received this reel in the mail two days ago. spooled it up with 300yrds of 30lb Power Pro Super slick 8 and a top shot of 20lb Berkley big game. the top shot pictured is about 80yrds, I could fit a little more but I was in a hurry and doing it under finger tension.
300yrds 30lb braid
with top shot of 20lb mono
first thing I noticed about the reel is how smooth it is! it was smooth as silk while spooling. tonight while throwing various lures (rapals X rap 14, 12 and Daiwa SP minnow) it was smooth to start out but I began to notice a bump while reeling. about every turn I could feel that somewhere in the gears something was catching or missing. it wasn't coinciding with the up and down oscillation of the spool but I could def. feel something inside the reel.
I wasn't fortunate enough to hook into anything while testing it out tonight so I will have to report back on that. hopefully I can get into some GT in the next few days or get on a boat and test it on some Mahi.