Great Spinning Reel
I have a fairly heavyweight (20 - 80g) 9' pike spinning rod, with a fairly aged Daiwa reel. That reel does an OK service with mono, but pre-dated regular use of braid and so could not cope when I tried to load it with braid. Time to retire my trusty old companion of 25 years.
I looked for a replacement, and eyed up enviously my friend's Stradic. I really could not justify the expense of buying one of these, but then I found this. Apart from cosmetics, it looks pretty much the same, with the fighting drag, double handle and so on - I hope I am not doing the Stradic a disservice. I loaded it up with braid, and have since been hauling 70g lures through flowing water - a fair test, I think. This reel has handled it with ease, in terms of its cranking power, and has seen no evidence whatsoever, even in these testing conditions, of line bed in. It casts like a dream, with level line lay on retrieve, and my casting distance is more than double what I could do with the old reel for the same amount of effort. It has the reassuringly solid feel I have become used to with Shimano, and balances out my rod perfectly. I was particularly impressed to receive 2 alloy spools as standard; often, the second spool is plastic.
The first pike (12lb) came to the net with no dramas, and the reel behaved impeccably. So, in terms of quality, and value for money, I really could not be happier.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: New