Zillion21 vs Lew's Lites

[Phil77]

After a year and a half of hype and not being able to go on a bass message board without hearing about the new zillion I decided to get one to see for myself. Ordered on Monday from asian portal and picked it up an hour ago on Friday, I know most of you use other jdm sites but I've been buying from AP for years and saw no reason to change. I paid $274 after tax and free shipping Zillion SV TW 1000. I have a steez SV tw that just feels neutered with the stock spool so wanted to mainly try a spool swap and man did it open the steez up. It's nothing special in the zillion though, nothing either of my lews lites can't do but just so I can say I did it I'm going to swap the zillion on my two most productive setups and see what it does. Today I'm swapping my aluminum lite which is normally for weightless to 1/4 T-rigs with the zillion, same rod, same line, and same bait strike king coffee tube with a 1/8 bullet weight. I would normally fish it weightless but the water is 50 and I want to get on the bottom fast. Both of the lites already beat the zillion in ergonomics for me and both weigh less with the aluminum one at 5.7 oz and the tanso at 4.9 with the zillion at 6.1 and some change. This zillion aint winning any beauty contest's either, my god this thing is ugly and is almost a sin to call it a zillion compared to how beautiful the older ones are but hey ugly girls need love too. The zillion is butter smooth like a curado, looks like a silver curado too, not a fan of the brake dial location but I'll make it work. Enough talking, I'm going to put at least seven hours on the water with it today taking only a few breaks for crappie when I can find them.

[Tatulatard]

How do the two compare in skipping?  That's the thing I like about the new zillions.  They can cast well AND skip well instead of trading casting distance to skip like non boost sv spools.  The smoothness is also nice.  I can't stand geary or noisy reels.  Not a huge fan of the looks or the super silver either.  The old zillion was a handsome reel and still one of my favorites.

[Phil77]

Now that's a Zillion. I don't really have a need to skip and when I've tried it just knocks the plastic off the tex pose that I like to fish. Today is going to be bank pounding and just trying to find them, we had almost ten inches of rain in the last seven days so it's going to be like work today.

[PhishLI]

The spool bearings come loaded with grease on these. Put a drop of oil on each one between the outer race and the shield which will cut it, and most of it will express out after casting it a while and the reel will open up a bit.

[Phil77]

39 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

The spool bearings come loaded with grease on these. Put a drop of oil on each one between the outer race and the shield which will cut it, and most of it will express out after casting it a while and the reel will open up a bit.

They did fine in my steez, got down to 2 on the brakes with no problems. Starts fluffing on 4 in the zillion, might have to mess with the zero adjuster lol.

 

[PhishLI]

OKie doke. You do you, Holmes.

[WRB]

You don’t need to prove you have a bias to anything or anyone but yourself. You like Lewis reels.

Tom

[Phil77]

Got it dialed in, not going to lie it's a good caster at 4 now.

[Tatulatard]

Supposedly that spool in the steez is amazing.  Its even more free casting from what I have head from more than one source. 

[waymont]

Well there you go. You seem like you want to hate on your new reel for some reason.

[MiceNReets]

7 hours ago, Tatulatard said:

How do the two compare in skipping?  That's the thing I like about the new zillions.  They can cast well AND skip well instead of trading casting distance to skip like non boost sv spools.  The smoothness is also nice.  I can't stand geary or noisy reels.  Not a huge fan of the looks or the super silver either.  The old zillion was a handsome reel and still one of my favorites.

Love that zillion.  

[Phil77]

2 hours ago, Tatulatard said:

Supposedly that spool in the steez is amazing.  Its even more free casting from what I have head from more than one source. 

Can confirm, I was bombing it like never before and the steez spool has nice Abec 7's on it. For comparison My chain link in the back is 127 feet before it turns to pasture and the steez on 2 would fall short of the fence with a 1/2oz casting plug, the boost spool in the steez clears the fence quite a bit. I cant get it to repeat in the zillion though even with the tension down its fluffing at 4 for some reason.

1 hour ago, waymont said:

Well there you go. You seem like you want to hate on your new reel for some reason.

The reel is not impressing me much but the spool on the other hand is going to be great in my steez.

[Phil77]

After seven hours and twenty two fish I can say for me personally the lite is definitely more comfortable. The zillion feels like a magnetic Curado 200K and I don't mean that in a bad way, that's just how the profile feels to me. It is a good caster but I cant get as good of control at lower settings as my ACB reels without it fluffing. This is the first SV reel I've had that doesn't feel over-braked, feels like the old TDZ/Zillions with magZ just have the fluffing issue on 4 and below. I can see why guys who have only had Tat SV's brag about the casting distance it is a major improvement to those and even my steez SV. I think I paid two hundred or maybe a bit more for the aluminum lite a few years ago so adjust for inflation and they are probably close in price so for me I'd choose the lews for  ergonomics and a slight edge on casting for max distance without it blowing the spool up. The zillion does get a slight advantage in that the brake system is maintenance free, only takes a couple minutes to clean and re lube the ACB but most bass fishermen can barely check their outboard oil so I doubt they oil their centrifugal brakes as often as needed. Not the second coming of baitcasters for me but its a nice reel, I'm just spoiled to the LFS and SLP profile of the lews reels. Do any of you remember the 50th anniveresery Zillion? It was iron man red and a limited edition, now if daiwa blended the looks of that reel with this spool I would convert in a heartbeat. Hopefully they release a boost spool zillion with the classic porting on the hood and a more traditional zillion look and feel, I would probably have to have that too. Based on today I will most likely order a boost spool for my steez, just has a way more comfortable profile for me and give the zillion to a kid at the high school bass club. The kid graduates this year and is a natural with a jig and has outfished me in the back of my own boat. His home life is like a jerry springer show but he's a hardworker and hopefully getting an academic scholarship so this reel will make a good graduation present. I am going to use the spool in my steez till the other one gets here.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Dang it, I had a reply typed out about sending me a PM when you are ready to dump it cheap so that I could then give it to a kid ?

 

It was obviously a joke, or the ultimate faux insult for a high end high dollar fishing reel.....it's only worth giving to a kid.   

 

I get it though, there is always somebody who doesn't like a particular product, in the Zillion SV TW's case, you are the first however that I've seen.   I'm sure that kid will be thrilled, there are many adult Bass anglers who never have owned such an expensive and nice reel.    

[Cbump]

Lews suck

[Phil77]

36 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Dang it, I had a reply typed out about sending me a PM when you are ready to dump it cheap so that I could then give it to a kid ?

 

It was obviously a joke, or the ultimate faux insult for a high end high dollar fishing reel.....it's only worth giving to a kid.   

 

I get it though, there is always somebody who doesn't like a particular product, in the Zillion SV TW's case, you are the first however that I've seen.   I'm sure that kid will be thrilled, there are many adult Bass anglers who never have owned such an expensive and nice reel.    

I've been one of the top five boosters/donors for the kids bass club for over a decade way back when it was still hooked on fishing HOFNOD. I don't see how it's an insult to give it to an 18 year old who could very well go pro-Am if he had a boat and some sponsors behind him. If he doesn't want it which I highly doubt, I'll take 250 and you can pay the shipping.

[Phil77]

19 minutes ago, Cbump said:

Lews suck

Puts on my lews hoodie and goes to cry in the corner. Ohh the pain.

[MN Fisher]

15 minutes ago, Phil77 said:

Puts on my lews hoodie and goes to cry in the corner. Ohh the pain.

[Phil77]

Just to be clear I don't hate Daiwa, hell I'd bet most of the die hard Daiwa fans don't even know these exist let alone own one. My dad won this one in an old b.a.s.s. or maybe FLW tournament. My proudest shelf queen, just wish he didn't lose the lure that came with it.

[JediAmoeba]

2 minutes ago, Phil77 said:

Just to be clear I don't hate Daiwa, hell I'd bet most of the die hard Daiwa fans don't even know these exist let alone own one. My dad won this one in an old b.a.s.s. or maybe FLW tournament. My proudest shelf queen, just wish he didn't lose the lure that came with it.

If I had that I would ? fish it. Awesome reel- I remember seeing one in a magazine

[FishTank]

After reading all of this and owning both Daiwa reels mentioned by the OP, I think the Zillion is set up wrong. First the spool tension (zero adjust) knob shouldn't be need to be touched (maybe a little) once you get a small amount of side to side play with the spool. Second the brakes on mine are set between either 8 to 12 depending on the lure, not 4 or even 2. Not sure why you would go so low, unless you are using your thumb exclusively. Currently I have a Deps Cover Scat tied on. It might as well be a 1/2oz casting plug. I can launch this thing 125 feet easy on the Zillion if I wanted to and that's with the brakes set at 10. 

 

Out of the reels I have owned from Shimano, Daiwa, Lews, Abu Garcia, and Quantum, the new Zillion has been nothing but perfection. 

[Phil77]

10 minutes ago, FishTank said:

After reading all of this and owning both Daiwa reels mentioned by the OP, I think the Zillion is set up wrong. First the spool tension (zero adjust) knob shouldn't be need to be touched (maybe a little) once you get a small amount of side to side play with the spool. Second the brakes on mine are set between either 8 to 12 depending on the lure, not 4 or even 2. Not sure why you would go so low, unless you are using your thumb exclusively. Currently I have a Deps Cover Scat tied on. It might as well be a 1/2oz casting plug. I can launch this thing 125 feet easy on the Zillion if I wanted to and that's with the brakes set at 10. 

 

Out of the reels I have owned from Shimano, Daiwa, Lews, Abu Garcia, and Quantum, the new Zillion has been nothing but perfection. 

I learned how to use a baitcaster with the best brake system ever invented, the VBS. After using those for years most of the time with 5 off 1 on for pretty much everything except throwing into wind I don't rely much on brakes. With the brakes set low I can simply wrist flick or lightly roll cast with great distance and hardly any effort. I go out for eight to ten hours most times so in order to not get fatigued it works in my favor. I might crank the brakes up around trees and docks or other areas where precision is key. So needless to say I don't think the reel is set up wrong it just needs more spool tension to stop the free spool below four. The first thing most people do when told not to touch something is to immediately touch it, I'm one of those people. I've readjusted the zero adjuster on my steez many times and it still works.

[Phil77]

56 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

If I had that I would ? fish it. Awesome reel- I remember seeing one in a magazine

Oh no, dad made me promise to never even spool line on it so it's going to stay that way. I've been tempted over the years but knowing my luck some rare bird with acidic poop would fly over and crap on it ruining the color or some other one in a million case of bad luck. It looks great behind my bar next to a bottle of Crown. I want to say there was a joe camel or maybe Marlboro themed baitcaster my uncle had years ago, I swear he had a Marlboro miles travel two piece spinning rod combo with a branded case or duffle.

[KP Duty]

I don't own any of the reels in the pic, but find it interesting that the clean looking zillion was deemed 'ugly' and the look of the giant mag brake dial w/lews plaque was preferred by the OP.  

[Phil77]

2 minutes ago, KP Duty said:

I don't own any of the reels in the pic, but find it interesting that the clean looking zillion was deemed 'ugly' and the look of the giant mag brake dial w/lews plaque was preferred by the OP.  

I can palm the lews without feeling the dial or plaque, not so much with the silver curado.