Any difference between cheap spinning combos?

I feel like this is a question I’d answer completely different for a kid vs an adult. For an adult, I don’t think it matters that much in the reel because a spinning reel has a lower floor than any other reel type, imo. It is almost hard to make an unusable spinning reel if you’re willing to back reel and work around deficiencies.

So for an adult, I’d put more money on the rod. Especially if you’re the one taking the kid fishing, I’d swap that. You want the least hassle reel. Doesn’t need a lot of bearings or to be super smooth, it just has to be reliable and preferably not too large. When looking at reviews, faulty bail mechanisms are often the biggest flag. There generally isn’t that much difference in construction, especially in low end models.

I’d also be wary of getting too sensitive of a rod because until they learn what a bite feels like they will try to set the hook on everything in that lake and it’ll be constant snags. The key to enjoying fishing with kids is to realize their downtime is your downtime.