Anybody ever use any of Ardent's Evercast or Outdoor line of baitcasting reels?

They came out a couple years ago, and are now on deep discount.

 

Here are the Specs for the Evercast line:

 

Stainless ABR (9+1) Ball Bearing System. Weight: 8.0 oz. Dartanium Drag System.

• Centrifugal Brake System. High Efficiency Gearing (HEG). Aluminum Spool.
• Forged Aluminum Handle Made with Septon. Forged Aluminum Star Drag. Durable Matte Black Rubber Painted Frame.
• Tapered Titanium Levelwind Insert. Available in Right Hand Retrieve.

And here are the Specs for the Outdoors line:

 

The details: Durable, 1-piece magnesium alloy frame

• Retrieve-smoothing Strike Saver drag system; 6-pin centrifugal brake system for smooth casting.
• Excellent cast distance; Superior backlash resistance.

The main reason why I am looking at these reels is because they are cheap and have good specs.

I don't recall ever reading a postitive review from anyone without a relationship with the company.

I don't see them on Ardent's website, and since they must be on a heavy discount that should tell you something. I would much rather buy a trusted brand. All of those fancy specs do is grab customers.

I think those are discontinued. I use their Apex line of reels and like them.

I had one id rather use a zebco 202 .smoother drag and smoother reeling

Nobody has ever told me that Ardent was their favorite reel brand, and that's for a reason.

Ardent didn't put their name on it for a reason.

Since they went to China, I'm pretty sure their product has actually improved as opposed to when it was US made

The only Ardent reel I have is a purple and gold C-400 LSU 6:4:1 that I purchased for fun as a novelty.

 

Only used it a few times as I do not want to mess up the logo on the side.

 

The reel performed nicely but it is heavy.  Much heavier than my other 6:4:1 reels.

There was some kid on here that was a staunch Ardent fan, haven't seen him in awhile.

I bought the Ardent 1000's when they came out - I was guiding in the everglades and did a lot of frog fishing - 10 yrs or so down the road the reels still cast a long way and have held up to grinding countless bass out of pads and weeds - I'm not affiliated with the company in any way - I did call them and talked to their engineer about the drags not being strong enough - I sent the reels back to them and they got the drags up so they were good frog reels.

I now use them with 10 and 12# fluoro for throwing cranks and such - they still cast as far or farther than any of my other reels. I was sorry to here about them building some models in china - but on a recent visit south a couple of really good sticks were happy with the new Apex.

I do clean and oil my reels every 6 months or so but that's all I've done for them.

Have one of their Evercasts(Armed Forces Model). Not a bad reel but did have to change the handle after about 3 months because it had a bit of play in it and was bothering me.  Overall it has preformed well and wouldn't consider it a bad purchase considering it was on sale when I purchased it for I believe around the $60 mark.  Had the same problem with a handle on a more expesive Ardent which I wanted to like but just couldn't, so it went to the BPS reel trade in bin last year.

Have one of their Evercasts(Armed Forces Model). Not a bad reel but did have to change the handle after about 3 months because it had a bit of play in it and was bothering me.  Overall it has preformed well and wouldn't consider it a bad purchase considering it was on sale when I purchased it for I believe around the $60 mark.  Had the same problem with a handle on a more expesive Ardent which I wanted to like but just couldn't, so it went to the BPS reel trade in bin last year.

How would the Ardent Reel compare to a BPS reel at the same pricepoint?

I would probably purchase a BPS reel and would spend a bit more and get an Extreme, PQ, or Carbonlite instead.  Never had an issue with any of BPS brand reels.