WetBlanket

The only way i'd wash one of my reels this way is if i used it in saltwater. No way i am doing this in freshwater. One full service per season is all what's needed.

Suprised to see so little love toward the used market. I guess if you don't tinker with reels, and aren't able to replace a bearing, worm gear, main gear, etc, used is less attractive. I got another used Z2020 last year, swapped the gear set, had to clean one bearing, serviced the whole reel, and its as smooth and silent as new. Got the reel for like $140, and for that price it's unbeatable.

Which Alphas did you grab?

Personally prefer grabbing used in near mint condition to save $$.

Sharp edges on the sides of the handle and those knobs feels ultra cheapo, but for under $5 its fine. One vendor was selling carbon handles without the knobs for $10, and they looked so d**n good compared to your average handle, all the edges were rounded and it was very similar to the RCS handles, but no sure what happened, they stopped selling those.

This is exactly what it does. Dumb, isn't it? I will ignore all new Daiwa releases if this is the future of the company.

Its not this rod that's a steal, its the NRX's that are heavily overpriced, while also looking like they're from 1997.

Wish my zillion had a cool color like that blue doyo instead of having the most boring and generic silver that exists.

Its depressing, but smallies, musky and walleye fishery is pretty good in Spring and Fall. Summer is completely dead like they all moved to another country, tho.

Its a decent reel. The only DC reels that i truly wouldn't suggest are the ones that use inferior DC braking to the IDC-5. Curado DC/SLX DC for example, i'd stay far away from those.

For sure, but i am just not too certain how debris get in this easily. I most often fish in real dirty rivers where you'd see tampons and condoms floating around (no joke btw😕), and unless i get the reel submerged, which i usually don't do, they never get noisy in a season.

When spooling it for the first time, apply a lot of pressure on the line (the more the better) so it is tightly fitted on the spool. I usually use down to 10# of the 832, and it doesn't dig. Also, when you're snagged, don't just tighten the drag, and pull. That's bad for your gears and will dig even with 50#.

Which brands are you using? I very often don't clean them for over a season, i personally never had em go noisy. Of course, if sand gets in, that's bad, but you will usually feel the crunchiness.

I too believe there's only 2 relevant brands, but most people see the "big three", and i am sure to the more casual crowd, Abu is as good as Shimano and Daiwa. To me personally, if Shimano is a 10 and Daiwa is a 10, Abu is no more than a 6/10 in comparison, and that' being generous.

Really? For me its the opposite. After i clean them in the ultra sonic cleaner, they make a bit of noise (nowhere near as much as the cheaper bearings from Ali and Boca), but after 3+ days of use, you barely hear them at all.

Why would we be related? Because if the company pays so little attention to what they're shipping, and don't even bother to contact you for having shipped more than what was ordered, that's their problem, not the customers.

HOW?🙃

Anyone else feels like Lews i kinda stepping up their game in the last 3 or so years? I look at both companies lineup of rods AND reels, and i am liking Lews offering much more. Reels and rods look higher end, feel better and don't have this plastic look that pretty much all current gen abus have. Give it 1-2 years, and i bet you that "the big three" will be Shimano, Daiwa and Lews.

Would you have done the same if it was Amazon? You know, the ones that hire slaves to work at their warehouse?

I would have kept it. If it was a small family owned store, i would return it for sure, but if its a large corpa, they ain't gonna miss a GLX.

Wish Megabass had a great warranty on rods.😑Its the one big thing that bothers me about the company.

If they release a new zillion, it better use the same 34mm spool and have an actual zero adjuster that is adjustable. If they don't.............

Literally have over 20 bearings from the three companies mentioned in the OP that i am not using because i don't have enough reels for them, but its good to know that as soon as i grab a reel, i can install higher quality bearings, even if the originals are already good. And those Japanese ceramics are pretty silent compared to crap Bocas and Aliexpress ones, so you really ain't gettings any downsides from swapping. But there is one reason i could thing off when upgrading to ceramic hybrids might be worth it to some. You really don't need to lube them, so if you're lazy and don't want to oil standard metal bearings, ceramics are a good choice.

Few years back, this used to be pretty popular, but not hearing many people swapping bearings nowadays. Personally, i do swap em to KTF, ZPI or Hedgehog bearings. I don't feel like its needed on the mid range and above, but already have a bunch of ceramic hybrids that i've collected over the years, so why not.

What's funny is the amount of teenagers shilling those noname reels on tiktok. Videos always starting with the usual "i used everything from Daiwa and Shimano, and X nonemane is better, and cheaper!!!!"