brophog

I can attest, as I know others can here as well, that SDS is great to do business with. For what you’re wanting to cast, an aftermarket spool is the way to go, imo.

If I was seriously debating on whether I would buy this rod or not, I'd save my money for a better rod. I've owned a bunch of these low to mid tier Shimano rods over the years and none of them are anything special. I throw a cheap reel on them and use them as loaners or back of the truck rods. They're decent enough to bother owning, but not good enough for me to care about losing.

The Pixy is a 20 year old reel, coming out at a time when both an enthusiast level reel meant something and we weren't so flush with options in the finesse category. Most full size "normal" baitcasters now throw much better at the lower weights than the average reel did back then.

I gotta add to the others in this recommendation. Even if it isn’t what you want, at that price you’ll find a use for it. The only negative I have with those rods is the grip material is on the thin side. Not enough to bother me, but enough that I notice it after using other rods.

There is certainly an audience that will trade distance for control. The question is how much overlap is there between that audience and the one willing to spend $250 on a fishing reel.

That video shows the technology better.

Thanks. Those are the same points I made earlier in this thread. That would be nice. Unfortunately, companies are coercing reviews about 3 seconds after a product is bought nowadays and you can find loads of reviews from people that readily admit they haven't actually used the product yet. Finding information on a product 5 years old basically takes an enthusiast site like this one. I remember several years ago we had a thread here where someone bought a BPS Pro Qualifier reel (I think that was the model) and used it a great deal and documented it. Very useful review. The other problem is companies that once were quite good about supporting models for a number of years aren't doing that so much anymore. They're turning over models faster and not keeping parts around for as long.

Can you elaborate?

I know, I felt bad and deleted it but you replied too quickly. My apologies.

deleted

I think this sentiment potentially explains why Kastking would be willing to undercut the sales of their own reel with an alternate version. If they believe they have a good product here that the market just won't currently accept at it's premium price point then it makes sense to try to lower that price. If everything is what it looks like, that this is just a change in frame material and some cosmetic changes, then I'm not sure why anyone would buy the MG version now. The AL version is effectively a replacement as I see it, but now at a price point more people may be more willing to take a flier on.

Other than the fact the maker of the video is a known troll, especially with regards to anything Daiwa, why are we calling out Tatulas, specifically? Most companies have reels in the price range of the AL-Ti.

The issue is in marketing, which isn’t really an issue at all, but they’re trying to sell an idea that seems good on paper but doesn’t work well in reality. Having one reel do everything sounds great (and is, with multiple spools) but there are big tradeoffs that have to be made when trying to accomplish it with only one spool. For instance, spool depth. That’s a fairly deep spool, which it kinda needs to be for the thicker line diameters used in the upper half of its lure range. The problem is that line itself adds quite a bit of weight. That’s roughly a 7g spool. I’m guessing here, but I’d say it probably holds 5g or more in line weight, maybe even enough to double the initial spool weight itself. For “normal” bass sized lures (7g+) that we’d throw in that size of reel that isn’t an issue, but when we’re trying to throw in that 2g range that’s a huge issue. Your only option is to try to severely underspool it to save line weight but now you’ve degraded its performance because it’s releasing/retrieving so little line due to its lower effective spool diameter. And, of course, simply underspooling it loses the versatility the reel sought to achieve in the first place. For someone that just likes the reel itself and doesn’t care about all of that, at least this AL version saves a fair amount of money, but then it becomes odd that they even have two versions of what otherwise appears to be the same reel with some cosmetic changes. For a reel that’s already this light, the weight savings of MG is almost negligible.

I'm not clicking on that video. It is an interesting choice though for a company to undercut the price of their own reel with essentially the same reel. That spool has always been the selling point of that reel, and it remains in the AL version. As much as I'm a fan of a reel being capable of using multiple spools, I'm not a big fan of only one spool trying to cover that big of a lure range (and many users have questioned if it effectively even does). You're really not going to effectively cover that range with one rod and you probably won't want to use the same line across that range. That's why the MG version was never appealing to me as there were multiple reels on the market that could be had with a second spool for less. The AL version at least attempts to close that price gap a bit.

The value in the Zillion is two fold. First, we all got them on cheap exchange rates a few years back when the price to performance ratio was pretty immense. Secondly, that 34mm Daiwa platform offers so many spool options that it makes that one reel perform a huge range of applications. You're seeing more and more with some of these reels either the ability to buy an aftermarket spool or them including a shallow and deep spool in the box. Having the ability to run multiple spools is a real game changer, and over time, I think it saves a lot of money. The thing to watch for in these cheaper reels when comparing them to more expensive models is longevity. Lots of things feel good out of the box or for a season or two and then just don't hold up. Unfortunately, most reviews for nearly anything online these days are procured before the person ever had a chance to experience an item long enough to check for durability.

I baby the hell out of my gear, except the ones I don't. I intentionally have some older gear around simply because I often find it more durable than newer gear and therefore it gets used when I don't want to baby something.

I find 7ft to feel short these days, but I definitely agree with the opinion that rod handle length makes a big difference here. I'd rather a 7ft rod with an 11" handle than a 7'6" rod with a 9" handle in many situations, despite the fact my preference would generally be towards the longer rod. Before I made the switch I would definitely tie on some lures to the longer rods. Longer rods will make everything feel a bit more tip heavy and rod manufacturers tend not to increase handle length proportional to rod length because a lot of the expense is in the handle.

I never use any of that stuff. I simply use lighter line. "6lb" mono is a lot stronger than people think and performs way better than 17lb line. Obviously heavier line as its place in bass fishing, and I'm not suggesting light line for every application, but often times the situations that call for heavy line don't require as much casting performance.

First, I agree with everyone that the rod is the bigger issue. 5-21 gram rods are more common in the Asian markets that the US, but even then you'll usually find one or both ends of that range are a big compromise. Line choice is also often a bigger issue than the reel. The line you'd ideally use for 3/4oz is very likely heavy enough to compromise performace at 3/16. I quoted this part though to get rid of the fear that a new reel will be outdated. Reel technology these days is really good, and honestly has been for years. Companies like Daiwa and Shimano will put out new reels every year with marketing claiming they're the greatest thing, but usually they're simply more specialized and the gains, if they even exist, are often very minimal. You'll find a lot more performance improvements matching the correct rod and line to an application than you will chasing the newest reels.

I'm slowly getting used to split grips after hating them for years, but that's mostly having not much choice in the matter. Fewer companies are offering full grip as an option, because like was already said a manufacturer can save a lot of money minimizing the material needed in the handle. This is something to keep in mind when buying cheaper rods. They had to save money somewhere and the handle style and material is an easy source to cut costs.

.35mm mono line ("12 lb") is going to have an actual breaking strength more like 20, depending on brand. It's incredibly strong stuff. IMO, even in the roughest stuff imaginable a bass fisherman doesn't need more than that to horse a fish out. In heavy rocks or similar where you know it's getting banged up you may want to re-tie more frequently.

"Ceramic" bearings covers a pretty wide range of material combinations. A full Zirconium bearing, generally ran with no oil, will be very noticeably loud. A hybrid bearing, with stainless races and SiC balls, generally ran with a light oil, won't be very noticeable at all. Most bearings sold as ceramic bearings for these purposes are of the hybrid style.

Some reels, notably magnetic braking systems like Daiwa uses, will maintain some braking force even with the settings turned to minimum whereas a simple centrifugal block system can completely turn their braking off. Free spool tests can be pretty deceptive for this reason. It doesn't really matter that it seems to free spool forever on minimum settings because you're not going to cast it with no brakes, anyhow. If you spin the spool and it barely spins or just a few revolutions, clean your bearings and lube with light oil. If you spin it and you're getting a decent number of spins, but it just isn't spinning 'for days' like your friend's reel then you're right where you need to be.

I don't often buy older reels, but I certainly still keep many around. While more modern reels are often far less weight, they often sacrifice durability to achieve that.

Trout magnets shouldn’t be a casting standard. Lures under a gram don’t cast well on anything. Sometimes acceptable for a given user, but never well. For the way many use a trout magnet, they really should use a heavier head, but jig head makers tend to put far too large (and thick) hooks on most jig heads so users throw things like 1/64 oz heads for smaller species just to get smaller hooks when the advantage that small head is really in fall rate and their retrieve never takes advantage of it beyond the initial drop. Some people don’t like using floats with BFS, but when using a trout magnet I really like their small peg floats to take advantage of their inherent subtle action. And the bonus is even a small float can double your casting weight.😁