Does anyone know when Academy will put their rods and reels on sale again? Someone posted they purchased the H2O Motive for 49.99. They used to put the Mettle's on sale for around 25.00. Do they run these much?

If I'm remembering correctly, they used to do those sales around Father's Day

Mettle prolly be that cheap since they changed the model to the mt2. I think they were 39 when they went on sale last year.

Thanks for the replies. I don't watch Academy sales papers so I've missed a few of their sales. I'll check around Memorial Day and Father's Day and hopefully catch it.

Do they make these in left hand reels ???

Good reels for the money. I use them for simpler techniques like Texas rigs and jigs

But no I don't know when they go on sale, but it definitely happens a couple times per year.

Usually father's day and black friday. They don't make them like they used to though.

I won't buy a mettle anymore, unless it's an older one. The new ones have cheap gears in them and different bearings. I love the old ones, but the news ones are definitely a step down.

Did they make the design change with the MT2? I assume all the models before MT2 use quality components?

I fish with Lews and Daiwa now, but the one mettle I have does good job and I don't mind throwing it. I was going to get some H2O reels to have a few lesser utilized reels. Might use one as a pitching/flipping reel since casting distance isn't a big concern.

What about the other models in the line up like the Motive, Manic, and Menace. Have they changed the gears and bearings in these as well?

I'm assuming they are all cheaply made now. The older ones got so popular that they had to go and change the design to make more profit. Screwed them if you ask me. Shimano did the same thing with the curado.

I didn't notice any design change, just the cheaper gears and bearings. And I can't speak for the other reels they offer, I've only tore down a Mettle.

Ive heard that the H20's have a no questions asked replacement warranty. A buddy of mine has had a few go out on him and he simply took them back to Academy and they handed him a brand new one every time.

Tim,

I copy/pasted the text and it came to all the Lews reels academy sells. Maybe some of the link got cut off?

I bought one of the H2O reels a couple of years ago for 25.00 on sale. I've been impressed. Was planning to buy more when I caught them on sale. Would have bought 6 or 7 at that price if I knew they were as good as they are.

Sry man that link got all chewed up. I was trying to link to a Lew's LS1HAC. It's not $25. . .it's about $70. But I don't think there are many better reels around for less than $100.

And I'm with you, if I had known H2O was gonna change up the Mettle, I woulda bought 10 of them before the switch. But hey, maybe I just got a bad couple of reels. Like I was saying my opinion is based on my really limited experience with the new version. Hopefully I'm wrong about them because they've always been a great reel for the money.

I work with the factory that makes the h2o mettle reels for Academy. Nothing changed from the Mettle to the MT2 except the left side of the frame and the left side cover. The MT2 is a slightly more low profile reel and fits in the hand better. It also weighs about .3 ounces less. The insides of the reel stayed the same.