I own Metaniums, steez, Aldebarans and all the curados and a couple months ago I bought a Casitas because it was so cheap and needed an extra reel for guiding clients. I found the reel new for 85$ and was seriously impressed, I mean 85$ really?  Its light, compact, palms great and is a workhorse. Most people I guide arent great with baitcasters but havent been having any problems with this reel. I put the reel on a Croix Bass X and its gotta be one of the best combos under 200$ in my opinion. Someone on a budget who needs a reliable combo or someone who wants to own alot of combo's, I highly recommend this reel. 

Too much diawa hype on these forums. I used to have a lots diawas and shimanos. Loved them all, now i run mostly lews because of the value. I dont feel my shimanos or diawas are any better than my lews. And i dont feel the fuego is better than the casitas, they are both great reels. Casitas feel a little better in hand. I hope everyone who pitches in has actually used these reels

 

9 hours ago, d-camarena said:

Too much diawa hype on these forums. I used to have a lots diawas and shimanos. Loved them all, now i run mostly lews because of the value. I dont feel my shimanos or diawas are any better than my lews. And i dont feel the fuego is better than the casitas, they are both great reels. Casitas feel a little better in hand. I hope everyone who pitches in has actually used these reels

Thank you! Those are my thoughts exactly!?

My local walmart has these reels for $117.95. They look pretty darn good for that price, but I would likely upgrade the drag washers.

1 hour ago, FishDewd said:

My local walmart has these reels for $117.95. They look pretty darn good for that price, but I would likely upgrade the drag washers.

You can find the casitas a little cheaper if you dig around the dark corners of the interwebs. I picked mine up for $89 USD I think. I run with a pretty tight drag, haven't had issues on bass slipping when it shouldn't be. When it does slip is smooth and consistent. I might feel differently if I was chasing stripers with it, but i haven't tried ?

Well, ideally... the drag should slip a little. It's kind of a balance. You want a big fish to tire but you don't want to tire it out too much, if that makes sense, so that they can recover. I always reel down when retrieving. Learning this when I was young. Lift pole up, reel down, lift up, reel down... sometimes need to tilt left/right but always reel down. Hardly an expert but 99.9 or so% of the fish I've brought in, unless I hooked them badly, have been full of life and ready to go when I release them. I like them to be lively! Flop around in my hands and try to get away! Way it should be lol. I really respect them a lot. 

Well, ideally... the drag should slip a little. It's kind of a balance. You want a big fish to tire but you don't want to tire it out too much, if that makes sense, so that they can recover. I always reel down when retrieving. Learning this when I was young. Lift pole up, reel down, lift up, reel down... sometimes need to tilt left/right but always reel down. Hardly an expert but 99.9 or so% of the fish I've brought in, unless I hooked them badly, have been full of life and ready to go when I release them. I like them to be lively! Flop around in my hands and try to get away! Way it should be lol. I really respect them a lot. 

Well, ideally... the drag should slip a little. It's kind of a balance. You want a big fish to tire but you don't want to tire it out too much, if that makes sense, so that they can recover. I always reel down when retrieving. Learning this when I was young. Lift pole up, reel down, lift up, reel down... sometimes need to tilt left/right but always reel down. Hardly an expert but 99.9 or so% of the fish I've brought in, unless I hooked them badly, have been full of life and ready to go when I release them. I like them to be lively! Flop around in my hands and try to get away! Way it should be lol. I really respect them a lot. 

Well, ideally... the drag should slip a little. It's kind of a balance. You want a big fish to tire but you don't want to tire it out too much, if that makes sense, so that they can recover. I always reel down when retrieving. Learning this when I was young. Lift pole up, reel down, lift up, reel down... sometimes need to tilt left/right but always reel down. Hardly an expert but 99.9 or so% of the fish I've brought in, unless I hooked them badly, have been full of life and ready to go when I release them. I like them to be lively! Flop around in my hands and try to get away! Way it should be lol. I really respect them a lot. 

On 4/23/2017 at 9:36 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Had one, it's smooth and cast a mile, but it didn't have much torque when fighting a fish. 

Can you explain what you mean by torque? I have two casitas reels one with 15 lb floro and one with 12, casts great and is smooth, just doesn't feel right when fighting fish

11 minutes ago, Quarry Man said:

Can you explain what you mean by torque? I have two casitas reels one with 15 lb floro and one with 12, casts great and is smooth, just doesn't feel right when fighting fish

That's exactly what I mean, and not with big fish that are pulling hard, but just standard fish that are pulling the reel won't crank when it should be able to. Basically any fish over 2 pounds was a struggle if it put up much of a fight. 

29 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

That's exactly what I mean, and not with big fish that are pulling hard, but just standard fish that are pulling the reel won't crank when it should be able to. Basically any fish over 2 pounds was a struggle if it put up much of a fight. 

that's what I expected, I just thought it was a combination of using a 2 piece rod, (didn't realize it was a 2pc until after I bought it) and 12 lb floro. Now I am hesitant to fish with it because I can't afford to lose fish in tournaments.

3 hours ago, Quarry Man said:

Can you explain what you mean by torque? I have two casitas reels one with 15 lb floro and one with 12, casts great and is smooth, just doesn't feel right when fighting fish

Low to mid grade composite reels flex under load. It doesn't take much to bind gears enough to compromise smoothness and power transfer. SLX has replaced that model.