KastKing Spartacus II Baitcasting Fishing Reel, 6oz Ultralight Baitcaster Reel, Super Smooth with 17.6 LB Carbon Fiber Drag, 7.2:1 Gear Ratio, 39mm Palm Perfect Lower Profile Design

Beginner angler - Never used a baitcaster before, I had no issue fishing with this, smooth, good tension and braking. I'm not experienced enough to in-depth analyze it or compare it to more expensive products. But worked great for me. Birdsnest'ed quite a few times starting out, but that's not the reel's fault. Casting with any baitmaster takes practice. Got another one as a present for somebody, they also loved it.

I got the Spartacus II in the “spindrift” color. I was kind of skeptical on the exact color because I personally find it hard to capture a “true color” on camera, but they NAILED IT! I love this color, it’s absolutely beautiful. Beautiful light, pastel blue. Pros: •It’s a bait caster for about $40, so that’s cool. •It’s perfect for learning the baitcasting type of reel without spending a ton of your hard-earned money. •The drag star *clicks* when you adjust it, so that pretty nice for a reel this inexpensive. •I’d be remiss not to mention the color again, it’s unique (imo) •Bird’s nests (Or “professional overrun”, I’ve also heard “Backlash”) are easy to avoid if the magnetic brakes are up all the way and you have the spool tension set correctly for what you’re throwing. •You can straight-up launch some bait with this thing. When I do my part I can throw some baits close to 70 feet with a 7 Foot MH rod. And I’m not even good at it, yet. That might not be the point for some of y’all, but it’s fun. •it’s nice if you like to palm your reel, I find it to be very comfortable, though, I don’t ordinarily palm reels, I rest my thumb on the side, which I also find comfortable on this reel. Cons: • My particular reel felt very rough out of the box, exactly how I imagine a dry, or scratched bearing would feel while reeling. • The magnetic breaking system seems to have a less-than-linear influence depending on power level. For instance, when the magnetic breaking is set to the max, I don’t have to put my thumb on the spool at all to keep a bad bird’s nest with 12Lb. fluorocarbon, so that’s actually good, I guess. If I take the brake to 8 I seem to be able to achieve ~6 feet more distance or so, but you have to pay attention or the ‘nest is coming for you. BUT if I turn it to anything below 6, its like all the birds on earth built a giant nest in my reel while I wasn’t looking...so that’s neat. I’m sure there is a trick to it I don’t know yet but it seems off to me. •Only after two days, the gears are making noise louder than my Royal Legend did after months of use (before my friend borrowed it forever,lol) so that’s alarming. I’ll buy some grease and oil as it calls for in the instructions, but I didn’t expect to be needing this soon considering my past experience with KastKing. However it could just be my particular reel. I might update this review it after I oil and grease it. But for now it’s getting a 3.75/5 I’d still recommend it, but I’d probably buy the Royal Legend before I’d buy another Spartacus II. Update: The rough bearing sound has worked itself out, so that’s good news. I also changed my line from 12# Florocarbon to 30# braid and all my bird nest issues are gone. Florocarbon is not a friend of mine. The memory in the Florocarbon line I used is just like mono...garbage.

I am very impressed with this reel and it's low cost. It casts like a dream. This is my 6th rod/reel purchased with kast king. They have made me a true believer while saving money at the same time. Keep up the good work kast king. They are comparable to the big name manufacturers without the expense.

This is my first baitcasting reel. I gotta say they seemed intimidating, a lot of what I read made it out to be a big learning curve but the affordability of this made it a no brainer. I followed some simple set up instructions and hit the water. I cast this thing well over 100 times today without a single backlash or birds nest. I don’t have anything to compare it to but as a first timer this was easy to use. Cast light baits with ease and accuracy. Would buy again.

It’s a great value for the money and works as well as any other reel but don’t fool yourself into thinking that it’s the all cure for backlashes. Like any other reel you must fine tune it or it will backlash like any other reel. Took me about 30 minutes to get it dialed in