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 love this reel. I at first bought it because I’m all about that striker green color. I also bought the Spartacus 2 rod separately because I wanted a medium rod instead of the MH that comes with the combo. Anyways I’ve been out on the Puyallup river here in WA state raking in pinks for weeks now and doing it with ease. I now have it dialed in to do exactly what I need it to do. I don’t know if this is a problem but I did have backlash issues when using braid. I’ve used 15, 25, 40, & 50 lbs on it and all just acted way too sensitive for me. But I’m going to call that operator error. I switched to a 15lbs mono thinking it’s just me and I need to get better at using a caster and I did get better or I think I did. With the mono line I didnt get any backlash ever. Just yesterday I casted over the river and into the trees and still no backlash. All I know is it’s been running smooth and perfect so I won’t be changing back to braid. This reel can work its magic with the line I have on it. PS: This is my first bait casting reel so if you’re like me wanting to learn to use one. I would say buy 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.

love this reel. got it to use with my buzz bait and it takes a beating and keeps on going

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.

Don't be like me and look for 2 months looking for the best cheap Baitcaster! This is THE BEST underrated Baitcaster on the market and comes in Green, Light Blue, and Black. Don't be sceptical like me and think you need a Shimano or Lew's this Baitcaster gets the job done for 50 bucks too. Not many backlashes (if set correctly) also don't look at the other 1 or 2 star reviews they are just rich people used to 2,000 dollar Shimano DC's. The Baitcaster feels very nice in the hand with a nice grip on the EVA handles. With this sleek look you will make all your buddies jealous. Definitely get!!!!!!(Edit: already in the last 1 week of having this I have caught my new PB (6.78) and caught 16 bass)

The ad I saw on tiktok said you COULD NOT backlash this reel. It really is a decent little reel for the money, but I promise you beyond all doubt, its not hard to backlash. On a scale of 1 to 10, my baitcaster skills might be a 3 or 4 at best. If you are really good with one, you will probably like this one FOR THE PRICE. But with that said, I have a Shimano that is much more gentle on a beginner like me.