It looks like a pretty good reel for $69.xx. I havn't fished it yet, but I threw many casts in my backyard. I noticed the drag is much stronger than my Cardiff 301 (they just updated this reel too). I put in 20lb line in it and tried tossing 1/4 oz wt for fun and it cast good. I only used 3 out of the 6 VBL brakes and removed the other 3; same thing I did in my Cardiff to remove unnecessary spooling wt. The spool release button felt tight and solid like the Cardiff, however, I did not like the design of a little plastic piece that is placed right next to the botton because its edge is somewhat separating (the Cardiff has the same design but it's tighter). I like the metal grey color of the reel and I wish the Daiwa handle was silver. I have yet to find out how it fish. I might want to put 30# of PowerPro for backing because I plan on using this reel as a light bottom fishing reel for rock fish.