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Fox Stratos FS 7000 reels

Richard Brown

Richard Brown

Senior Member
Hi all.

I have just got two Fox Stratos FS 7000 reels off eBay for &60 . I thought that’s cheap ! After reading some reviews on these reels it would seem they are not exactly loved ! But some reports are very good ( from Graham Marsden on fish magic ) and Ian Welch from the Angling mail. It would seem the FS 7000 gets the best rap but the other models get the thumbs down . How can that be ? I am only going to be using them for light Barbel work and not heavy Carp stuff . Any thoughts or reviews would be very helpful . I got two ,so will have plenty of spare parts !
 
Hi Richard - I had a FS7000E. The only difference between that and your two is the spool material? Anyway, mine lasted a season, and felt very heavy winding in, before the gears finally went. Mine came from Ebay too, though that makes no difference.

Don't really know what's wrong with them; though my guess is a faulty manufacturing process. After all, they look lovely reels.

Reviews are definitely mixed and the reels are probably great in the short term, thus the reviews you mention. I sincerely hope you get good service from yours. Good luck :)
 
I had 2 of the 10000's and they both seized up , sent them back and they have been fine since but I can't say I use them a lot.
 
Richard,

Had my 2 FS7000s since they came out and they are still fine.

I broke one of the handles due to heavy handedness, but they are real work horses. I use them for heavy duty flood/lead work as the gears make easy work of casting and retreiving big 7oz feeders.

Paul
 
Hi Richard

I have used the 7000 fs for my normal barbel fishing and 10000 fs for my floodwater exploits since 2007 and to be honest i cant ever recall having a problem with any of them.

The only problem i can see is that the line lay on the 7000 with anything above 10lb looks abit rough but to be honest thats when i use the 10000 anyway.

I did have to return one 10000 reel back to fox around 2 years ago for a service / repair when i clonked the rear of the reel againt a boat i was piking from and the result of the impact was that the free spool drag packed up, but that was hadly a fault of the reel. £34.50 & 5 days later the reel was repaired and has been problem free since.

I think that you should get many sessions free from any dramas with them.
 
Hi Richard,

I have of pair of these and used them for about a season and didnt abuse them in any way using them for mostly light work ie 2oz leads and under and generally only a couple of rod lengths out and the baitrunner wouldnt disengage,sent it back to fox and got it fixed for about 40 quid and it went again!!! Others have had problems with gears seizing etc they really are terrible and i wouldnt trust them Got myself a couple of Shimano DL4000FAs
and they are a pair of beauties


Cheers and good luck,Id stick them back on ebay!!!
 
Hi Richard,
I have used and abused mine for two seasons, they look good, feel good, but I think the faults are based around using cheap materials, one has been replaced free of charge after the bait runner switch snapped in half, my local tackle shop have had lots back for other faults. Beats me how a company like Fox can afford to turn out a reel that obviously is not really fit for purpose. I shall use them to destruction, with all the extra spools that I bought I cant afford not too, but am already going back to Shims via ebay ready for the day when they go KAPUT! just dont trust them :)
 
Thanks

Thanks for all your helpful replies.

I am only going to be back in the UK for 5 weeks fishing from Australia , so hopefully they wont break in that time ! Do you recommend using the single or double handle ? Looks like I will not use the bait runner !
Some of the Dawia reels look the nuts.
 
Double for me! :). Use the bait runner Richard, it is actually very smooth and does the job perfectly, its just the switch snapping in half you have to watch out for :))). Give them some stick, they will be fine.

Makes me wonder if Fox shall perhaps re launch in the future with hopefully a much improved model (although I wont be buying one!) its obviously a massive market for this size reel, but mud sticks!
 
Hi all,
Having had a 7000e for about two years now and used it for lakes and rivers i can honestly say i have never had a issue with it at all.It has dealt with carp and bream feeders and leads upto 2oz, matched up well on a carp waggler rod and pellet float without a problem.With that in mind last year i brought a 7000 for larger and heavier work and again it has never let me down,but i am awere there are a lot of duff ones around and there seem to be a lot on the second hand market as well which may be a cause for concern. So fingers crossed mine carry on.
As a aside o have heard good things regarding Foxes customer service (and nope i dont work for them) so perhaps if there is a issue they should be happy to help.
Andy
 
I've got three of these on my bream / tench rods. I also used them once on the Tidal Trent just as an experiment. Caught lots of bream and a barbel on the Trent and they performed well.

I have caught lots of bream and tench into double figures on them and they have
performed well. I did have a problem with one reel. Inititally the anti reverse stopped working, and then the baitrunner switch snapped off the same reel. Fox replaced it and the one they sent is fine.

Cheers,

Tim
 
Hi Richard,
I had a pair of 10,000's that worked fine at first,encouraging me to buy a pair of 7000's.Straight out of the box the anti-reverse failed on one of the 7000's.This was replaced under warranty,the same fault occurred on the other reel after about a month,again replaced.The same fault happened again within 3 months,then the baitrunner lever broke in half on the other.Again a replacements received with no quibble.Both reels then sold.In the mean time the baitrunner clutch failed on one of the 10,000's,which was replaced foc,and both reels sold.Excellent clutches,line lay and casting ability but longevity is very poor.Until recently Ian Welch worked for Fox,so he's hardly going to say anything detrimental about his employers product.My local tackle shop carry most Fox products,but they don't stock any of the reels as they have caused too much aggro.
Good luck with them,hope you have a better experience than I did,or as already suggested,re ebay 'em.;)
Regards
Pete.
 
I have had the lesser 7000e and now got the 7000 they have served me amazingly! great reels all round! used mine for carping and had carp upto 26lb and handled it fine! stick with these reels mate! :)
 
I've got a 7000 and have also had problems with the baitrunner. Shimano for me every time.

Ian Welch would give them a good review, he is (or was at the time) a Fox consultant!
 
think fox just screwed it up big time with the stratos reels more negatives with these reels then positives just take a look at the old 5010 shimmy baitrunners still going strong after all these years
 
It seems to be pot luck with the Stratos reels. Clearly, there is a quality control issue as there are just too many moans. But, they are nice reels when they work. I suspect that Fox will have an uphill task in trying to regain customer confidence - they'll have to provide a 5yr warranty or something like that to restore that confidence. Incidentally, Cemex were doing the FS7000 for £30 incl p&p.
 
If they come clean ironed out the gearing problems and announce that they have sorted the problems. Then and only then would I would consider buying their reels again. They look good great line lay and when the gearings are working the clutch is ok. But I will never buy a Fox reel until they formally admit that they were pants which I suspect will never happen. I will stick with the less popular but far superior Okuma's.
 
My experience is not good either, had two for a season, on one the baitrunner switch snapped off. I sent it back to fox for repair under warranty and they sent me someone else's reel back which was battered, and then denied it:mad:

On the other reel the anti reverse failed mid session, which caused all sorts of problems.

Regarding build quality, the paint finish easily chipped off both reels, which left them looking tatty in no time. In the end I binned one and gave the other away.

An expensive mistake and now using Shimano XTEA's and 4000D's, with the latter being the best barbel reel on the market IMHO.
 
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