KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

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jvelth74
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KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by jvelth74 » Thu Jul 28, 2022 3:44 am

This reel is on pre-order on Tacklewarehouse (& on KastKing).

It's a World's lightest BFS reel(?) and it's a Worlds lightest std. spool in a BFS reel. Spool dia is 28 mm. It's a good looking reel and should be very good in palming. It has patented(?) :shock: braking system called FAF. Price $219, which makes it expensive KastKing reel, but if it is the best in casting BFS lures, it's more than worth of it.

What do you think?
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/KastKin ... KZBKZ.html

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by tincanary » Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:11 am

My big thing when it comes to BFS, how many out there are seriously fishing 1g or less? When I look at what I'm throwing for trout, panfish, and bass, every single bait I'm throwing is over 2g, with the majority in the 3g to 5g range and a few coming up on 7g. For me, that puts every BFS reel on the market into consideration based upon my usual offerings. At that point, I'm looking for quality of product even though many others may be perfectly suitable. Owning a reel service shop, I have been through my fair share of Kast King products, and it would be a disservice to my customers to recommend them at this point based upon their quality and workmanship. One of my customers had me tune his Zephyr, which uses self tapping screws to attach some of the components. That reel did turn out nicely and felt much more composed after I did my thing, which included polishing the gears and other areas. One of the few instances where a turd was successfully polished :D With all of that out of the way, maybe the Kestrel is a nice reel giving a prelude to a company making headway into better products. I would certainly entertain the idea of buying one to dissect and see if it is up to snuff with the Big 3; Abu, Daiwa, and Shimano.

Perhaps Kast King is stepping up their game which would be a great thing for all. It reminds me of the very first VCR I purchased back in 1986, from a then little known company named Samsung. Some of my friends talked crap, "Samsung? That thing isn't going to last. It isn't a Sony! It isn't RCA!" some of them said. It was less than half the price of the Sony and Panasonic models of the day, and that thing lasted me until 2002 when I went all-in with DVDs and put it at the curb for the trash collector. Samsung is a completely different company than the one I knew in my youth. Funny enough, I replaced that old Samsung VCR with a Samsung DVD player, and it's still going strong 20 years later. It doesn't get used much, mostly when my kids want to watch old movies that aren't available on the streaming services, but it still works! Fast forward to now, and Panasonic and RCA are synonymous with junk consumer electronics while Samsung is more towards the top.

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by dragon1 » Sat Jul 30, 2022 2:08 pm

tincanary wrote:
Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:11 am
My big thing when it comes to BFS, how many out there are seriously fishing 1g or less? When I look at what I'm throwing for trout, panfish, and bass, every single bait I'm throwing is over 2g, with the majority in the 3g to 5g range and a few coming up on 7g. For me, that puts every BFS reel on the market into consideration based upon my usual offerings. At that point, I'm looking for quality of product even though many others may be perfectly suitable. Owning a reel service shop, I have been through my fair share of Kast King products, and it would be a disservice to my customers to recommend them at this point based upon their quality and workmanship. One of my customers had me tune his Zephyr, which uses self tapping screws to attach some of the components. That reel did turn out nicely and felt much more composed after I did my thing, which included polishing the gears and other areas. One of the few instances where a turd was successfully polished :D With all of that out of the way, maybe the Kestrel is a nice reel giving a prelude to a company making headway into better products. I would certainly entertain the idea of buying one to dissect and see if it is up to snuff with the Big 3; Abu, Daiwa, and Shimano.

Perhaps Kast King is stepping up their game which would be a great thing for all. It reminds me of the very first VCR I purchased back in 1986, from a then little known company named Samsung. Some of my friends talked crap, "Samsung? That thing isn't going to last. It isn't a Sony! It isn't RCA!" some of them said. It was less than half the price of the Sony and Panasonic models of the day, and that thing lasted me until 2002 when I went all-in with DVDs and put it at the curb for the trash collector. Samsung is a completely different company than the one I knew in my youth. Funny enough, I replaced that old Samsung VCR with a Samsung DVD player, and it's still going strong 20 years later. It doesn't get used much, mostly when my kids want to watch old movies that aren't available on the streaming services, but it still works! Fast forward to now, and Panasonic and RCA are synonymous with junk consumer electronics while Samsung is more towards the top.
It's the saying of "those that rest on their laurels"...and the corporate bean-counter planned obsolescence mentality.
"It is like a finger pointing away to the Moon...don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of that heavenly glory."

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by Drakestar » Sat Jul 30, 2022 4:07 pm

I’d like to see some pictures of the actual reel. All that TW has are CGI renders.

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by jvelth74 » Sun Jul 31, 2022 8:35 am

Drakestar wrote:
Sat Jul 30, 2022 4:07 pm
I’d like to see some pictures of the actual reel. All that TW has are CGI renders.
Pictures = No, but Video = Yes: it was presented in ICAST by Tackle Warehouse:

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by SSS » Sun Jul 31, 2022 4:12 pm

What i think is that asking anything over $59.99 for ANY KK products is :laugh1: :laugh1:

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by jvelth74 » Sun Jul 31, 2022 9:52 pm

Yes, it is close to Aldebaran 22 BFS price. But could it be better than Aldebaran?

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by hoohoorjoo » Mon Aug 01, 2022 4:39 am

I'll consider buying one in 6 months when they put them on clearance for $99.
Try not to let your mind wander. It is much too small to be outside unsupervised.

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by Johnny A » Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:14 am

I’d “heard”, Kast King was a crowd-sourced tackle venture so I did a little bit of investigating to see what was hat and what was cattle. I couldn’t find anything about crowd-sourcing but I found the parent company of KastKing, ePoisedon(? spelling) was started by MBA students from Syracuse University.
If I understand correctly, they wanted to skip layers of R & D to bring anglers ideas direct to consumers, among other thoughts. Here’s the link to their website, let them tell the tale.

https://kastking.com/pages/our-story-view-more

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by JS8588 » Mon Aug 01, 2022 7:26 am

hoohoorjoo wrote:
Mon Aug 01, 2022 4:39 am
I'll consider buying one in 6 months when they put them on clearance for $99.
Ever look at something and go "I've spent more $ on dumber things"?

That's how I feel about this reel. I'm also going to wait 6-8 months, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting one early next year regardless of the price just to mess around with it. Might not be my best purchase, but I doubt it'll be my worst.

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by jvelth74 » Mon Aug 01, 2022 8:54 am

It's true that after 6 months price of it can be $99 or $299.

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by LowRange » Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:25 am

Johnny A wrote:
Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:14 am
I’d “heard”, Kast King was a crowd-sourced tackle venture so I did a little bit of investigating to see what was hat and what was cattle. I couldn’t find anything about crowd-sourcing but I found the parent company of KastKing, ePoisedon(? spelling) was started by MBA students from Syracuse University.
If I understand correctly, they wanted to skip layers of R & D to bring anglers ideas direct to consumers, among other thoughts. Here’s the link to their website, let them tell the tale.

https://kastking.com/pages/our-story-view-more
They were just rebranded Chinease Aliexpress reels. Some still are but they use other platforms too.

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by Johnny A » Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:50 am

LowRange wrote:
Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:25 am
Johnny A wrote:
Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:14 am
I’d “heard”, Kast King was a crowd-sourced tackle venture so I did a little bit of investigating to see what was hat and what was cattle. I couldn’t find anything about crowd-sourcing but I found the parent company of KastKing, ePoisedon(? spelling) was started by MBA students from Syracuse University.
If I understand correctly, they wanted to skip layers of R & D to bring anglers ideas direct to consumers, among other thoughts. Here’s the link to their website, let them tell the tale.

https://kastking.com/pages/our-story-view-more
They were just rebranded Chinease Aliexpress reels. Some still are but they use other platforms too.
During the American Civil War, quite a few people with wealth or claimed wealth were able to mass produce “items and food”, get government contracts and supply soldiers with basically “crap”. It was known as the “Age Of Shoddy”. I think today is basically the same thing. Cheap labor, poor design, mass production and a dozen other attributes have allowed inferior products to live in the marketplace and it’s only going to get worse.
This is the real “Age of Shoddy”.

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by Johnny A » Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:54 am

Johnny A wrote:
Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:50 am
LowRange wrote:
Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:25 am
Johnny A wrote:
Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:14 am
I’d “heard”, Kast King was a crowd-sourced tackle venture so I did a little bit of investigating to see what was hat and what was cattle. I couldn’t find anything about crowd-sourcing but I found the parent company of KastKing, ePoisedon(? spelling) was started by MBA students from Syracuse University.
If I understand correctly, they wanted to skip layers of R & D to bring anglers ideas direct to consumers, among other thoughts. Here’s the link to their website, let them tell the tale.

https://kastking.com/pages/our-story-view-more
They were just rebranded Chinease Aliexpress reels. Some still are but they use other platforms too.
During the American Civil War, quite a few people with wealth or claimed wealth were able to mass produce “items and food”, get government contracts and supply soldiers with basically “crap”. It was known as the “Age Of Shoddy”. I think today is basically the same thing. Cheap labor, poor design, mass production and a dozen other attributes have allowed inferior products to live in the marketplace and it’s only going to get worse.
This is the real “Age of Shoddy”.
addendum:

The new Daiwa Zillions can be head between $300 and $400 USD, actual Japan Zillions. You have made in Korea reels running for more than that. It’s all profit for the pocket.

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Re: KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS

Post by jvelth74 » Mon Aug 01, 2022 10:07 am

Personally I have find that worst thing in Chinese baitcasting reels I have used is not so good ergonomics. Every Chinese reel so far I have tried has been worth of money. Serviceability of Chinese reels may be poor and spare parts could be impossible to get. But I haven't serviced any Chinese reel, just wiped out excess grease and flushed and re-lubed spool bearings. (And tuned some magnetic brakes.)

This KastKing Kestrel Elite BFS may be comfortable to palm. It should be small and low. It might be actually great in ergonomics. Kestrel Elite BFS is certainly not cheap as a Chinese reel, but still it might be worth of money... But serviceability and possibility to get spare parts is a question. Also question is how smooth it is to crank and how good it actually casts.

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