Aldebaran 15 Hedgehog vs BFS

[Lastworm]

New member from Australia here. I fish for Australian bass using lures around the 3.5-4gram mark.
So after using an Aldebaran 15 for a full season and not being overly impressed with the casting performance (my Chronarch Ci4+ was more effortless), I’ve just upgraded to an Aldebaran BFS.
My question is, given the Aldebaran 15 is actually lighter than the BFS, would the hedgehog studios BFS spool upgrade in the Aldebaran 15 be the ultimate light weight casting setup? How would it compare to the BFS with the magnetic brake system?

[ss30378]

Two questions:

Are you referring to the regular 15 aldebaran with svs brakes or the 15 aldebaran bfs xg limited?

Are you defining ultimate lightweight caster by total reel weight or by casting ability? Some look at ultimate caster as how far it can cast others look at how light of a lure it can accurately cast.

With 3-4g weights the newer style 16 bfs is a rocket with the stock spool, the light shallow spool and mag brakes are what make it better compared to the previous models. There are also light spools that weigh under 5g with bearing for the 16 bfs model that would be better for casting 2g or less lures but in the 3-4g range I'd just keep it the stock spool. I routinely use 3" senkos with very light wire hooks that have a total weight of 3.6g and the 16 bfs is still one of the best reels I've used for them for both distance and accuracy.

I've since moved to the 28mm daiwa air spools for my lightweight setups but the 16 aldebaran bfs is still right there with the air spool in the 3-4g range of lures.

[Lastworm]

Thanks for your response.

I was referring to the regular Aldebaran 15 with the SVS infinity braking system. Seeing as the spool seems to be what’s holding it back in terms of casting performance and it weighs less than the BFS, I thought updating the spool might give the best of both worlds - weight & casting performance.

Was just curious if anyone has done a comparison. La Niña and all this rain has meant no fishing and more time online looking at expensive tackle

[ss30378]

Thanks for your response.

I was referring to the regular Aldebaran 15 with the SVS infinity braking system. Seeing as the spool seems to be what’s holding it back in terms of casting performance and it weighs less than the BFS, I thought updating the spool might give the best of both worlds - weight & casting performance.

Was just curious if anyone has done a comparison. La Niña and all this rain has meant no fishing and more time online looking at expensive tackle

I've ran the ktf shallow spool in the 15 aldebaran with the factory svs brake system and I still prefer the mag brake setup of the bfs version. The ktf setup was a significant improvement over the stock spool but the mag setup does very well with lighter lures.

[Lastworm]

Good to hear first hand from someone that has tried and can make an educated comparison!

Looking forward to being an active member of the forum, I’m sure it’s going to cost me a heap of $$ long term!