Is the Black Max good or bad?

In my bass club if you win big bass for a tournament you get a free reel and yesterday I got a Black Max. I've never used one of these but I love how its built like a Revo because Revos are my favorite model of reels.

I have two, they are good. Academy has the Abu Black Max combo for $59 and sometimes puts it on sale for $39.

Five bearings, a graphite frame, magnetic brakes, your average run of the mill $50 reel.

They are an entry leval graphite framed reel, but they seem to be one of the better ones in that catagory.  My tournament partner has used them hard for 2 years now and they are still working, a little less smooth, and little more noisy than new, but he has been rough with them (flipping and frogging with 50lb braid) and does little to no maint. Personaly.........I don't know............ I probably wouldn't be so lucky to have them last with such abuse, and I tend to like higher priced gear, so I wouldn't even look at reels below the Revo S for everyday hard use, BUT if I was in the market for a low cost reel for a loaner/backup/travel/lite use etc...... the Abu Max's would be where I would start. 

Take care of it an get it serviced as any other reel should, it'll serve you well.  Congrats on big bass!

I got one a couple years ago on sale for only 20 bucks. Brought it home, spooled it up and went out there and fished it hard as hell now for about 2 years and it has worked flawlessly. Really good real especialy for free.

Roby

I've got a Revo S and an SX. But I'm definitely gonna give this Black Max a try because I mean, you cvan't beat free  8-)

I own 3 revos, S, SC, & SX. All great reels. That being said I also own 5 silver maxs. I use em as beater reels and they just keep on going. The oldest is about 3 yrs and has no flipping switch, its not as smooth as it once was but it has landed several good bass. I got em cheap off ebay (around $50) and liked em so much I replaced alot of my older reels with these. No, its NOT a revo but its not junk like alot of other $50 reels.