Well here's the review you've all been waiting for. I have no connection with the manufacturer or the resellers, I'm not a sales rep and don't own a tackle shop. I just like going fishing, fly fishing. I bought the Caimore #5/6 Eternal MK2 in response to a posting on this forum asking if the reel was any good. I bought the reel off Ebay for £49.99 and it was promptly delivered two days latter. In the box with the reel is a black poke and an instruction leaflet
showing how to change the retrieve from left to right. Simplicity it's self, loosen the screw cap on the spindle, take off the spool, take O ring off, turn over roller bearing and replace O ring. You won't lose the cap on the spool
as it's held on the spool. Nice touch. There's no indication where's it's made china I'm guessing, why it's not stamped on the reel is beyond me.

Finish: The colour is bluey silver I think it's called gunmetal. Hard anodised which means it's not going to wear or peel off.
Size: My girlfriend called it 'small fat and chunky' which just about sums it up. It has a wide spool with a large abhor. I like wide spools and I like large abhors. It's also remarkably light.

To reduce the weight and in line with the current fashion there are holes and cut-outs galore. I poked my finger into each one in turn and couldn't find a sharp edge anywhere. I've found sharp edges on reels twice the price.
The quality and shape of the handle are often neglected on reels in this price range but not with the Caimore. It's not cheap plastic but it is cone shaped which I like too. After fitting the reel to one of my rods I gave it a good wiggle and tug to see if the foot would come off (which I had happen to a similar looking and priced reel) but it stayed firmly on.
Manufacturers tend to keep the cost of reels down by using hopeless drag systems so it's nice to see Caimore haven't gone down that route. It appears to be a sealed disk. Best kind. Setting the drag to its lightest setting and pinging the handle with my finger sets the spool whizzing round. Quite impressive really. The drag adjusts via a large knurled **** which goes from smooth and slick to elephant stopping. Handy for anyone bashing 3lb plus rainbows or hefty highland seatrout.
One thing I was keen to check out was if the handle was correctly counter balanced, if not when casting it will retrieve line inch by inch, a problem with the Old Greys G-Lite, but not on the Caimore. Rudimentary testing by setting the drag up and yanking the line to see if it would slip proved fruitless. The drag held its own. Arsing about with the reel by yanking the line and trying to pull the reel foot off aint much of a test so I'm going to use the Caimore as my main reel for seatrout in the salt, a test for any reel and I'm not the kindest to my tackle, it gets thrown in the back of the car and only cleaned at the end of the season.

In summary I like the Caimore, the size is right, the colour is cool and it looks good enough to sit on the fireplace.
At £50 it's a steal. You’re getting a reel with the looks, quality and drag of a £100 plus reel. Like the Hardy Uniqua the Caimore is almost certainly made in the Far East, but you can get THREE Caimores for one Uniqua and I'd put the
Caimore up against any reel twice or three times its price. I'll update this post at the end of the season 2010.

There you have it a review by a fisherman not a journalist with one eye on advertising revenue.