Very smooth reel, both the drag and the action of the reel

Happy with purchase.

living in south Florida I tear up a lot of reels fishing for big tarpon and alligators. only the toughest survive especially on gators.the manual bail just adds more strength in this reel. we are hard on tackle down here and diawa just made the odds better for success.

I got the 5000 two years ago, it is a great reel for chunking clams or mackerel from the beach for stripers and blues. A bit heavy for tossing plugs and eels all night and not durable enough for consistent dunks. I have caught many 150 pound sharks on this from the beach and it handles those great. Drag is exceptional. That being said it can not be fished hard in the surf. I was using the saltx as my wetsuit rock hopping reel and one night that went down so I switched to the saltist. The reel now sounds like an old penn but still performs well. I would assume a few more nights of fishing like that and the reel would lock up. This reel is a great once a trip dunker and for the money is unrivaled.

So far so good for this reel. Like the aluminum parts much more than carbon fiber or graphite.

Now I want a saltist mq

Great reel

To be honest I really didn't need another reel, but I'm going on a multi-day tuna trip and wanted a backup to one of my old favorites the Original Saltist STT6500H. I thought I was going to get one of the other brands, but after looking into the new Saltist 6500 and at this price... I was sold. My problem now is keeping away from the Saltiga Spinning reels.

Very light and comfortable. Goin from a Battle III to this, a world of a difference!! Smooth spinning. Awesome drag! Cant wait to get another one!

I must premise this review with a little history - I have fished offshore SoCal for 30+ years. Always with conventional gear. The number of "Coffee Grinder" jokes I have been a part of are too numerous to count. I have seen spinning reels blow up, get smoked, and basically be the butt of every joke on SoCal Sport Boats. Fast forward to today and I am a PROUD owner of this reel. Technology has come a long long way! I got this reel as an experiment - basically to have a light setup for casting/fly lining a small chovie when on the flats - Bass/Cuda/Tails...Typical summertime 3/4 day fair. I wanted something to pair with a soft 197 style blank, fishing 15 or 20lb leader. This setup is solid - casts a light bait like a dream, and has the braun needed if a breezing Yellowtail decides to inhale my offering. WIth 30lb braid I get 300 yards, plenty of drag, and smooth operation that I have only experienced from my conventional setups. Having this setup has turned a slow day of small fish into a jackpot trip, being able to sling a light bait to the outside where small packs of breezing yellowtail are hanging out. Never an issue during the fight, and most of all, offers an option to friends and family who are not as comfortable fishing a conventional setup to join me in a day of fun on the water...Looking forward to later this summer battling football yellowfin on this rig. Yes, there are higher quality spinning reels out there - but would be paying north of 500$ to get better quality. For less than half that, you get an extremely capable reel that will do everything you need in a 20lb rig for a local SoCal trip. Super satisfied!

Very smooth, strong , confident feel. Light and good looking. A lot of turns to loose and tighten drag though I would prefer less. Not salt tested either .

I spooled this new reel with 50 lbs Daiwa JBraid and it did spool unevenly. I owned a Daiwa Saltist 4500h but never had a problem like this. Line for this new reel is tapered more in the front and i have to put the rubber shins that comes with the package to even out. It is quite disappointing for a new reel to encounter a problem like this.

Smooth. Drag, Rotation, Bail. All Smooth.

LOTS OF STOPPING POWER. SMOOTH RETRIEVE, AND CASTS FAR, CAN NOT GO WRONG WITH THIS REEL FOR THE MONEY.

Decided to try Daiwa for Surf fishing. Have used Daiwa reels for years for freshwater trout ,especially steelhead and the drags are superb. Found the same to be true with thus Saltist. Excellent build quality, and super smooth.