Fox Say THE STRATOS IS the culmination of an intensive three year R & D project with substantial investment. Fox believes the Stratos is the first reel designed specifically for carp fishing. For years carp anglers have been looking for a long cast reel with a small compact body. The spool of the Stratos is precisely machined and measures almost 60mm in diameter and 30mm in length. In addition, the body is smaller than almost any other reel in its class. To achieve this the internal gearing had to be designed completely from scratch. Stratos uses a Mesh-Tech gear train which has been critically balanced to achieve the ultimate degree in gear meshing resulting in a smoother, more powerful, play-free mechanism. If you want to cast the distance, line lay is critical. Stratos has a Supa-Slow Gear Cycle and an incredible 22 rotations of the bale arm are performed per linear oscillation of the spool. In tests this proved to be over 300% slower than some other reels. But what does this mean in practice? Each turn of the bale arm puts a ‘coil’ of line on the spool. The Stratos puts 22 coils of line on the spool (11 up and 11 down) on the retrieve creating incredibly consistent line lay which means incredible casting distances can be achieved. The spool has quick release button, built in line clip and a micro adjustment front drag.The spool stays pre adjusted even when removed from the reel which is very useful when switching from one breaking strain of line to another. Both spools are supplied with reducers that wrap around the spool which much reduces the line capacity and avoids the use of backing line. The Stratos runs on 16 high quality stainless steel ball bearings plus one roller bearing which gives silky smooth performance and makes the reel a pleasure to use. The gearing mechanism has been fine tuned to give perfect meshing which undoubtedly aids power retrieve which is critical when fishing in heavy situations like snags or weeds.The free spool system operates with the lever pushed forward against the reel stem for casting, playing, etc. and is pulled backwards towards the angler to disengage. This gives the advantage of not having a protruding lever whilst the reel is in a normal position. The free spool system has an adjustment knob that has a positive click to give an audible indication when tensioning the system. The reel is supplied in a cloth bag with a spare spool.
|