I’ve done this a couple of times and a mate, once more. So now’s the time to share the secret in getting hold of the superb Daiwa Certate dirt cheap.
Search eBay for a Daiwa Certate – especially in the UK – and if you didn’t already know they were high price items, you might get a shock. We’re certainly talking upwards of £200 plus postage for these spinning reels. The price is justified. Arguably the Certate is Daiwa’s answer to the Shimano Stella. In fact some anglers prefer the finesse of the Certate over the Stella.
In time the Daiwa Certate has earned a following. In an auction market such as eBay that generally means fair pricing and the opportunity to bag a bargain, rare. However in Europe we received a range of high-spec reels named Infinity Q. I don’t actually remember the reels when they were released so I imagine they were fairly specialist at the time, but I’ve since found out that the Infinity Q borrows almost every feature from the Certate.
Due to the fact that most of the world doesn’t know what the Daiwa Infinity Q is – I would argue the same for the majority of us British too – there are many less searches on sites like eBay, and that means ‘bargain time’!
After purchasing our first Infinity Q – as an experiment – we were very pleasantly surprised by the reels. By no means are these second-rate to the well known Certate. Unyet, none of the three reels purchased by us has cost over £108 including postage; the cheapest being secured for only £86.
Another positive we have discovered is that each of the Q 3000 sized reels we have bought was clearly owned by a course angler previously. In each and every case this has meant that the reels are in tip top condition. Maybe you’ll have to dig out a bit of dried groundbait if you’re precious, but that’s it. Our own Infinity Q 3000 reels are the only ones I’ve seen in a saltwater environment – to which they suffer no issues, by the way.
I’ve retired from chasing these reels. The ones I already have are very likely to out live me. So set yourself up a search on eBay and wait to pounce. You won’t regret it.