Opinions on Lewmar windlass

nightcrawler

Hi.  I have to replace the Simpson Lowrance sprint 600 on my boat.  The Lewmar vertical 700 fits perfectly. I have been looking at the Lewmar 700 pro fish with  free fall. I have been reading a lot of negative reviews but some good ones . Any insight welcome.
Thanks in advance

StratCaster

I had the 600 on my last boat (sold in 2019) and now have the 700 on my current boat.  For either, you have to have the exact specified anchor line and chain and you also must have ample freefall room for the rope under the windless. 

The 600 was very finicky.  About every year, I had to re-splice the rope to chain connection so that it would travel through the windless without snagging.  With the 600, every few months I had to get into deep water, let all the anchor line out and remove any twist it may have had.  Finally, with less than ample free fall room for the rope to drop, I often had to hand guide the line in as it was being retrieved by the unit.  

I like the 700 better.  I've had it for a year and haven't had any of the problems I had with the 600.  As for the freefall feature, I've not been able to get that to work properly.  The few times I've tried it, the anchor free fell, but the unit ended up free spinning and had to be tightened. It was difficult to initiate the freespool and even more difficult to reset the unit.  It seems dangerous to me and I don't use the freefall but it's probably a user error, not a problem with the unit.  

For reference, I use my boats between 150 and 200 hours per year so I've had a lot of experience with each unit.  If you figure out the trick to the freefall on the 700, please let me know.  

nightcrawler

Thanks Stratcaster. Nice to Know. I have never used the free fall on the 600 as it was to much of a pain on my pilot house. Last year i put the 700 motor on the 600 and last time fishing it ate a gear. I'm trying to decide between the 700 vertical and the 700 pro fish horizontal. Not even sure how the free fall works on the pro fish. Sounds like a good option though.