After one season of being fished as supplied gear on a charter boat, here is a review:

My father owns and runs one of the busiest charter boats in Ocean City, MD, and uses a fair amount of spinning gear. For spadefish, Mahi, and small sharks, spinning reels in the 4000 size are his choice. He is traditionally a diehard Shimano guy, and all but his 2 Coastal reels are Shimano. The begging of this season he was looking for some new spinning reels for his charters to fish, and decided on picking up 2 Coastals in addition to his regular Shimanos. The reels feature ABS style spools, Corrosion Resistant parts (including bearings), machined handles, Airbails, Twist Buster, ect. He immediately put these reels to work during some pretty hot shark fishing, and is still using them now. Here is a list of pros and cons. Enjoy!  8-)

Pros:

Apparently, the ABS is no BS! These reels cast extremely well, and the line control system (Twistbuster) works as hoped.... maybe even better!

Drag, Drag, Drag, Drag..... this drag is a beast! Very large, incredibly smooth, and waterproof. The drag is a home run.

Frame. The frame is very rigid, showing zero signs of corrosion after a season of hard fishing.

Anti-reverse is very solid, and shows no signs of weakening.

Reel is quite light, actually very light for its size.

Internals: after a complete strip down (by myself), the reel is remarkably corrosion free... better than some Shimanos! Judging by the insides of this reel, you would never know it had been exposed to saltwater. Impressive.

Overall Functionality: This is a no-nonsense reel function wise. Not the simplest design - actually the most complicated I have ever seen - but it is a no frills reel, which often means a no hassle reel.

Cons:

As well as the interals held up, one area that did corrode when not oiled was the handle's "main pin", the part that runs through the whole reel (not sure the technical term for this). But this would be easily avoidable with a shot of CX after each trip.

Drag clicker is consistent, but very quiet. For a captain trying to figure out what the fish is doing, this is a real bummer.

Handle is not direct drive, so it has a SMALL amount of wobble. But then again, who notices that fishing?

Handle knob is a disappointing smooth, hard plastic. No grip!

Some screws are INCREDIBLY low quality. You find better in $40 Mitchell reels. They don't corrode, but have fun getting them out without stripping them. One slip and there done. Good I had extras!

And now, for the biggest con - the gearing has become somewhat loud, which indicates it is already on the road to being done. Even after a good surgeon-style cleaning and re-lube with Ardent Reel Butter, the gears still have some noise. Not quite grinding, more like buzzing. Very disappointing. Now some of this gear problems is almost certainly do to charters square cranking and using the reel as a winch!  ;D But then again, for the same price we've had some Shimanos going on 5 years! Just not the best gears in these boys; and for the salt, you need the best.

Overall Impressions: Unless you are a die-hard Dawia fan, buy a Saros or a Stradic on eBay!

Nice report.

As an everyday saltwater fisherman I am totally unimpressed with Daiwa, 3000, 3500, and 4000 are same basic reel except for line capacity, all three offer a max drag of only 13.2# and weigh in over 13 oz., smooth but not the smoothest, I own one.

I give the stradic 4000 pretty decent marks, 11.7 oz and max drag of 20#, very smooth but doesn't handle the salt conditions as well as some others but I do love this reel, spheros is a much better workhorse but not as smooth with a little stronger drag.

Quantum Cabo.....can't say enough, built to take it with 23# drag but heavy, this one will last a lifetime and extremely popular here in Florida along with Penns.

My favorite Abu soron 40, silky smooth about 11 oz with 22# drag and tough as nails, I own a few of them.  Just added a soron 60 for offshore use, 15.5 oz with 30 max drag 30# braid.  THIS IS THE ONE !

The Abu's are dependable.

How are the Sorons with corrosion?

So far the Coastal 2500 I have has held up better than any Shimano Ive used for inshore. But its finish is almost a weak as Quantum. The Daiwas gears never were quiet smooth like Shimano but have held up to small sharks and reds up to 25lbs. It has held up mechanically to be the same now as when I got it. Every Shimano has steadily lost its smoothness after experiencing a run from a huge Jack. Still though I think Im going to try Penn's Slammer, heavy but I havent heard a bad word about them searching all forums I can find. (We better knock of the saltwater talk before RoadWarrior tells us this is a bass forum)

The 2 soron 40 are about a year old, with 1 new one and the rest are cardinal 800 series 3-4 years old, seldom serviced and operate like new with no signs of corosion.  I just had my 802 serviced and my tech, who has over 50 years of service, was impressed with the quality of the cardinal in comparison to the Shimano's, the soron replaced the cardinal.

What I forgot to mention is braid used exclusively on every inshore reel I own, 15 or 20# all PP.  I have gotten some wind knots with cardinals and soron, hard to remember having any with the stradic or cabo but I'm sure a few.  In 4-5 months of service not one single wind knot from the Daiwa which does impress me.  I bought a wide spool Johnny Morris and a wind knot result on almost every cast, took it back to BPS and put the same line on the Daiwa.  I do think the reel has a lot to do with getting knots at least from my experience.

My negative to the Daiwa is drag, but it is not a bad reel.  Also 1 of my guys on our boat, we go offshore about once a week, fishes nothing but Shimano rods and reels.  His stradic, torium and tld are falling apart and I'm not impressed with his terramer and tallus, my tallus is in my garage with no reel on it in favor of a new redbone I bought.  With respect to Shimano he does not care for his reels like I do, but their rods are crap.  I own 6 redbones, 4 inshore, 1 offshore boat and a light I use for freshwater LMB.

The 2 soron 40 are about a year old, with 1 new one and the rest are cardinal 800 series 3-4 years old, seldom serviced and operate like new with no signs of corosion. I just had my 802 serviced and my tech, who has over 50 years of service, was impressed with the quality of the cardinal in comparison to the Shimano's, the soron replaced the cardinal.

What I forgot to mention is braid used exclusively on every inshore reel I own, 15 or 20# all PP. I have gotten some wind knots with cardinals and soron, hard to remember having any with the stradic or cabo but I'm sure a few. In 4-5 months of service not one single wind knot from the Daiwa which does impress me. I bought a wide spool Johnny Morris and a wind knot result on almost every cast, took it back to BPS and put the same line on the Daiwa. I do think the reel has a lot to do with getting knots at least from my experience.

My negative to the Daiwa is drag, but it is not a bad reel. Also 1 of my guys on our boat, we go offshore about once a week, fishes nothing but Shimano rods and reels. His stradic, torium and tld are falling apart and I'm not impressed with his terramer and tallus, my tallus is in my garage with no reel on it in favor of a new redbone I bought. With respect to Shimano he does not care for his reels like I do, but their rods are crap. I own 6 redbones, 4 inshore, 1 offshore boat and a light I use for freshwater LMB.

I agree, the Daiwa manage line very nicely! As for the guys falling apart Shimanos.... God alone must know what this man does to his reels!  ;D  TLD's are powerhouses! And I love Stradics. Can't comment on the Toriums. But how the **** do you brake a TLD!?

Wow, bad mouthing my teramar? Must be talking about the south east version? The west coast versions are awesome!