My accidental new year's resolution: Give Daiwa a chance

[basscattrent]

Never really been a fan of Daiwa and their baitcasters.


Funny, but the Steez is kind of the reel I'm "meh" on, just because I've not had a good chance to fish with it all day to realize the weight benefit. Not to say it isn't the best of the bunch, but I look at it as about 2.5 HSTLA's staring at me if I went to trade it I(and it's hard for me to justify being worth that unless I have plenty of other reels which I do at this time).

I had the very same feeling about he Steez. I had one gathering dust for nearly two years. It saw some action but I'd rather grab a Core 50MG, Scorpion XT1000 for the Low profiles or the Conquest/Cardiff 50s on the round reel side for Shimano. On the Daiwa side, I grab the Alphas style reel over he Steez or the IZE light if I wanted to look at "red".

Then I bought an MB Orochi Destruction and the Steez found a new home. The reel looks like it was made for that rod. Easily one of my favorite combos now. Sadly the Core and Scorpion XT1000 see little action now. It was a matter of finding a rod where there was a synergy in the combo (the Steez reel on a Steez 6'7" rod did nothing for me at all) . I'm liking the Steez so much now that I'm going to buy another one during the BPS Classic event.

I believe if you find the right rod, the Steez will rise like cream to the top.

I have found the right rod and the winner is the NRX893C.

[taylor5877]

Just a quick update. Traded the 2 Advantages and picked up another Fuego and 6.3:1 Zillion.

I'm definitely digging the 6.3:1 Zillions and the Fuegos. Glad I have the 1 Zillion Type R, but I'm not jumping to get another, especially vs. the price used Fuegos go for when you find them. The Fuego is just a gem though, all the comfort without the added weight.

[taylor5877]

Wow, almost an equivalent feeling to when you're told Santa isn't real, the world is not flat, or something like that...

Before this "experiment" I could have just gone about my life thinking that when it really got down to it, Shimano made the most durable, highest performing reels. After all, here in the South, and Texas in particular that's about what most will say...

Although I haven't loved every reel I've tried so far in this experiment, the Zillions and Fuegos are AWESOME for what I want out of a reel.

I think I'm up to 3 fuegos, 8 zillions and 2 vientos (look for these in the classifieds soon) now.

[OnlyOneCanoli]

It's so funny to read this post cause this is almost exactly what happened to me. The same time you were going thru this I was doing the same sort of thing. I was home on new years and decided to take out my reels and take pics of them. I noticed that I had mostly shimano's. 15 shimano's vs 2 diawa's. As of right now I am even at 13 shimano's and 13 diawa's. I stared with a ryoga 1016 and a custom painted Tdz. Now I'm up to.
Alphas Ito
Alphas finesse 105h
Custom Tdz
Ryoga 1016
Steez 103sha
Steez 100sha
Zillion 100sh
Zillion 50th
Zillion hlc
Zillion type r
T3 1016sh
Fuego w/100m spool x2
Not to mention that I Have 3 daiwa spinning reels now too.
So I too have been stung by the dark side. I love the variety and being a certain brand fanboy is just limiting your choices and I am happy with my reels from both camps. Oh and I do have the one lonely exo maybe I need a mgx to keep her company from all the big boys.
Sal

[mundo]

It's so funny to read this post cause this is almost exactly what happened to me. The same time you were going thru this I was doing the same sort of thing. I was home on new years and decided to take out my reels and take pics of them. I noticed that I had mostly shimano's. 15 shimano's vs 2 diawa's. As of right now I am even at 13 shimano's and 13 diawa's. I stared with a ryoga 1016 and a custom painted Tdz. Now I'm up to.
Alphas Ito
Alphas finesse 105h
Custom Tdz
Ryoga 1016
Steez 103sha
Steez 100sha
Zillion 100sh
Zillion 50th
Zillion hlc
Zillion type r
T3 1016sh
Fuego w/100m spool x2
Not to mention that I Have 3 daiwa spinning reels now too.
So I too have been stung by the dark side. I love the variety and being a certain brand fanboy is just limiting your choices and I am happy with my reels from both camps. Oh and I do have the one lonely exo maybe I need a mgx to keep her company from all the big boys.
Sal

You need to try a Pixy or PX68, then your journey to the dark side will be complete

Mundo

[OnlyOneCanoli]

Oh trust me a px68 an spr and a z2020 is in my not so distant future just waiting for the opertunitu to arise.
Sal

[wirinhar]

I see no reason to ever limit yourself to one manufacturer.

Bingo!!! X2

[wsunweed]

About to do the same thing this year... Just picked up a brand new HSTLA which is going to my very first Non-Shimano Casting reel. I never intended to limit myself to Shimano but my Curados did every job I asked them too with very little maintenance. The release of the G series reel (which I bought two of when they first came out ) and a limited offering of Left handed reels has me looking elsewhere.

If Shimano wanted to keep exclusive rights to my money they could have offered a 5.5:1, 6.5:1 and 7:1 Curado in Left handedness, continued the Curado 50e line up, and maintained the same quality for their G line up that the E and D series possessed.

Now, rather than finding another used 101D I have decided to buy a brand new HSTLA and rather than buying a used 201DPV I will be grabbing a brand new Revo Winch.