Piscifun Sword Fly Fishing Reel with CNC-machined Aluminum Alloy Body 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10 Weights(Black, Gunmetal, Pink, Space Gray)

First let me start by declaring that I have not been bribed by this company to give a good review. I bought the product via Prime and am somewhat alarmed that Amazon is allowing vendors to bend reviews by giving product away for free or at a discount. I don't care that people claim to be giving a "fair and balanced" review, you still have to add an appropriate discount to their cheerleading. For reference, I have about 20 premium, moderate and inexpensive fly reels and bought this one (and a few others from China) out of curiosity.This reel is very well machined, especially when you factor in the cost. I worked in a machine shop a long time ago and have a critical eye for poorly machined metal. The job on this Sword reel (I have the green one) is better than good. I am not convinced that the Sword is hard anodized or that it has a cork disc drag, however, I think the finish will be durable enough and out of the box the drag feels smooth.My 2 caveats with this reel are based on the drag system. The drag adjustment dial is loosely threaded such that it spins easily and quickly goes from light to heavy. I would not want to be on a big steelhead and accidentally bump the dial or lock it down by mistake while adjusting it with a fish on. Secondly, there are no instructions on disassembling the complicated drag system to clean it and it is difficult to figure this out yourself. My experience with two other inexpensive Chinese fly reels is that the drag washers need to be periodically cleaned and lubed since the drag is not fully enclosed like more expensive reels. I occasionally use another one from Piscifun for trout fishing and if I don't clean the drag every few times, it will lock up due to the oxidation on the washers. To say that the Sword drag is as good as reels costing 5 times as much is ridiculous. If you buy a Lamson fly reel for example, you get an almost foolproof drag system that needs zero maintenance and can be counted on to work the same way every time.I also have an Okuma SLV reel that costs a few dollars more than the Sword, but has a better multi-disc drag system that is easy to disassemble and clean and has held up to big saltwater fish without a hiccup. The SLV isn't as pretty and has a little more play in the parts, but is rugged and proven to work under tough conditions. The Piscifun Sword is prettier with tighter tolerances and is cheaper, but with money on the line I'd rather use the Okuma.If you're not angling for fast running fish or are a casual fly fisherman this reel will look good on your rod and will probably do a decent job. If you're a serious fly fisherman I'd look elsewhere.Update: 05.29.16: I've used this 3 times for monster cutthroats (3-13lbs) at Pyramid Lake NV and have come to the conclusion that the drag sucks. It is inconsistent both in startup inertia and also spins with inconsistent tension when the fish runs. None of this caused me to lose any of the big cuts, however, I was using 12lb tippet and cutthroats are not big screamers. I've got this at the bottom of my reel drawer at this point.

I always felt it strange that a $60.00 spinning reel was considered a good reel, but a $60 fly fishing reel was considered cheap. Why? Doesn’t a spinning reel have more moving parts? Sellers will say “It’s machined out of a single block of Aluminum.” Well, apparently so is this reel. “But it has a superior drag system” they’ll say. Well, you’ll have to take their word for it, because most of us don’t have a clue how one drag system varies from another. And guess what? We seldom get to use it anyway! For most fish that I catch, my “drag system” is my hand on the line, because I’ve got 20 feet of stripped line between me and the reel! For most of us, all we want a reel that keeps our line under control, with a drag that will handle an occasional larger fish. And it needs to be lite weight and nice enough looking so it looks good on our overpriced rod. This reel works on all counts. Great value!

Bought this in September. Was fighting a 👑 salmon on salmon river nys. Fish ran down stream stripping all my fly line and into my backing. I broke off the fish. Started to reel back in my line. The reel started to wobble and came apart in two pieces. Hardware nuts washers n bits falling into the river. Couldn’t believe it. It looked like a well made reel. It’s obviously not. Don’t buy it. I contacted company and asked for replacement free of charge an upgraded reel. They are only offering to send me parts to put back into the reel that broke in two. That’s a big nope!!! Poor form Piscifun. Don’t treat customers who get a flawed product this way. Say sorry and give your best reel as comp... bought. Reddington behemoth which is far superior to 💩 Piscifun reel

I bought this for our annual Salmon fishing trip to Alaska. I had been using a different name-brand reel, but I had some issues with the other one, namely small size and insufficient drag. When you hook a salmon in the river, they instantly run. If you snag them in the tail, they run fast downstream. Most fly reels do not have much drag, as you don't need it much with smaller fish. The Piscifun has a large knob with which you can easily crank down the drag. This year, I just pointed my rod at the fish and let them take line. The larger spool makes for easier cranking, when controlling a large fish. I am very satisfied with this purchase, and will buy again (spare setup). I was not paid for this review.

I've been flyfishing for more than 30 decades and have guided for multiple years. I don't get too excited about flyfishing reels especially for trout. Reels are just to hold line so I thought I would try this reel. The drag and reeling seem smooth but after reeling in line the drag system loosens up. So when you try to strip line off it again it backlashes since the drag loosened. Get what you pay for I guess.

I bought this as a back-up reel for my second rod in case of a pinch, or just a second set-up if a friend or family member needed one to fish with. For the price I was extremely surprised by the quality. The thing is smooth, like Michael Jordan hitting a 15ft jumper smooth, and the drag works just as good as the one on my Redington Behemoth. If I needed to, I would have no problems using this as my primary reel for my set-up, and it doesn't look bad either. I've had several people come up to me asking about the reel, thinking it was some other brand, after showing them this guy they were also impressed with the quality of the product. This has seemed like one of those rare products that the quality exceeds the price. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is I haven't rigorously tested the product day in and day out. Like I said, I've used it as a back-up or a borrower, while it has held up to this point with 0 problems, it's not seeing the use of my go to set-up. Still, I feel that it would continue to produce like it should if used more often.

Excellent reel! Light, beautiful and absolutely no wobble. This reel would easily sell for 200 UK pounds, if it had a brand name on it! It looks similar in ways to snowbee spectre reel, and suspect it's made in the same factory. Save yourself a hundred odd quid and get one of these bargains!

Found that the reel free wheeled when I cast, even with the clutch tightened up. The drag system only works in on direct and allows the reel to turn in the other direction when casting.

Well made but picked wrong size so returned which was my fault shame as I liked it

...at the price. Extremely well made and so smooth. I have paid five times as much for reels not as good as this. Puts considerably higher-priced brands in the shade.

A lovely reel, well made and looks great. I used it for the first time last week and it's as good as reels costing far more.