I almost didnt get with this reel. But it was on sale and matched my new Ugly carbon stick. And everyone knows, fish dont bite if your rig has miss matched colors :) Out of the box, there is a little resistance when it spins. My 5 or 6 year old Pflueger, which has seen a ton of use and more then a few drops into muddy water, spins more freely then this reel does. I am hoping that a little use will loosen it up a bit. Will be a few day before I get out but wanted to do a fresh outta the box review. Unless this thing fails in a big way this fishing season, I doubt I will have anything negative to report. If it does fail, I'll update. It feels pretty durable and tight. Weight is good. I am pairing it with my new Ugly carbon stick. So it matches visually very nicely. Another reason I decided to give this reel a try is the gear ratio. I like a quick retrieve. So the 6.2:1 is a minimum for me. And you dont really find that to often in a budget reel. Irritating that a day after I purchase this it drops $5 in price. Paid $43 for it and its $38 a day later... So this thing had better perform. Update: Got out and put a few hours onto this reel. The reel performed flawlessly. Not a single issue. It felt good in the hand and the retrieval was very nice. The only cons I can say about this reel after its first time use is, as mentioned, it doesnt spin as freely as a more expensive reel. It still casts great. The second con is the bail is a little small. On every other reel I have ever used, the bail sticks out the same distance. This one the bail is tighter to the spool. Neither one of this is a big issue. First impression is, this reel is well worth the money.
