Have 4 Saltist levelwind reels. Great value, and great construction. Just bought another 40HA for offshore bottom fishing and jigging. These reels take a licking and keep on ticking!

At this stage I have been unable to test the new Daiwa yet. I certainly like the look & feel though. So much so, I couldn’t resist loading it up straight away with the Schneider I purchased at the same time. Once circumstances change, I know where there are some sizeable Reds with my name on them.

A Smooth well built reel

My favorite reel when salt water fishing for Sea Bass, Flounder, Tog and any other fish under 20 pounds. I know a reel repairman/servicer personally and he was highly impressed by how durable andsmooth this reel is. The level wind feature is another plus. No more concern about the hills and valleys in your spool. You can't go wrong with this reel.

Excellent Reel!!

Was looking for a reel with a higher gear ratio for fishing deeper water. My target species are mostly sea bass and cod which are commonly fished up to 250ft. of water. Used this reel three times this season on offshore trips where it performed flawlessly! The high gear ratio and large comfortable cranking handle made cranking fish up from the deep a breeze. A high quality reel, could'nt ask for any improvements.

Excellent value

I have used my 50 that I bought at the Cabelas store in Connecticut for cod, bluefish and strippers. The first time out I caught seven cod, pollack and haddock. The drag worked beautifully as these fish have soft mouths and a responsive drag is key in bringing these in. The last fish of the day got grabbed by an 8 foot blue shark, I tightened down the drag and after a five minute battle the shark released the cod! The reel was able to handle the shark, I was impressed to say the least. I have since brought in blues up to 20lbs and strippers to 40lbs. The reel has the strength to crank them in. I plan on buying another to have it in backup for when the fish are biting and I lose a lure or snap a line....great reel!

Low quality

The quality of this reel is so low that I'm doubting its authenticity. The crank handle knob is so loose and sloppy that it wobbles when cranking. The spool has a lot of side to side free play, you can literally rattle it left to right. The casting tension knob doesn't have audible clicks and the range of adjustment is very limited. Lastly, the typos in the owners manual really make me question if this is an actual Daiwa product.

My new favorite reel

You get a lot of features at this price point. I was hesitant with the level wind chafing my main line as seen in some product review videos. This reel lw eyelet has a smooth coating that has no signs of damaging my line. Like most Daiwa reels, the gears on this are amazing and I would expect to have this guy a long time.

Never had anything but problems with any Daiwa reel i've touched.

My Father, his friend, my friend, a coworker, and myself have had nothing but bearing problems with these reels in saltwater. These reels were well taken care of, oiled, lubed, cleaned after every use and still managed to irk us to where we all got rid of them.We were lucky enough to know a Daiwa rep through a friend and had the bearings replaced and they all started doing the same thing2 weeks later after our first trip with the new bearings. We even went as far as to get ceramic bearing for them and still had a constant grinding in the reel.

Out stand quality at an affordable price

The Daiwa Saltist is an excellent fishing reel. It is durable and with stands frequent saltwater usage with very little maintenance. The drag is very smooth as is the retrieval mechanism. The high speed and large handle makes an excellent combination for even bigger fish than you would normally want to handle on a high speed reel.

classic time proven round reel

Classic, time proven round reel. Durable round reel with a great drag. Daiwa Saltist round reels are one of the best reels for extreme cold weather fishing. This reel is being discontinued and replaced with a 'new and improved version" Get some of these while you still can.