New article!
https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/buyers-guide-baitcasting-reels.html

I can vouch for the Lexa in the HD series. I've been VERY happy with mine. Happy enough that I now own three 300's and four 400's.

The Lew’s Hypermag is VERY tempting and a great choice for inclusion in the article. Plus some other great options were mentioned, including the new Curado M. But the SEVIIN at $120? I totally get the need to include a budget reel in any buyer’s guide. But this one was a miss for me, when you can get a Shimano SLX for $10 more, or a Lew’s LFS for $20 less. And the statement “the SEVIIN GF has seven decades of design and manufacturing expertise behind it” is a bit misleading. Yes—St. Croix has that experience for rods, but for reels? I don’t think so.

4 hours ago, MontclairDave said:

The Lew’s Hypermag is VERY tempting and a great choice for inclusion in the article. Plus some other great options were mentioned, including the new Curado M. But the SEVIIN at $120? I totally get the need to include a budget reel in any buyer’s guide. But this one was a miss for me, when you can get a Shimano SLX for $10 more, or a Lew’s LFS for $20 less. And the statement “the SEVIIN GF has seven decades of design and manufacturing expertise behind it” is a bit misleading. Yes—St. Croix has that experience for rods, but for reels? I don’t think so.

 

The Lew's might be a great reel but for $350 there's no way I pick it over a zillion and the extra $125 in my pocket .  

3 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

The Lew's might be a great reel but for $350 there's no way I pick it over a zillion and the extra $125 in my pocket .  

Agree 100%!! I have 2 Zillions and frankly can’t think of another reel I’d spend $350 on. (Although I spent $225 for the JDM version but that’s for another thread!) I just know there are a lot of dedicated Lew’s guys out there, so the Hypermag may be a good option for them if they want a really light reel. Although if you do a deep dive on initial reviews of the new Hypermag, some are questioning whether the $100 premium in price over the last iteration is worth it. I’m not familiar with the older version so I don’t know.