I recently purchased a Daiwa Tatula 100 HL from AE and I thought I would share my experience if anyone is debating getting this reel.

In a word, Wow. I am impressed with not only the appearance of the reel, but the smoothness is incredible. I looked at one at a retail shop last year and it didn't feel like this, I assume the retail one was dry. The feeling of the gears is absent, literally like butter.

The casting distance and ease of casting (most important to me) is outstanding. I was out with it today for five hours. Wind was head on around 30km/hr (20 mph), started with breaks at 10, working down to 6, with a smidge of thumb towards the end of the cast. Wind died down, and got the breaks down to 4, with fluff mid cast but working itself out at the end of the cast. No Wind, 5 is the sweet spot, with wind 6 and a tad of thumb at the end. The ease of casting was very impressive, 60% effort resulted in the best and most accurate casts, letting the rod load and casting smoothly.

Insanely comfortable reel in any position I tried. Break dial never once got moved accidentally regardless of how I palmed the reel.

As for AE, obviously check the seller rating and use common sense, but no issues at all. Very well packaged.

I wanted a zillion, but the the Tatula 100 was half the price of the zillion at $160 Canadian ($115 USD). No duty or tax. For reference, same reel retails for $260 plus 13% tax locally. Great deal.

Only thing I knew I wouldn't love was the knobs, so I splurged $16 and got a carbon fiber handle with rubber paddle knobs that are much more to my liking. A bit more surface area. Easy install.

Paired with a Daiwa Tatula XT and spooled with 30lb braid. Was casting a 3\8 oz bladed jig with paddle tail, 1/2 oz spinnerbait, and 1/2 oz Johnson silver minnow. Really like this combo.

On 6/26/2026 at 10:45 PM, LCG said:

I recently purchased a Daiwa Tatula 100 HL from AE and I thought I would share my experience if anyone is debating getting this reel.

In a word, Wow. I am impressed with not only the appearance of the reel, but the smoothness is incredible. I looked at one at a retail shop last year and it didn't feel like this, I assume the retail one was dry. The feeling of the gears is absent, literally like butter.

The casting distance and ease of casting (most important to me) is outstanding. I was out with it today for five hours. Wind was head on around 30km/hr (20 mph), started with breaks at 10, working down to 6, with a smidge of thumb towards the end of the cast. Wind died down, and got the breaks down to 4, with fluff mid cast but working itself out at the end of the cast. No Wind, 5 is the sweet spot, with wind 6 and a tad of thumb at the end. The ease of casting was very impressive, 60% effort resulted in the best and most accurate casts, letting the rod load and casting smoothly.

Insanely comfortable reel in any position I tried. Break dial never once got moved accidentally regardless of how I palmed the reel.

As for AE, obviously check the seller rating and use common sense, but no issues at all. Very well packaged.

I wanted a zillion, but the the Tatula 100 was half the price of the zillion at $160 Canadian ($115 USD). No duty or tax. For reference, same reel retails for $260 plus 13% tax locally. Great deal.

Only thing I knew I wouldn't love was the knobs, so I splurged $16 and got a carbon fiber handle with rubber paddle knobs that are much more to my liking. A bit more surface area. Easy install.

Paired with a Daiwa Tatula XT and spooled with 30lb braid. Was casting a 3\8 oz bladed jig with paddle tail, 1/2 oz spinnerbait, and 1/2 oz Johnson silver minnow. Really like this combo.

What handle is this?

3 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

What handle is this?

Private message sent as not sure if it would break any forum rules.

Thanks.

Do not try a Zillion. I thought I liked soda pop, then I tried beer.

It is the reel that made the SLX and the Curado completely irrelevant. And one of its strongest pros it has is how long lasting the smoothness/silence is.

Nice dude...really like mine. So smooth they feel like a belt drive. I have Zillions as well, and these can hang. We live in good times when you can buy a reel of this caliber for a bargain price

On 6/29/2026 at 2:45 PM, WetBlanket said:

It is the reel that made the SLX and the Curado completely irrelevant. And one of its strongest pros it has is how long lasting the smoothness/silence is.

Hasn’t the reel only been out since 2024?

56 minutes ago, Brycecover said:

Hasn’t the reel only been out since 2024?

Indeed, and before that, i was NEVER ever suggesting anybody to bother with a Tatula. Only since 2024 that this series of reels became worthy in my book. I know that they were already popular prior to 2024, but all the older Tat generations were getting noisy and grindy so quickly that i just couldn't take any of them seriously.

46 minutes ago, WetBlanket said:

Indeed, and before that, i was NEVER ever suggesting anybody to bother with a Tatula. Only since 2024 that this series of reels became worthy in my book. I know that they were already popular prior to 2024, but all the older Tat generations were getting noisy and grindy so quickly that i just couldn't take any of them seriously.

Well, i can agree on that. I went to pick up one of the old gen on Facebook a couple years back and it felt pretty bad.

On 6/29/2026 at 2:45 PM, WetBlanket said:

It is the reel that made the SLX and the Curado completely irrelevant. And one of its strongest pros it has is how long lasting the smoothness/silence is.

I have owned the SLX and Curado MGL 70's, nothing bad to say about them. The newer Tatula 100 can certainly hang with them, time will tell of its superior, but I am impressed so far. I would say casting distance on par, but easier to dial in and much less brake adusting when changing lures. Comfort is equal despite slightly larger size. Very user friendly.

I had an old Tatula, I want to say 2012 ish, and is was big and wide. They have certainly made improvements.

2 hours ago, WetBlanket said:

Indeed, and before that, i was NEVER ever suggesting anybody to bother with a Tatula. Only since 2024 that this series of reels became worthy in my book. I know that they were already popular prior to 2024, but all the older Tat generations were getting noisy and grindy so quickly that i just couldn't take any of them seriously.

I have 2 older ones, had them deep cleaned by DVT, and they are now back in regular use, workin' good.