Abu Garcia Revo Winch Generation Gen 3 Product Review

Reel Review

Take 3 : Abu Garcia's Revo Winch

Date:	11/6/13
Tackle Type:	Reel
Manufacturer:	Abu Garcia
Reviewer:	Cal

Total Score: 8.09 - EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD!

Introduction: With the advent of reels featuring retrieve ratios of 8.0:1 and above, the availability of reels featuring retrieve ratios below 6:1 seems to grow more and more rare with each passing year. It's as if the art of moving your bait slowly through the strike zone is getting lost in the wake of those with short attention spans. If you're one who prefers low retrieve ratio reels in left hand retrieve, it gets even worse. The choices are fewer and further between with each passing year. Fortunately, Abu Garcia has not forgotten those of us who like to take things slow. In fact, this manufacturer has a reel they've built especially for the purpose of slow cranking and today we take a look at their latest version of this very reel. Here's our look at the Abu Garcia Generation 3 Revo Winch.

Abu Garcia Gen 3 Revo Winch Specifications
Line Capacity - Rated	12/180
Line Capacity - Spool Volume	19 cubic centimeters
Retrieve Ratio	5.4:1
Inches Per Turn (IPT) tested	6" - 22"
Weight	6.9
Spool Weight	19.9 grams
Bearings	8 + 1
Tested Max Drag	~11lbs
Origin	Made in Korea
MSRP	$199

Quality/Construction: The fit and finish of reels these days is quite astonishing and something that's easily taken for granted. Here at TackleTour, we inspect each visible seam and run our fingers over each joint to so that we can both see and feel how the parts of a reel align.

Introducing Abu Garcia's Revo Winch.

The Revo Winch easily passed inspection. The reel features a mix of glossy black paint on the sideplates, a slightly textured, flat grey finish on the frame, and miscellaneous silver and pewter colored highlights. The extra long, 95 millimeter handle has small degree of backplay that can be tightened up by locking down your drag, and we did find some movement in the knobs into and away from the body of the reel.

Quality Ratings for Abu Garcia Gen 3 Revo Winch
Finish (1-5)	Frame & Sideplate Tolerance (1-5)	Handle Tolerance (1-5)	Knob Tolerance (1-5)	Total	Possible	Rating (= Tot/Pos * 10)
5	5	4	4	18	20	9.5

This is Abu Garcia's third generation Revo.

Performance: Our Revo Winch spent the majority of its time on one of two rods, a Megabass F4.5-711GTA and a Phenix Recon 2 PHX-796C. We kept it spooled with twenty pound (20 lb) Sunline Super Natural Monofilament.

We kept our Winch spooled with twenty pound (20 lb) Sunline Super Natural Monofilament.

Retrieve: The Winch comes equipped with a nice, slow, savory, 5.4:1 retrieve ratio that equates to six to twenty two inches (6"-22") of line picked up with each crank of the handle. The actual amount, naturally, will depend on how much line you have out on your cast.

The Winch features 8 bearings plus one roller bearing for a total of 9.

Turning the handle reveals a relatively smooth if not somewhat connected feel to the reel's inner workings. It's just a hair shy of silky. Some reels, like the old Shimano Calais and Antares reels really shield you from the other end of the line, but in a good way. Those reels are so silky smooth it's like you're churning butter. The Revo Winch doesn't achieve that degree of smoothness, and you can sometimes feel the gears working through the frame and sideplate, but all this is in a good way.

Performance Ratings for Abu Garcia Gen 3 Revo Winch
Retrieve (1-5)	Drag (1-5)	Power (1-5)	Casting Range (1-5)	Brakes (1-5)	Total	Possible	Rating (= Tot/Pos * 10)
4	3	5	4	4	20	25	8.0

Next Section: Testing the Winch's Drag