Solid reel at the price if you cant afford a full spread if internationals like me than this is the way to go.

Looks like a good reel when new but the Handle arm is made out of some cheap pot metal that reacts with salt water. 1 year old and washed religiously after each use and the handle Arm has almost disintegrated. It appears to be able to penetrate at the joint where it meets the handle, i can see my other newer squalls starting to do it

I fish with squall 16vsw and 30vsw for my trolling spread out of Ponce Inlet,Fl. These are great reels! No torqueing issues whatsoever! I have 6 16vsw and 2 30vsw. They have never ever failed me. There is nothing out there that I'd be worried about hooking up with offshore with these great reels. Same internals as the famed penn internationals. Buy with the confidence knowing you are buying a reel that is going to last many years.
Fish on!

For the money, you can't beat the squall 50w if you're in the market for a 50w. It has handled everything I've thrown at it with ease, including a hoss of a tiger shark and several big wahoo

Purchased two of the 30s for offshore trolling. Paired with Penn's ally rod, 50-100 lb class. Clicker is very loud and reel seems smooth out of the box.

Been using these primarily for mahi and light mid shore trolling and they've been great so far!

Love this real, put it on a 130 class rod loaded up with 1500 of 80 pp and I top shot of 100. Caught a 350ish lbs Goliath on it and didn’t let me down at all even at full drag

Bought about five years ago and have caught many smoker kings on it. Drag is smooth and real still works great as it did the day I bought it. Largest fish was 65lbs. No Problem.

but i don't trust the graphite frames or especially the reel foot. Have heard that they break off often, and are one of the most structurally weak points on Graphite frames. The other bad thing i have heard is that they do flex when fighting big fish, which can throw gears out of alignment and cause damage to them pretty quick if there cheaply made. At least they went with stainless gears on these instead of cheapo chinese alloys

I fish eight of the 30vsw in my trolling spread. I've never ever had an issue with the graphite stretching. There is simply not enough drag available ( there is plenty of drag for fishing!) to effect the graphite that is rumored to occur. The low gear is amazing and I think would crank in a tank! Spooled with 80lb spider wire braid. From wahoo to grouper, nothing stands a chance once I'm hooked up. These reels do the work of reels priced twice as much. Thank you Penn!

I've had this reel for a couple years now and love it!

You probably won't be able to see it, but graphite reels do flex, and every time it does it throws the gears out of alignment slightly, causing them to wear faster. A graphite reel will break before a machined aluminum one will for sure. I know graphite is extremely strong, but not in this case because graphite flexes just like in poles. Aluminum reels and even graphite fishing reels and rods generally last a while, but i would put my money on them. Having cousins with graphite reels complaining how when the caught a fish big enough, that the reel seized because of gears being out of place and eventually needed new internals quite fast.. This all being out of a few years use, but Nonetheless, much earlier problems than with an aluminum reel.

My fishing buddies and I gave this reel the nickname "Lucille" Its a big massive beast thats ready to take on anything. It also looks so beautiful on the back of the boat.

One of the best reels I have ever used. I would prefer a little bit more drag but over its a good reel.

Haven't used it yet but it's a great reel for the price