Uhlmann Floor Reel

The Uhlmann “turtle” reel is pretty much the standard by which all other reels are measured.  In fact, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Uhlmann has ample reason to feel flattered – when Allstar redesigned their reel in 2002 they copied many important features of the Uhlmann reel, including the Mercotac connector, and a few years after that Allstar adopted the Uhlmann design completely, simply replacing blue colored plastic parts with red ones.

The thing that makes these reels so reliable is their electrical connection.  The reel uses a Mercotac connector for the “A” and “B” lines and the spring for the “C” line.  This makes for a very reliable reel which can go for years without little or no maintenance. 

This is not to say that Uhlmann’s are perfect – they still have a number of problems.

First - the reels are light enough that they generally must be taped down or otherwise secured in order to keep the reel from following the fencer down the strip (I've found that placing a 2-kg dumbbell weight on top of the reel works quite well, and at the end of the day there are no tape scraps to clean up).

Second, the cable tends to wear grooves into the plastic block where the cable exits the reel.  I suppose better the plastic than the cable, however it would help a lot of Uhlmann were to make the plastic block (or “segment”, as Uhlmann refers to it) out of two pieces so it could be fit around the cable rather than requiring complete disassembly of the fencer end socket.  The grooving problem can be minimized by positioning the reel so that the cable doesn’t pull to one side as it exits the reel however the reel must be secured in such a way that it won’t be able to rotate around to where the cable will rub against the side of the block.

Third, when they do break they can be a bit of a pain to repair – apparently the designers believed the more screws the better.

Fourth, the Mercotac connector contains a few milligrams of mercury (which is probably less than what used to go in most thermometers).  The mercury is sealed inside the Mercotac connector so there is very little actual risk to personal health associated with it however because mercury is classified as a hazardous material it generally requires special handling and disposal (don’t even think about throwing an old Mertotac connector away in the trash).  In addition, some places have policies which specifically forbid any items containing mercury – if your club happens to meet in a school that has such a policy then perhaps it would be better to consider another type of reel.