saltist 20s (new version with the blue bits.
Penn Fathom 2s
Daiwa 7ht STS
Shimano calcutta 400s (slightly pimped)
Akios Nitrons.

We had a few goes at it.

Firstly Gray the Ray and I are not in the first flush of youth so do not think that two super fit geezers were hitting high swing pendulums for a laugh.

Think more of one big fat bloke with decent timing and one smaller skinny bloke who has good off the ground skills, athletes we are not.

I think the rods are fairly uninteresting in this discussion about reels but we found the following.

The Nitron was bloody annoying no matter how I set it up it just went out of tune and although we thought it would be a contender at the start in the end I sold them.

The penn CS we liked a lot with 6oz and all the power we could muster it was nice and predictable and actually we both liked thrashing them, but I sold them too!.

The Daiwa STs were the simplest and easiest to get long and were super easy to use, when it comes to distance only they are a weapon when it comes to clean ground.


The Penn Fathom 12 MK2, was the choice for 6oz work for us old boys fishing chesil in snotty weather, they have similar retrieve and power to the Penn CS but they were a bit longer and in our opinion just nicer to use, they hold more than enough line for us. We can get away with losing some line without having to reload on the beach or getting a spare out. and we both preferred the mag control knob because it cannot be knocked round on the retrieve (probably the single most annoying thing on the CS).

Ergonomically retrieve speed and just general sexiness the new Daiwa Saltists (blue bits) was what Graham bought, Black dog magged them and Graham loves his and uses them for everything. My pair are still in the loft....... I do need to mag them and then I am sure I will use them but the 12s are enough reel for me.

Graham also had a macey magged fathon 12 and range wise and general useability was actually on par with the Fathom 12 MK 2, so frankly if you have those the new ones are not a very significant upgrade its just nicer to have the little bit of extra control that comes from the more up to date mag.

Our experiences are only relevant if you fish generally clean beaches and both range and usability are the key .

So after all that bollox above....... is the CS a good reel the answer is yes.

I would probably have kept mine if I was fishing 20lb line into hard ground the only significant advantage of the CS in actually the line capacity, it has no other significant advantages over the Fathoms MK1 (magged) or the MK2 that I can see other than the ability to hold more line. If people are bending the handles I reckon they are being dickheads, the handle if for winding in how the fookin heck to you bend it?? defo bellendieitis the handle is on par with the entire mag and fathom range.

Edited
It also occurs to me that the CS offers better VFM that the Daiwa which magged will cost you over 300 quid.

I would also say that although the CS is good with 20lb line (or greater) that its not as good as the DAiwa Saltist 20 (blue bits) when it has been magged.

Anyway thats what two bored old tossers in a field though!.





So the 29 year old shimano calcuttas........ well they were long and faultless and made no noise or fuss just lobbed it out there same as they ever did....... but the problem with spanking them long is the retrieve which was bloody torture...... they can go back in the loft for another couple of decades then on to the antique roadshow!.

 

I think the translated version of what tourno is saying is that during lockdown we had all the rods and many reels out a few times we have a lot of multipliers (too many TBH)
Anyway if your bored enough and have access to a turf farm boys will be boys.
We pretty much took most of the 5-8oz rods we own and,
Magged fathom 12s
Penn CS
Daiwa Saltist 20s (new version with the blue bits.
Penn Fathom 2s
Daiwa 7ht STS
Shimano calcutta 400s (slightly pimped)
Akios Nitrons.

We had a few goes at it.

Firstly Gray the Ray and I are not in the first flush of youth so do not think that two super fit geezers were hitting high swing pendulums for a laugh.

Think more of one big fat bloke with decent timing and one smaller skinny bloke who has good off the ground skills, athletes we are not.

I think the rods are fairly uninteresting in this discussion about reels but we found the following.

The Nitron was bloody annoying no matter how I set it up it just went out of tune and although we thought it would be a contender at the start in the end I sold them.

The penn CS we liked a lot with 6oz and all the power we could muster it was nice and predictable and actually we both liked thrashing them, but I sold them too!.

The Daiwa STs were the simplest and easiest to get long and were super easy to use, when it comes to distance only they are a weapon when it comes to clean ground.


The Penn Fathom 12 MK2, was the choice for 6oz work for us old boys fishing chesil in snotty weather, they have similar retrieve and power to the Penn CS but they were a bit longer and in our opinion just nicer to use, they hold more than enough line for us. We can get away with losing some line without having to reload on the beach or getting a spare out. and we both preferred the mag control knob because it cannot be knocked round on the retrieve (probably the single most annoying thing on the CS).

Ergonomically retrieve speed and just general sexiness the new Daiwa Saltists (blue bits) was what Graham bought, Black dog magged them and Graham loves his and uses them for everything. My pair are still in the loft....... I do need to mag them and then I am sure I will use them but the 12s are enough reel for me.

Graham also had a macey magged fathon 12 and range wise and general useability was actually on par with the Fathom 12 MK 2, so frankly if you have those the new ones are not a very significant upgrade its just nicer to have the little bit of extra control that comes from the more up to date mag.

Our experiences are only relevant if you fish generally clean beaches and both range and usability are the key .

So after all that bollox above....... is the CS a good reel the answer is yes.

I would probably have kept mine if I was fishing 20lb line into hard ground the only significant advantage of the CS in actually the line capacity, it has no other significant advantages over the Fathoms MK1 (magged) or the MK2 that I can see other than the ability to hold more line. If people are bending the handles I reckon they are being dickheads, the handle if for winding in how the fookin heck to you bend it?? defo bellendieitis the handle is on par with the entire mag and fathom range.

I would also say that although the CS is good with 20lb line (or greater) that its not as good as the DAiwa Saltist 20 (blue bits) when it has been magged.

Anyway thats what two bored old tossers in a field though!.





So the 29 year old shimano calcuttas........ well they were long and faultless and made no noise or fuss just lobbed it out there same as they ever did....... but the problem with spanking them long is the retrieve which was bloody torture...... they can go back in the loft for another couple of decades then on to the antique roadshow!.

.
Cheers for all the replys... Well worth the read..

Will Have to look for a casting special once I've sold my mk1 fathom thats on ebay 😉🤑

 

I use 4 and have 2 15 SD versions, I prefer the CS for casting, after cleaning out excess grease and oil the bearings, no issues. I hold my rod further up so knob isn’t a problem either. The spool runs more than fast enough for fishing, I did put lots of backing line on before main line. I use .32,.35 and .36 no issues

 

Hi guys..

Is this reel as good as they say ?

Seen a few reports on fbook of people who have bent or broken handles ?

Cheers

The bearings and spool support on the 15cs are the best I've used. It won't fit some oversized handles on 13ft rods. You can also use this on 8ft rods for casting to beach reds. Very versatile.

 

Pretty much all our beach rods are 12-15 foot in the UK, I don't get what you mean when you say oversize handles . We use 8 foot rods for boat fishing.

 

I think he may mean the reel cage feet may not fit a reel seat bigger than say 32mm. I know for example my 6500'S needed a bit of tape on the old rods I had with 32mm seats.

 

The old Century 216 sports were like that ,Scaffold poles for butts and you needed hands like shovels to fish with them.