Ecooda Black Hawk 2 5000

This reel definitely stands out as one of those rare gems

I recently was asked to do a field test on the Ecooda black hawk 2 5000 reel, at first I was apprehensive as the market is pretty much flooded daily with arrivals of new “this is the next best thing” fishing tackle and most of it ends up being a disappointment. Every now and again a true gem is discovered so I went ahead with putting this reel to the test. First thing I did was turn to google and had a look at the specs. According to manufacturer specs, this reel boasts a precision machined stainless steel gear shaft and a toughened computer balanced carbon fibre rotor, with a retrieval speed of 4.3:1. It sports a friction free drive train and low noise gearing system matching the direct drive handle which screws directly onto the main gear for superior loading power. Ecooda have patented their SSS shaped slider and carbon fibre drag system which gives you super accurate line- lay and a very smooth drag system with incremental drag force being applied with each turn of the drag knob. The reel comes standard with 11 stainless steel bearings of which one is a solid roller bearing. Now all I had to do was get line on the reel and start fishing with it in order to see if it in fact could deliver the manufacturers specifications.

When opening the box, the first thing which impressed me was the awesome neoprene pouch supplied with the reel, as you know some of the top brands don’t supply anything to wrap your baby in when not in use. The overall feel of the reel is nice, finished in a matt black it not only looks nice, but as I have discovered handles rock rash like a champ. Its construction is solid and surprisingly lightweight, the spool is ported to reduce weight and the handle is finished with a very comfortable high density foam knob, which also helps reduce weight significantly. The complete reel weighs in at 460 grams.

Over the past 9 months of testing I have purposely done the bare minimum in terms of reel maintenance, only rinsing the reel under fresh water after each fishing session. The reel has performed well used for both spinning and bait fishing, in fact I have mostly used the reel for targeting bronze bream and as you know when targeting bream you do spend some time getting wet as you try and stay in the most productive spot despite the pushing tide. The reel has been under water a number of times, it has been splashed plenty and so far it is as smooth as the day I received it.

The most impressive feature of this reel has to be the drag system, the drag washers are carbon fibre, and probably one of the smoothest drags I have ever encountered on a reel in this price range. Carbon fibre makes an excellent drag washer choice as it is one of those materials which maintain its performance in spite of being either wet or hot. According to the manufacturer the drag is precision designed and each turn of the drag knob gives 200g of pressure, a little too involved for my style of fishing but definitely the reason why this drag is so silky smooth. The reel comes with a drag rating of 10kgs, fairly impressive for a reel this size.

If I had to rate it out of all the reels I have used through my fishing career, I’d have to say that it is the best I have used in its price range so far and in fact I would rate it above some of the reels available on the market with twice the price tag. Finally a product which stands up to the manufacturer’s claims and in some instances out performs them. This reel definitely stands out as one of those rare gems.