bwjay

Not a clue. But I have been pleased with my SLX and SLX XT and think they're sturdy, powerful, fairly smooth reels for $100 and $130. As far as reels go they seem inexpensive given their performance so that's why I recommended the SLX.

Throw an HG SLX on there regardless of what you get. Works well for all applications.

You may want two different rods for these applications. A jig rod should be very sensitive and have a fairly fast taper. A topwater rod doesn't need to be sensitive and should be a little slower so you don't rip the hooks out on hookset. You could use a single rod for moving baits with single and treble hooks as well as topwater, as the requirements are somewhat similar. A jig rod though has very clear cut requirements that don't heavily overlap with those of moving baits or topwater. As Riversidebassin said, the reel may play a part too, but not that much. For a moving bait + topwater rod, I'd prefer an HG reel, to be able to slow it down easier, with a jig/T-rig/worm rod combined with an XG reel, to pick up slack line. I haven't used any rods you mentioned, but I have a St Croix Premier 7' MHF that is as heavy as my Kistler H3 7' HXF. St Croix rods definitely run heavy. The action is pretty decent on the Premier though and I used it for topwater, frogs, spinnerbaits, lipped and lipless cranks... basically everything but jigs actually. I wanted something lighter for frogging though... my H3 is 1.4oz lighter and I can definitely feel it. It was $100 more than the Premier though. Overall the Premier is a nice rod but I'll be selling it as soon as I get off my lazy butt and list it. Still caught me some nice fish though and it's fairly sensitive. I just upgraded so I don't need it anymore.

The Kistler Helium3 6'9" MHXF has a soft tip that works really nicely for walking baits. Some people say "when you forget to delay setting the hook, this rod does it for you". It's more like a Fast action given the soft tip. It's also very light and easy to fish all day. I love mine.

I feel like if I loosened my spool tension that much I would instantly blow up the reel. lol

Ah, looks like it has come down in price. I'm sorry to hear the one you tried was bad but I can assure you that the 3 I've tried (1 at Cabela's and 2 that I own) are fantastic.

The Bantam is $349 USD right now, and even with JDM prices it's still $300. I have read and heard MANY people say it's like a low profile Conquest. I haven't seen anyone say it's BETTER than those reels, but matching the Antares and Conquest, absolutely.

I use the Double Uni with 40lb Sufix832 and Super8SlickV2 along with 14lb Sniper and I have no issues with it hanging up on micro guides or on the line guide of the reel. I trim the tag ends very close to the knot. I can't speak for what's going on with your Alberto knot but it's supposed to be a smaller knot than the Double Uni. If the Double Uni can have no issues with micro guides, then I suspect you are doing something incorrectly, but what, I can't say.

Was it in a puddle of mud? The Bantam has a unanimous reputation for being ultra smooth. Perhaps the one you tried was defective.

I have 3 Helium3s, the 6'8LMHF, 6'9MHXF, and 7'HXF. The Fast action is close to a ModFast and the XFast is more like a Fast action. The tips are pretty soft so they are forgiving. I was cranking with the MHXF with no issues like losing fish because the rod didn't load up enough. The tip is soft enough to easily walk topwaters but it can be a little softer than desired to rip clear of weeds - but I just give the rod a harder flick and the bait comes right out. All 3 toss 5" weightless Senkos but the HXF is a little stiff for it. I think the MHXF is a great weightless Senko stick and also works well for 3/8oz spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, and I was using it for even 3/4oz jigs with trailer, though the HXF is more suited to that. For 3/8oz jigs the MHXF works great. I would say 3/8-1/2oz is its sweet spot like CaptPete said. All 3 rods are stupid light and very sensitive. I only intended on buying 2 but the LMHF was out of stock so I got the HXF which I didn't plan on, and then the LMHF became in stock and I bought it so I could try all 3 rods. I planned on sending 1 back but, well, here I am, with 3 Helium3s... FYI I am also a bank fisherman and don't bring many rods. I was looking for a nice do-it-all rod that wasn't too nice in case I scratch it up on the bank. Well, suffice to say, I got 3 do-it-all rods that I love. The MHXF is my just-bring-one rod and it works great for that, but if I bring 2 rods, I'll use the HXF for frogging and the MHXF for everything else. I suppose I could use the HXF for light punching too since you can do that with straight braid (which I use for frogging). I would use the LMHF more but Minnesota is ultra weedy in the summer and I don't have a boat, so I'm forced to fish around and through weeds, so more backbone is what I want at this time of year. In the spring though, I'll totally be running 1/4-3/8oz finesse and football jigs on the LMHF. If a good sale on the Zbones pops up this holiday season, I may pick one up. Not that I need one, of course I don't. If you want a Helium3, see if Kistler will give you their sale price. And make sure to register an account, you get like 15-20% that way. I got all 3 of mine for like $220 each or something like that.

The Chronarch seems to cast a little more effortlessly, but the Bantam is no slouch either. I'm not a huge fan of THE REEL TEST on YouTube, but he did some casting comparisons and found that the Bantam is pretty close to the Chronarch and Metanium for distance.

I mentioned gear ratio because a lower ratio means more torque which people like for dragging fish through weeds. I mentioned it because it is the only consideration for gearing that I have read for frogging or heavy cover applications, not actual gear material itself. I had not heard of "duraluminum" (sounds like a brand name to me) before but now I have. Thanks for the explanation.

What do you mean? Is it different than aluminum or brass? And what would make gears more conducive to frogging? By frogging would you abstract that to anything involving high torque requirements (pulling fish through lots of heavy vegetation)? I haven't heard of any special gear material requirements for high torque. People are using XG reels with both aluminum and brass gears for this application with no issues AFAIK. So to hear someone say "there is special gear material that is more conducive to frogging" all I can think of is snake oil BS.

None - basically. After I felt it in the Chronarch I went back to the Bantam and tried to feel it. I can feel the absolute slightest amount when reeling very very slow, but even the slowest retrieve I'd ever do it's basically not there. Just a silky smooth crank, and anything faster than the slowest retrieve it's definitely not there. Even at a moderate-slow crank for a spinnerbait or something (on the HG) it's not there. It's only there if you go super slow and you're paying close attention. If you're actually fishing it's straight up indistinguishable. On the Chronarch however, I noticed vibration in the reel no matter how fast I turned the handle, unless I was burning it for a chatterbait or pulling in the bait for another cast. There is a big difference IMO with the Bantam having practically no gear feeling whatsoever.

I have two Bantams (HG and XG) and love them for all techniques. They are ultra smooth and rigid. The weight is not an issue to me as they balance out my slightly tip heavy Helium3s but not completely. A lighter reel would make them more unbalanced. That being said, I bought a Chronarch MGL to try and while it can really bomb baits, the construction makes it feel less premium than a Bantam, and I was able to feel the "geary" feeling after only an hour of time on it. It is smooth but the geary feeling really cheapens it IMO. As nice of a reel as it is, I'm returning it. I bought the XG Bantam after deciding to return the Chronarch and I'm not upset at all about having two Bantams. They palm so nicely, feel premium, and fish premium. I can still cast quite far with them. If I were you I wouldn't hesitate to try a Bantam. A Metanium MGL might be nice too but you shouldn't have to replace parts on a brand new premium reel just to bring it to the level you'd expect for the money you're paying for it. And, it depends if your rods are tip heavy or not. An unbalanced rod with a light reel might be more fatiguing than a balanced rod with a heavy (relatively) reel. Bantam gets my vote, but I'm biased.

If you use a long leader, like 10 to 15 feet, I don't see a problem. You could go shorter like 8 feet, but as you re-tie, the leader gets shorter and shorter, so I'd start with something longer.

The Shimano SLX is a fantastic reel for $100, and you can now get the SLX XT with adjustable external brakes for an extra $30. I have an SLX and really like it and have an SLX XT on the way. Definitely don't skip over these in your research. And keep in mind, Cabela's will let you return a reel within 90 days even if you've fished it, so you can try a couple if you really want. Personally I would tell newcomers to use braid, as mono/copoly/fluoro have memory and want to pop off the reel, and will give you nightmares when you backlash (when, not if). You'll get better at avoiding backlashes as you fine tune your reel and learn its limits with various lure weights, wind, etc. Backlashes with braid are much easier to fix and they don't ruin/weaken the line if you pull too hard trying to get the backlash out. That being said, you do want to use 30-50lb braid so it won't dig into itself and so it will join better with 10-15lb mono/copoly/fluoro leaders (based on line diameter). You can still fit a ton of 40lb braid on a 150 sized reel. I use 40lb Sufix 832 and Super8SlickV2 for every single baitcasting application but I tie on a long 14lb Sunline Sniper FC leader for anything besides frogging or any heavy cover application. I have had no real problems with casting distance or anything as a result of using 40lb braid. Braid to leader is the way to go. It takes some work to learn a connection knot like the Double Uni, but it's worth it. You get excellent responsiveness (hooksets and action) from braid due to essentially no stretch, and great sensitivity as well. It is IMO a superior line if used with a clear leader, but plenty of people with farrrr more experience than me will disagree. That being said, I've had a much nicer time using braid on my baitcasters than fluoro (or anything else). I put Sunline Sniper FC on a new reel, got 10 casts in, blew it up so bad I spent 15 minutes trying to get out the backlash and ended up cutting off about half the spool. I was pretty upset. With braid, I've had hundreds of casts, maybe 2 dozen backlashes, and I've only had to cut the braid once when it was really bad and I pulled too hard causing it to dig into itself. Overall braid gets out of the way. The lack of memory is a huge plus. If you go for braid, don't forget to use a cheap mono backing on the reel so the braid doesn't slip.

I've got a Stradic Ci4+ on a 6'8MXF Expride and it's pretty comfortable to me. I used it for jigging for walleye/lake trout and as a general purpose throw-anything rod on a canoe trip and didn't have any issues with my hand. My arm was a bit sore from holding the rod out away from my PFD for so long, but as far as I can remember, I had no problems with my hand. Pretty sensitive rod and lightweight as well. If you can try out the Expride in person, obviously do that first. But here's a +1 from me!

The SLX XT has a anodized aluminum frame I think, or exterior anyway, and it has adjustable external SVS Infinity brakes. IIRC, that's it. For $30 more than the standard SLX I can't see a reason not to get one if you were gonna get an SLX, unless the SLX was already a stretch for your budget.

I actually just got some 10lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid (wow that stuff is cheap) and tested it the same way I've tested the other lines. It successfully hoisted up the 10lb weight and withstood some light "tugs" to get it to break. Not quite as strong as the 14lb Sniper, but certainly much stronger than the 10lb Sniper. I'll definitely put this stuff to use, maybe as a leader material, maybe on a cheaper spinning reel to let family/friends use. I've read good things and so far at least I know it breaks above its strength rating!

For spinning reels, I use 15lb PowerPro. I could do 10lb, but 15lb gets you just a little more strength and abrasion resistance, and a boatload of it fits on the reel anyway. Plus the larger line diameter will mate better with a mono or fluoro leader.

Well I just tested the new 14lb and 10lb Sniper and they both broke under the same conditions. The 14lb held the 10lb weight fine until I started pulling up hard on it to simulate more force and it eventually snapped after a couple "bounces". The 10lb could not support the 10lb weight, while pulling up slow. Pretty sad honestly. But at least it's consistent with my line before. It seems my previous line is not defective! At least not compared to other samples of the same line, unless all 4 spools are defective. I'm gonna say this is just how the line is designed. Good to know at the end of the day.

So others can provide suitable recommendations, what's your budget?

Yup, the SLX DC is wider than the regular SLX and XT.

I was hoping they would bring the SLX MGL instead of the XT or DC. It would compete with the Curado 70 unfortunately but it looks better than all 3 previous SLX models and should throw light baits better than all 3 with the MGL spool while still having plenty of power. The SLX was my first baitcasting reel and I'm actually more impressed with it after using my Bantam than I was when I first got it (was still impressed though). I enjoy using it for flipping and throwing light baits so I can only imagine the MGL being better. I have zero interest in the DC due to that obnoxious whine so I was disappointed to see they brought it over.