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Well, I have 4 or 5 Kastking reels that I bought all at once just to see what the buzz was about. I would sell them pretty cheap. None of them have been used more than once and those 2 for less than an hour. I will hang onto the Sharky III I bought though. I actually like it so far. It's not a Stradic but then I didn't pay for a Stradic either.

I would say that the list for a Revo SX is $159...so at or less than that at list I'd say any of the Standard Tatulas, the Daiwa Fuego, The Curados, though they list at more like $179, you should be able to find them on sale from time to time, The SLX and SLX XT for sure. I've got a Pflueger Supreme XT trhat is the same price that I like better. I'm sure there are more that some of the other guys here could name, but I'm only listing ones that I've tried at least a version of. I kind of moved out of that range some years back so I'm mostly using Daiwa Steez, TD-Z and, P68R's. If you buy used you might find a few of those reels for $150 but you won't find one that isn't a little beat up. But then again for my money I'd take a $500 Steez with some boat rash that needs a good maintenance job over any $150 reel out there. For sure you could find used pre 2020 Tatula SV TW for $150. They have been for sale at $169 new at some places as soon as they released the new 2020 version. I bought my son a new Falcon Expert a month ago and used it for a bit before I gave it to him and for $199 it has me looking side ways at some of my $350 Black Labels and even some of my Megabass rods. My son has a ton of Falcon rods and I've used most all of them from time to time and they all fish like they cost a lot more. I saw the thing where you are looking at the SLX combo and that is probably as good as you'll get for a combo, but I don't know anything about those rods. I would check out the Falcon factory first, and if you like the SLX reels, SLX seems like a pretty good choice for that. My son has a couple of Falcons that he has SLX DC's on and they are a pretty good pair.

Well, the SX is a much better reel than the revoX. it's not that they aren't usable and at least in the case of the SX it isn't a bd quality of build. It's more that you can get much better than they are for less money elsewhere. Heck man, if I lived 2 miles from Falcon, I'd have been all over that a long time ago. All of Falcon"s rods fish way above their respective price points and just about any rod maker has scratch and dings for sale in the show rooms. I'd keep an eye out there if I were you.

You're not lying on either account. It is a huge leap up and it is beautiful to look at. Now you're probably going to hate all your cheaper gear.

You nailed it... the thing is that there is plenty of good gear out there that would fit your budget, but usuallt they reels and rods aren't going to be the same makers and if they are, they will not likely put them together for cheap. The Abu Revo SX and the Vendetta combo is good example and I can talk about it because I happen to have had both the RevoSX reel and a Vendetta rod. The RevoSX is not a bad reel but it is far from a great reel, and it has fallen into insignificance because at it's price point it doesn't match up very well with the competition. The Vendetta was supposed to be a big seller for Abu, but has never has sold very well. It's not a very good rod really. At $79 it was supposed to entice the budget conscience fisherman from the $100 range which is the big sweet spot in the US, but it didn't. I suspect because even though it IS $20-39 cheaper, it doesn't compete. There are many rods that are MUCH better for less money and most $100 rods will fish circles around it. I bought one and used it like maybe 3 times. it's sort of clunky and not very sensitive. Just not a very good rod. The combo with the SX is the third go around for the Vendetta. They tried to improve the sales by putting Win grips on it, and now they are trying to get rid of them by pairing them with a reel that has had a name but which is also fallen out of favor with the avid fishermen. If it were me and I was looking for a set up like you describe for the price you have in mind I'd listen to some of these guys. They are experts at putting together cheap but decent gear. I kind of live in the $600--700 combo range for the most part so I defer to them on things like this. But left to my own devices I might try a Falcon HD heavy rod for $69 paired with a Daiwa Fuego reel for another $70-80. Both of these items punch way above their weight for the money and both are much better IMO than you'll get in most any $150 combo. All that said, half the fun of this stuff is picking what you want and then seeing how it pans out, so it is your choice. I don't know anything about the rod that comes with this combo, But I have used the SLX a few times and I think it is pretty decent reel. Certainly better than the RevoSX in my opinion.

I think that the odds of getting a better quality rod in a combo are about zero. Combos aren't made to sell to knowledgeable fishermen, they are put together to sell to the occasional fisherman, the guy going on vacation, the 14 year old who is working with a paper route budget, and etc. There are and have been a few decent combo here and there but not for 150$ as far as I've seen. Most combos offer either an OK rod with a reel that isn't selling or visa-versa. Far better to listen what these guys are trying to tell you. You can put together your own combo that is likely to be far superior to one that a seller puts together. It's one thing to buy a combo at $150 just to have something to fish with occasionally without getting too involved, but if you are looking for a better rod for less....not so much.

a couple of weeks ago, my son caught an accidental Flathead catfish that weighed out at 37 lbs. using a Medium Falcon BuCoo with a Shimano Curado 70 spooled with 10 lb. He said it took him almost an hour, but it was done. We routinely fish for striped bass using 10lb line and have caught them at 25 lb or so. Most of my reels have 8lb drags so that it really doesn't matter how much bigger the line is. I guess I'm saying that in the end it's the fisherman more than the gear. That said, you probably don't want to take your UL rig out for Tarpon either.

A guy can do as he likes with his gear of course, but if it were me there is no way I'd just squirt some oil into a lube port. I'm sure it would seem like it fixes the problem for a while anyway, but too much oil collects dirt and is bad in the long run. You should always clean the bearings and then use 1 drop of oil just exactly where it is needed in that bearing. The gears don't want oil, they need grease and only on the mating surfaces of the teeth. If you squirt oil into that lube port you are very likely to wash all the grease out of the gears where it is needed and deposit it all over into the rest of the reel that shouldn't have it and will gum up the bearings. Meanwhile, the grease is not where it belongs protecting the gears. The drag either uses a very small amount of grease between the discs or needs to be dry. Squirting oil on them is not helpful. Fishing reels need very little in the way of lubrication really, but it is very important to make sure that the inside is kept clean and that small amount of lube needed is always clean and that it is always there. I don't have a set schedule or any hard rules about it, but any of my reels that I use always get a complete cleaning at least once a year and maybe up to once a month on the stuff I use pretty often...or of course whenever I can feel that it is in need of it.

Yeah....Sure.....The last 8 or 9 reels I've bought were of that "one more" variety..

Cork bicycle handlebar tape can be used as well and comes in more colors than you can pay attention to.

Most people don't know about them. They are not used outside of Japan as far as I've ever seen. Looks like a Phillips, but cams out....most likely a jis. (A Reed and Prince will do the same thing, but I highly doubt that you would ever see anything like that on a Japanese fishing reel.)

I have a M-F 7'1" That is a little tip heavy with a Steez, TD-Z or other light reel, but is not too bad with a Tatula CT-R reel on it but still a little tip heavy. I also have a 7' MH-MF. It isn't quite as bad and balances maybe 1-2" in front of the spool with a Tat SV TW. So I would say that a 7'4" LTB is going to be very tip heavy. Too much for me. Most all of my other rigs balance right on the reel seat locking ring or slightly behind it. I don't like the way the LTB's balance, their heavy weight, or the way they won't work with light reels but I do like the way they feel fishing, for what it is worth. With that 7'4" your going to have to put a weight in the butt and use a heavy reel. (or get used to fishing a severly tip heavy combo I guess).

Hedgehog is the best I've found, very good quality and a lot of OEM stuff. I do buy from Tackle Trap if they have what I am looking for. Japan Tackle also has a few things.

I would like to add rod locker lids to the list. I've lost a couple that way. Have to agree though, ceiling fans are the worst.

I've ordered 3 or 4 from them and had 1 banged up and broken. They do not pack them well at all in my opinion. One I received was in a big square box with little to no padding or filler and the rod was attached inside to the wall of the box with packing tape.

This...except I wouldn't cut the tip off, I just heat it a little with a lighter to soften the epoxy and carefully slice it and peel it off with mt thumbnail (don't cut the blank) they tip isn't epoxied on, only the wrapping over it is. The tip is held on with hot glue just like the replacement tips in the kits.

Soryy guys, I didn't realize that I already responded to this..

I'm partial to the Blue Fox Vibrax spinners myself. 1/4 (7gm) or above should be do-able with your set up I'd think.

I'd put the Falcon Bucoo up against any of the rods named so far. List is around $129 but they fish more like $200+ The Falcon Jason Christie models are a bit cheaper but still very good The Falcon Lowrider is only about $70 but is a much more sensitive rod than most any Dobyns, St. Croix Mojo or Premier, or most Abu and Diawa rods under about $200. Falcons don't get much love around here, but they make a very excellent no-BS rod and they all fish way above their price point, and they are all smooth and light.

Funny, I remember when I was a kid, we always used the first guide as a hook keeper. as far as I remember that's how everyone did it. That would have been in the 1960's. I wonder when hook keepers became a thing?

Buy a net Dan.

Yes. My son loves these rods and has a bundle of them. Some of them I know that he has had for 5 years or so, maybe longer. He has never broken a single one and uses them pretty hard. Like you say, most failed rods are broken by the user. Not that people are necessarily being dishonest, People often just don't remember that little whack on the door frame leaving the house when, later in the day the rod breaks from it. On the other hand a whole ton of people are dishonest. I've heard many on the forums boldly discussing how to get the rod maker to cover their broken rods on warranty after admitting that it was their own fault. If a rod doesn't break within a short time of using it when it is new, I's probably not a manufacturing error. It might not be your fault either. I'm pretty sure that the packers at Amazon kill more rods than users and makers combined.

The vast majority of failed rods do so because of user abuse or accidental damage. I for one will almost never buy a rod off of the rack except at a small Mom and Pop shop where I know they keep an eye out. I've seen a hundred rods at places like Wal-Mart, Bass Pro, Cabala's and etc. being whacked on the edge of shelves, tapped on the floor, or otherwise beat up. Just about every one of those rods that get smacked on a shelf has a failure in its near futuer more thn likely. Here is to a link to a good article from NFC's website. I've also read an article by Gary Loomis that is just as good, but I can't remember where. https://northforkcomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Rod_Break_Article.pdf

Good stuff Thanks. I really haven't gone lower than about 1/8 oz. i know that I have no problem with that on the Ray's spool (usually). Just never needed to go lower except crappie fishing and for that I have a whole other set of gear...

I don't doubt it a bit. I have one of the Chinesium BFS spools on one of my PX68's, so I just never had a need to go there on any of the bigger reels. Re-reading what I wrote I guess I did say that they would only go to 3/16. What I should have said was that I have MINE set up to go down to about 3/16. Lighter than that I go to the PX's with either a Finesse Special spool or a Ray's BFS. That Ray's spool on Hedgehog BFS ceramic bearings will 100% go under 1/8 oz.