Kastking Spartacus

[NYWayfarer]

I went out this morning to do a field test on my new Kastking Spartacus.

 

I put 12lb Berkley Trilene XL line on the spool and paired the reel up with my 6'6" Daiwa Megaforce rod Medium/Fast.

 

I was tossing a 4" wacky rigged Dinger. With the magnetic brakes on 7 and the centrifugal brakes on 6 I used the cast control knob to have the worm drop slowly. 

 

I cast hundreds of times with no backlash. The reel performed smooth and silent. I ended the day with a Dink Bass and a Pickerel.

 

The only issue I had was the cast button popped twice while casting. I might not have pressed it down hard enough before casting though.

 

Overall I love the reel. Another great Kastking product. 

[roadwarrior]

[BassGirl71]

I just picked up a Spartacus this year, too.  Great reel.  I've used and abused it several times already and it seems to hold up really well.  It casts smooth and the drag is strong. 

[NYWayfarer]

A 15 day update on my Kastking Spartacus. I have been using this reel almost exclusively since I got it. It was the primary reel I used on vacation last week.
 

After thousands of casts it is still performing well. No backlashes that were not my fault. Like my stealth it is pretty much backlash free as the line stops when my lure hits the water when the brakes are properly adjusted. It casts far with little effort. Just for testing purposes I was able to cast a weightless 3" Yum Dinger a good distance and not backlash on 12lb line. I would not normally use a baitcaster for a lure this light.

 

That's the good, now the not so good. Cosmetically the reel has lost almost all of the painted on name and numbers on one side of the reel. That includes the Spartacus reel name, gone and the numbers on the magnetic brakes plus the words less and more, gone. The side you see in the pic above still has all the painted on words visible. 

 

The reel also has some flex to it that I noticed when Setting the hook on a submerged branch. This is too be expected with a graphite reel to some degree. No more problems with the cast button sticking.

 

Overall it is still a great reel IMO. I like my Kastking Stealth better as the only thing that is an improvement on the Spartacus is the centrifuge brakes dial over the pins on the Stealth.

[sully420]

I don't know my kastking speed demon broke after 2 months and when fighting fish it feels like it us going to fall apart. From now on im only buying quality reels  with sturdy built frames and parts. No more c**p king for me 

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, sully420 said:

I don't know my kastking speed demon broke after 2 months and when fighting fish it feels like it us going to fall apart. From now on im only buying quality reels  with sturdy built frames and parts. No more c**p king for me 

 

There's a ONE YEAR WARRANTY on these reel.  Seems like a no-brainer to use it:

 

http://www.eposeidon.com/return-exchange/

[sully420]

Yea i am it just took a month and 4 calls to there customer service to get them to send me a packaging slip. The reel worked well but imo its just not worth the money. Gears slip wen fighting fish and there us so much play in the body of the reel you can feel it warp in your hands. With all of the great deals right now on  high-quality reels it just doesn't make sense to go with a kast King. Really wanted these reels to be good because the price is right but bass resource has tought me you get what you pay for in fishing equipment. Just my honest opinion i hope others have better luck. I only have like 4 months to fish in Minnesota so being a reel down really sucks

[J Francho]

My Assassin has really impressed me.  I've tried hard to break it.

[j_blaze14]

i have a spartacus and spartacus plus.  thanks for the headsup on the letters fading.  maybe a dab of clear fingernail polish might help? flat?  anyways, i love them.  im just blown away at the smoothness and silence.  the plus has oversized cork handles and a darker color, beautiful.  i run all my baitcasters with no tension knob bearing and these just shine once it took it out.  normally its like 5 or 10 more feet of casting distance, these gained maybe 20 feet.  i always run low brakes so im at the edge of a backlash, tension knob very loose, i just touch the spool as the bait hits the water.  im at 2 on the centrifugal and 5 on magnetic.  ill keep fishing kastking until something goes wrong.