I absolutely love my promax. So if i were you I would shop around on the flea market and buy used or wait for a sale like I got my promax combo for 50 dollars off of abu garcia. Once I got good with it I upgraded to a revo s and nicer rod. But if your set on starting out I would go with the black max 3 for starters, you can put that thing through a lot and it still run fine. Happy fishing