Stren Original Nylon Monofilament Fishing Line Product Review

Line Review

The Baseline Nylon Monofilament : Stren Original

Date:	4/20/16
Tackle Type:	Fishing Line
Manufacturer:	Stren
Reviewer:	Cal

Total Score: 7.75 - GOOD

Introduction: Stren Original nylon monofilament has been in existence since 1958 and is a benchmark when it comes to an affordable, reliable fishing line. It's been around so long, it's place on the store shelf is often taken for granted. We thought we'd take a closer look and see how this industry standard stacks up in our new MCPI.

Stren Original Specifications
Line Type	Nylon
Colors Available	Clear, Clear Blue Fluorescent, Hi Vis Gold, Lo Vis Green
Colors Tested	Lo Vis Green
Line Weights	4 - 30
Line Weight Tested in Lab	10
Line Weights Fished	10, 12, 6
MSRP	$7.99 (330yd spool)

Stren Original nylon monofilament has endured as a product since 1958.

Quality : Stren Original is packaged very old school on a spool that is not precision wound. Despite that, consistency off of the spool is ok with little variation in the line's shape when run through your fingertips, however when tested at several points along its length we found a variation in diameter of 1.36% - far above the average of 0.7% we've tested in the lab. The line's surface is smooth but not super slick like some lines.

Quality Ratings for Stren Original
Consis-tency (1-5)	Surface (1-3)	Spooling (1-5)	Published Diameter (1-3)	Total	Possible	Rating (= Tot/Pos * 10)
3	2	3	1	9	16	5.63

We felt it was high time we subject it to our MCPI.

Performance: After running the line through our usual barrage of tests in the lab, tested several different ratings of Stren Original (6lb, 10lb, & 12lb) over the course of last year on both spinning and casting reels.

TackleTour's Mono/Copoly Performance Index (MCPI)
	Quality (20 points)			Strength (30 points)			Stretch (10+ Points		Abrasion Cycles	F P I
	PW	DIA	TS v RS	MS	KS v RS	KS v TS	STR	DR	Abrasion Cycles	F P I
Max Points*	5	5	10	10	10	10	5+	5+	No Limit	-
Stren Original (10lb/ 0.32 mm dia)	0	3.6	7.5	4.3	12	9.6	3.3	3.5	7	50.9
M/C Average (~0.30 mm dia)	1.3	4.3	7.2	5.2	10.8	8.5	3.1	3.0	6.8	50.2
PW = Precision Wound : DIA = Diameter : TS vs RS = Tested Strength vs Rated Strength : MS = Material Strength : KS vs RS = Knot Strength vs Rated Strength : KS v TS = Knot Strength vs Tested Strength : STR = Stretch : DR = Deformity : For a full explanation of our FPI table, please read our FPI Introduction article * Notes : In some cases "max" points can be exceeded if fishing line tests over rated strength.

As one might expect, Stren Original handles just fine in all casting and pitching situations. It comes off the spool predictably with no unusual memory problems to hamper distance or accuracy. It really is a prototypical nylon monofilament.

The 330yd filler spool is no frills.

Of course, as a prototypical monofilament, sensitivity and resistance to abrasion are just average. This is even demonstrated in the lab where the line averaged seven cycles on the abrasion machine compared to that of the average across 17 different lines which came to 6.8 cycles.

6lb lo-vis green spooled and ready for some action.

Knot strength for Stren Original is excellent testing at ninety six percent (96%) of tested tensile strength.

Performance Ratings for Stren Original
Cast/ Pitch (1-5)	Sensitivity (1-5)	Abrasion (1-5)	Knot Strength (1-5)	Manage-ability (1-5)	Total	Possible	Rating (= Tot/Pos * 10)
5	3	3	5	4	20	25	8.0

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