Perfect Reel (Locking)

It is nice to have a recommendable and reliable locking reel. I had to buy the wire version because no one seemed to have the black line version left in stock. I wasn't sure about the wire when I ordered it, but it is good. It appears to be a very fine, steel cable with a black coating on it. It is nice and flexible so my fears about it being metal were unfounded. The cable is thin and discreet but don't expect it to be as invisible as invisible thread. The cable is very strong indeed. The spring in the reel causes the unloaded cable to retract very quickly with some force (so watch out for your fingers when you play with this!) The strength of the cable in the wire version of the Perfect Reel might make you think that you could use quite heavy loads. However, the spring in the reel casing (very neat and small, so easily concealed) is really only suitable for small loads (e.g. vanishing a coin or small silk using. sleeve.) There are of course many other possible applications for a reel like this but you need to be aware that the reel pulls the cable in when you tug the cable away from the reel - so not very useful for something like the self-tying shoe lace effect. (See note below) I found that the 'tug' release mechanism on the Perfect Reel was not 100% reliable. Maybe one in twenty times, I had to tug it a second time. So not quite the PERFECT reel - but really very good if you have the right application for it. The end of the cable has a loop the size of which can be adjusted by using the tiny Allen key supplied. It would be quite easy to attached a neodymium magnet to the end of the reel and the clasp forming the loop can be removed (but it you do that, make sure you replace the claps with something strongly attached to the cable so that you don't lose the cable inside the reel casing.) There is also a moveable 'stop' to help you quickly pull out the reel to a predetermined length. There is a short video explaining the basics of the operation of the reel but it would have been nice to have more suggestions for its use in actual effects.
Here's a note on using a reel for the self-tying shoe lace trick.
You can buy reels on eBay for about £1 that will do that well if you use a tiny bull dog clip as the release mechanism. I used a super cheap reel for the self-tying shoelace effect at my grandson's birthday part recently. It not only worked a treat, but amazed the audience. For the shoelace trick you could also use a reel with a release button on it, though I have not used one of those.

This reel in't bad. It is very fast, strong, and it does lock. The only problem is the sound. The sound of the line rewinding is ok, but the load bang it makes when the stopper at the end of the line impacts the case, is unacceptable. The problem can be fixed with a little d.i.y padding, but you probably should be aware of this before you buy it.

This thing broke the second time I ever used it. Very disappointed.

This reel failed on first use. Straight out of the packaging, one test was enough for the thread to detach and vanish back into the casing.

The casing itself is now a generic black shell rather than the branded one shown, which suggests a change in manufacturer. The thread is no longer a single piece either. It is now made of two sections joined by a tiny threaded screw (with an Allen key provided). That screw is the only thing holding the system together, and it is also the point of failure.

After the thread disappeared, I opened it up to see if it was repairable. It was not. The locking mechanism turned out to be a badly cut piece of plastic, which immediately came loose and refused to seat again. At that point it stopped being a reel and became a small percussion instrument.

I am sure this product once lived up to its name, but it is no longer manufactured to the same standard. Bought to use with Optix, but I will be sticking with the reel it came with. Don’t make the same mistake I did.