I have read lots of negative about this reel...any thoughts on it by anyone who has had one? 

I have not read anything good about this reel, my friend has one and its not smooth but he hasn't had a lot of the problems other people have. I still wouldn't get it though, I would spend a little more and get an abu garcia revo s.

I was at Dicks yesterday picking up a couple Cavitrons and saw the Skeet Reese promo....so I purchased a topwater rod and received this reel for free.  I will be using it tomorrow and will pass along my results.  I usually fish BPS PQs on my rigs, but couldn't resist the promo.

I bought one two years ago. I fished it for one season and by fall the line guide stopped tracking on the worm gear. I attempted to get it fixed but they don't make replacement parts for the reel. I then called the company and found out that the reel is made by shakesphere. They stated that I could send them $50 and send the reel to them and they would send me another. I chose not to. I did meet a guy at BPS and he stated that if I put some aluminum foil in where the pin goes to track on the worm gear that it might fix my problem. I tried it and it did fix it. I still have the reel but seldom use it.

 

On the other hand the poles don't seem to bad.