Considering how perfect this reel is, and Tackle Directs proximity to where Bruce Springsteen was born, and the reel being made in the U.S.A. I couldn't resist the chance to throw Born in the U.S.A. as the headline. These reels are absolute beasts. Period. Spend your hard earned money on something like an Avet if you are looking for a superb quality product! I had the opportunity of finally seeing the Dorado pattern at a swap meet my uncle drug me to in ny state. Thing blows away expectations as far as functionality and especially looks.

Would give 5 stars if I had it longer. Seems like everything I was hoping it would be. Great reel.

I Bought this reel for trolling Dorado and it has performed fantastic. Its smooth and the drag settings are easy to adjust on the fly;

Tough Reel great for most offshore applications. Love it

This reel is a beast. I bought it for grouper fishing off the Skyway Pier in Florida. I may only use it 2 or 3 times a year but I try to use top notch gear on my Florida vacations. I've got it spooled with 80lb braid and a 80lb mono topshot. It's mounted on a St. Croix Mojo Salt 7'6" rod rated for 80lb line. The combo is pretty light weight and I'm pretty sure I could use it for smaller sharks if I wanted too. Great reel and worth the price.

I have a ton of reels from all different brands old and new. The quality of avet reels for the price they are and the sweetener there made in the good ol US of A. Got the hxw 5/2 Raptor not need for a 30 when it's putting out this kind of drag.

Just ordered a second one - easily handled everything from big Snapper down deep, trolling for Kingfish and Wahoo in the Gulf to live baiting BFT and Yellowtail on the West Coast.

Cannot be beat for value and durability.

Beast of a reel, I’ve used it on a wahoo setup for long range trips and also a smaller land based shark reel.

Love this reel for trolling diving plugs

Awesome reel , smooth drag, highly recommend.

I really have enjoyed using this reel because it has impressive cranking power in low gear and good speed in high gear. The reel has a lot of power for the size.

This is a very beautiful and bad ass reel! I took it out bottom fishing couple times and they feel so good. Very smooth and has an unbelivable amount of drag.

Just got this HX and love it. Tons of drag, landed 2 80lb bluefin on it loaded with 100lb jerry brown to 80lb fluoro. My only critique is it is a little tough casting live bait. Might be the line but heavy jigs cast ok and baits dont fly well. Also i will upgrade to an aftermarket T handle for the hard fighting bigger fish. Averall 4 stars.

A fantastic peace of machinery. Just a beast for large game.

This review will simply sound like all the other positive reviews so going to save you the trouble. If you want a Damn good reel for trolling, reef fishing buy the HX . had almost bought the hxj for the narrow spool for jigging glad I didn’t IMO the HX works just fine