TackleTour

Have you thought of looking for a T3 Air? It was my impression that they cast the lightest lures out of Daiwa's Air reels.

adam lancia wrote:Have you thought of looking for a T3 Air? It was my impression that they cast the lightest lures out of Daiwa's Air reels.

As someone who owned all of the Daiwa AIR reels, the T3 AIR is overpriced. It's a super nice and refined reel with a blazing fast retrieve. The casting performance increase was so insignificant if at all over the SS AIR. The 16 Aldebaran BFS XG is the bee's knees with the KTF spool. I have the gen1 spool and it's nuts. The T3 AIR is also the same frame as the regular T3, not uncomfortable but should have been smaller.

And that's coming from a Daiwa fan.

southpaw619 wrote:What do you mean by a "clompelte tuned reel"?

KTF, ZPI, SLPW and some others sell reels loaded with after market parts ready to go. KTF calls them complete reels, I'm not sure if the others call them something else or not. Here's a link with a brief description of what a complete reel is. http://www.karil.co.jp/ktf/complete/[/quote]

Ok, thanks for the info. Very interesting reels. I wish they would "tune" a Daiwa

ccass wrote:As someone who owned all of the Daiwa AIR reels, the T3 AIR is overpriced. It's a super nice and refined reel with a blazing fast retrieve. The casting performance increase was so insignificant if at all over the SS AIR. The 16 Aldebaran BFS XG is the bee's knees with the KTF spool. I have the gen1 spool and it's nuts.
And that's coming from a Daiwa fan.

Since you had all Air reels, how do they compare to eachother? You mentioned that there is more or less no difference in casting between the T3 and the SS. Where do you see the Alphas?

And the Alde BFS is a significant improvement to any Air reel?

Josh-G wrote:

ccass wrote:As someone who owned all of the Daiwa AIR reels, the T3 AIR is overpriced. It's a super nice and refined reel with a blazing fast retrieve. The casting performance increase was so insignificant if at all over the SS AIR. The 16 Aldebaran BFS XG is the bee's knees with the KTF spool. I have the gen1 spool and it's nuts.
And that's coming from a Daiwa fan.

Since you had all Air reels, how do they compare to eachother? You mentioned that there is more or less no difference in casting between the T3 and the SS. Where do you see the Alphas?

And the Alde BFS is a significant improvement to any Air reel?

I'd say the AIR reels are all pretty close. The T3 being the winner. I like the AIR reels better for skipping. The Aldebaran is slightly better than the T3 overall. The KTF spool makes a great improvement for the light stuff. The Aldebaran palms better than any of the others. The Alphas AIR is the best bang for your buck reel and is 95% as capable as the Aldebaran BFS XG with a KTF spool. The extra 5% costs quite a bit to achieve.

If you are casting 1/4oz to 3/32oz, the Alphas is capable, especially with upgraded bearings. If you are getting into the dark side of BFS (super ultra light), be prepared to spend some money!!!!

Josh-G wrote:

southpaw619 wrote: Ok, thanks for the info. Very interesting reels. I wish they would "tune" a Daiwa

If looking for Daiwa you should take a look at the Alphas Air Stream Custom being released soon.

I've been enjoying the 16 aldebaran bfs in between thaws for the past 2 months. Mainly thowing 1/16 ounce minnow baits.

Very fun. The clicky drag is amazing for letting me know what is going on during the fight which often isn't translated well on ultra light ultra smooth baitcasters. Which was always a plus for spinners.

YOu can feel the chattering of the detents in your hands and know when you are or aren't gaining. ALmost like haptic feedback in a xbox controller lol

ccass wrote:I'd say the AIR reels are all pretty close. The T3 being the winner. I like the AIR reels better for skipping. The Aldebaran is slightly better than the T3 overall. The KTF spool makes a great improvement for the light stuff. The Aldebaran palms better than any of the others. The Alphas AIR is the best bang for your buck reel and is 95% as capable as the Aldebaran BFS XG with a KTF spool. The extra 5% costs quite a bit to achieve.

Thank you very much! This is exactly the information I was looking for.

So I have three options:

- I just keep using the Alphas Air

- Buy a super tuned reel. For me LP BCs from Shimano are no option. It would be a CC BFS with a KTF spool

- I just wait a little and see what that new Air Stream Custom is all about

ccass wrote:

Josh-G wrote:

ccass wrote:As someone who owned all of the Daiwa AIR reels, the T3 AIR is overpriced. It's a super nice and refined reel with a blazing fast retrieve. The casting performance increase was so insignificant if at all over the SS AIR. The 16 Aldebaran BFS XG is the bee's knees with the KTF spool. I have the gen1 spool and it's nuts.
And that's coming from a Daiwa fan.

Since you had all Air reels, how do they compare to eachother? You mentioned that there is more or less no difference in casting between the T3 and the SS. Where do you see the Alphas?

And the Alde BFS is a significant improvement to any Air reel?

I'd say the AIR reels are all pretty close. The T3 being the winner. I like the AIR reels better for skipping. The Aldebaran is slightly better than the T3 overall. The KTF spool makes a great improvement for the light stuff. The Aldebaran palms better than any of the others. The Alphas AIR is the best bang for your buck reel and is 95% as capable as the Aldebaran BFS XG with a KTF spool. The extra 5% costs quite a bit to achieve.

If you are casting 1/4oz to 3/32oz, the Alphas is capable, especially with upgraded bearings. If you are getting into the dark side of BFS (super ultra light), be prepared to spend some money!!!!

Do the Air Spools of T3 Air, SS Air and Alphas Air fit each other? (Spool diameter of all Air Spools is 32 mm) I was curious because all the Air Spools are smaller than their stock versions. I have the Alphas Air and wanted to try the Megabass Zonda BFS Spool but couldn't fit it.
In other words: Is the Alphas Air Stock Spool just a SS Air Spool without the holes and with a SV sticker on it?

fishinblack wrote:Do the Air Spools of T3 Air, SS Air and Alphas Air fit each other? (Spool diameter of all Air Spools is 32 mm) I was curious because all the Air Spools are smaller than their stock versions. I have the Alphas Air and wanted to try the Megabass Zonda BFS Spool but couldn't fit it.
In other words: Is the Alphas Air Stock Spool just a SS Air Spool without the holes and with a SV sticker on it?

About the Air spool I don´t know. But the Megabass Zonda BFS spool will fit any Alphas besides the Air. So if you wanna fish that spool just get a cheap Alphas SV or SV105 and put the spool in. I´m sure that will be a big improvement regarding the light stuff. But I´m not sure if it would be an upgrade to a stock Alphas Air. I actually doubt that and it´s more expensive than just buying the Air.
Maybe somebody here fished both and can compare them?

ccass wrote:

adam lancia wrote:Have you thought of looking for a T3 Air? It was my impression that they cast the lightest lures out of Daiwa's Air reels.

As someone who owned all of the Daiwa AIR reels, the T3 AIR is overpriced. It's a super nice and refined reel with a blazing fast retrieve. The casting performance increase was so insignificant if at all over the SS AIR. The 16 Aldebaran BFS XG is the bee's knees with the KTF spool. I have the gen1 spool and it's nuts. The T3 AIR is also the same frame as the regular T3, not uncomfortable but should have been smaller.

And that's coming from a Daiwa fan.

Thanks for the clarification, that's really going to know. I'll be fishing a lot of trout come spring and am also looking for a couple of light lure flinging baitcasters. I have a couple of Airy Reds, I'm just lacking rods to throw ride light stuff. But a new-to-me reel can't hurt right...?

fishinblack wrote:

ccass wrote:

Josh-G wrote:

ccass wrote:As someone who owned all of the Daiwa AIR reels, the T3 AIR is overpriced. It's a super nice and refined reel with a blazing fast retrieve. The casting performance increase was so insignificant if at all over the SS AIR. The 16 Aldebaran BFS XG is the bee's knees with the KTF spool. I have the gen1 spool and it's nuts.
And that's coming from a Daiwa fan.

Since you had all Air reels, how do they compare to eachother? You mentioned that there is more or less no difference in casting between the T3 and the SS. Where do you see the Alphas?

And the Alde BFS is a significant improvement to any Air reel?

I'd say the AIR reels are all pretty close. The T3 being the winner. I like the AIR reels better for skipping. The Aldebaran is slightly better than the T3 overall. The KTF spool makes a great improvement for the light stuff. The Aldebaran palms better than any of the others. The Alphas AIR is the best bang for your buck reel and is 95% as capable as the Aldebaran BFS XG with a KTF spool. The extra 5% costs quite a bit to achieve.

If you are casting 1/4oz to 3/32oz, the Alphas is capable, especially with upgraded bearings. If you are getting into the dark side of BFS (super ultra light), be prepared to spend some money!!!!

Do the Air Spools of T3 Air, SS Air and Alphas Air fit each other? (Spool diameter of all Air Spools is 32 mm) I was curious because all the Air Spools are smaller than their stock versions. I have the Alphas Air and wanted to try the Megabass Zonda BFS Spool but couldn't fit it.
In other words: Is the Alphas Air Stock Spool just a SS Air Spool without the holes and with a SV sticker on it?

All of the AIR spools are the same size.

I got a couple of videos with a SICK trout BFS rod. 4'7" Extra Ultralight. Sweet action and handles light lures with ease.

VinnyOA wrote:I have a pixy SPR and I throw 1/16 ounce lures easily.

I don't see why you'd want to go any lower for trout and panfish with a baitcaster.

1/16 ounce should be about 1,75grs. That´s about as low as I go and intend to go. I just want to cast easiely and stressfree. That works out fine with the Alphas Air. But I was curious if there´s something better.

VinnyOA wrote: The alphas air is a sweet BFS reel,people brag how this BFS reel casts a few yards more than this or that reel.Remember you'll be fishing streams and creeks most of the time for trout so max casting distance with light lures isn't a priority in this situation.

You are absolutely right! I love my Alphas Air and all the other Alphas I own. It´s just that I´m building this ultimate (at least for me ) UL rod and the monkey screeeeems for an upgrade