What can you tell me about the 230SX? I was thinking of getting my first spinning reel and was looking at these.

Thanks,

Scott.

I bought one of the first reels they made.

I bought mine from Ray Scott. It sucked!

I would not consider another.

8-)

You would probably want to stay with a name brand reel since it's your first one.

Daiwa , shimano ,,quantum , pflueger , abu garcia.

Proven track records.

I  think the name is decieving, if you are going to name it U.S. reel then you should make it in the U.S.A.

They must be a heck of a reel, Jimmy Houston left Shimano to use them! ;D

A fishing bud of mine fishes a U.S. reel on a Tsumani airwave, it's impressive and he loves it. Says the airwave is at least as light and sensitive as his loomis rods. This man is a master when it comes to casting, spinning and flyrods.  We fished snook together this morning and I had a chance to fish with it.

I have a couple of them.  They have seen a modest amount of use.  They handle braid good.  Using the arbors that come with the spools they don't take a whole bunch of braid to load and you don't have to mess with backing.  I think they are decent reels and I haven't had any issues with them.

i don't own a 230XS but i have two 180 xls that i have had for a couple years.i use them all the time , Ive never had a problem with either of them.