Tried a Budget reel to see what options are out there. Sougayilang Baitcaster

[Cgolf]

So I hope the mods don’t delete this. I have been around here a bit now and truly had my dad buy for me off Temu. He has ordered from there already and I refuse too with my information. I believe the brand is also on Amazon. 
 

Now I do like to fish budget reels, especially spinning reels. In 2022 I retired a Shakespeare Excursion from 3-5 day a week use in season after gosh 18 years or so, great reel by the way and it is sitting on my shelf of special things. I also think about kids or people not able to drop 400 per combo. 
 

So I got the reel on Saturday and spooled it up to use on Sunday. Build quality and materials is similar to the Lews American Hero 40ish dollar baitcaster I own. There was some gear noise, but nowhere near as bad as my Quantum icons and Pfluger Presidents. The drag settings were more than adequate and I was easily able to lock it down. Spool tension knob did what it was supposed to and the braking system set at 80% only backlashes when I didn’t load the rod and rushed the cast. That does it with all reels. 
 

on the water it was smoother than expected, and in my mind I was trying to remind myself this is a cheap !*,* reel and it should suck, but it didn’t. I even did some sloppy backhand pitches to docks with no issues. Casting distance was on par with my Lews crush. Once I just was dialed into fishing, I found it to be a very capable reel. I managed 2 pike and a 3-4 lb bass on it. 
 

By no means am I telling anyone to go out and by one, but I scrounged some money together to buy two more before they disappear. Being in ,y 50s now, trying to get the house paid off and save for retirement and other house and travel things has crushed my rod and reel budget. Maybe this reel is my new excursion, but I would be thrilled if it lasted a 1/4 of what that reel did. Tight lines everyone. 

[new2BC4bass]

When I first read your thread title, I thought you were asking for opinions on you buying a budget reel?  Why would I have an opinion on that?

 

Then I figured out you were asking about opinions on the Sougayilang.  Never have, or will, use one.  However, I'm glad you gave a review on it.  There was a time in my life when I couldn't afford even $50 for a rod or reel.  No doubt there are a few in that situation today, so reviews of low cost, little known (or unknown) brands is a good thing for some people.  Reviews on such products are hard to come by unless on Amazon.  And if you believe those reviews, I have a bridge in Arizona I can sell to you.

[MiceNReets]

7 hours ago, new2BC4bass said:

When I first read your thread title, I thought you were asking for opinions on you buying a budget reel?  Why would I have an opinion on that?

 

Then I figured out you were asking about opinions on the Sougayilang.  Never have, or will, use one.  However, I'm glad you gave a review on it.  There was a time in my life when I couldn't afford even $50 for a rod or reel.  No doubt there are a few in that situation today, so reviews of low cost, little known (or unknown) brands is a good thing for some people.  Reviews on such products are hard to come by unless on Amazon.  And if you believe those reviews, I have a bridge in Arizona I can sell to you.

You own a bridge?

[Bigbox99]

I have tried many budget reels to get a feel for what's out there to provide feedback and help anglers looking at these reels.  What I have found is that I HATE the plastic baitcastes because they all feel and sound horrible under load when cranking and lack winding power.  The aluminum frame reels I have used have been more than adequate and some quite good for the price.  These include the $48 Johncoo Ares, $50-$60 Piscifun Alloy M and $50-$60 Histar Black Mamba. 

 

The Ares and Black Mamba get an aluminum side plate and a double supported pinion too.  I use both for high resistance winding baits night fishing from a kayak to keep my high end gear at home and they have been awesome for the price.  The Alloy M has been a jig and plastics reel and been pretty good.  It can't skip worth a darn or dump the entire 32mm spool of braid with a frog but does the in-betweens of these two extremes just fine with normal use and does have a nice compact shape for palming. 

[Cgolf]

37 minutes ago, Bigbox99 said:

I have tried many budget reels to get a feel for what's out there to provide feedback and help anglers looking at these reels.  What I have found is that I HATE the plastic baitcastes because they all feel and sound horrible under load when cranking and lack winding power.  The aluminum frame reels I have used have been more than adequate and some quite good for the price.  These include the $48 Johncoo Ares, $50-$60 Piscifun Alloy M and $50-$60 Histar Black Mamba. 

 

The Ares and Black Mamba get an aluminum side plate and a double supported pinion too.  I use both for high resistance winding baits night fishing from a kayak to keep my high end gear at home and they have been awesome for the price.  The Alloy M has been a jig and plastics reel and been pretty good.  It can't skip worth a darn or dump the entire 32mm spool of braid with a frog but does the in-betweens of these two extremes just fine with normal use and does have a nice compact shape for palming. 

I haven’t encountered this with any of my reels yet, including the Lews Crush which is priced high to not have a metal frame. Though writing that the Lews and this reel may be me only non metal frame reels. My point for this was to see what the bottom end of the market was and I was surprised by this one. 
 

Definitely expect I will be the only one on the site using one, but for folks that this is all they can afford it should get them out fishing and not cause too many headaches. 
 

I will do an update in the fall to see if it survived. I will be putting it though a torture test of winching bass out of reed beds with spinnerbaits this summer. 

[MAN]

I have never got more than a year outta these types of reels.

18 bearings of which at least 8 are completely obsolete is a fair warning right on the box. 

 

I do however, hope yours last longer and you get your money's worth. 

[Cgolf]

1 hour ago, MAN said:

I have never got more than a year outta these types of reels.

18 bearings of which at least 8 are completely obsolete is a fair warning right on the box. 

 

I do however, hope yours last longer and you get your money's worth. 

Yup I think they make up places to put bearings but I will say that ball bearings in the grips are underrated. I have an old Black Max 3600 round reel that I love, but I have to put a bit of oil under the rubber grips or they are just annoying. Wish I had a bunch more of those reels as it seems to far outperform newer reels. 
 

I will say that my Abu black max 3600 and 2 5500 C3s are far superior reels to my Revo S, SX, and STX. Out of the Revos the S is the best fit and finish. Seems like where they are made matters. 

[new2BC4bass]

10 hours ago, MiceNReets said:

You own a bridge?

London. 

[Dan N]

This spring I purchased a 50$ Kastking reel, just to see what it’s like. I have far nicer reels. I will say it seems great, very smooth, casts great, drag not bad. 
However, I have no expectations of it lasting more than 1-2 seasons. 
I would say if your expectations are not too high, some can be just fine, just don’t expect them to last long. And if you can get some fishing  done, on a budget, that’s great.

And it matched the rod😂

[Dan N]

It worked

[Cgolf]

4 hours ago, Dan N said:

This spring I purchased a 50$ Kastking reel, just to see what it’s like. I have far nicer reels. I will say it seems great, very smooth, casts great, drag not bad. 
However, I have no expectations of it lasting more than 1-2 seasons. 
I would say if your expectations are not too high, some can be just fine, just don’t expect them to last long. And if you can get some fishing  done, on a budget, that’s great.

And it matched the rod😂

I have no expectations for this reel, the fact that it worked well at all exceeded my expectations for a reel that at the time was under 15 bucks. If it lasted like my excursions or quantum accurists that would be great, but nowadays things aren’t built to last anymore. This was just an experiment for me that may just at least temporarily bench my quantum icons. When these wear out I will go back to the icons. 
 

Maybe the days of needing to spend 150 plus to get a good casting baitcaster are over. Maybe new tech is actually saving us some cash, not saying getting these reels, but low/mid priced name brands. The old Daiwa mag force I have with the twitching bar is a great casting budget red I bought ten years ago that I could tune so I didn’t need to thumb the spool at all. Maybe a different topic, but build quality and part quality now compared to even ten years ago, probably would see some eye popping results. 

[bulldog1935]

Technology is a convenient word that deserves thought on its own.  

Paradigm changes in function of fishing reels happen about 3 or 4 times/ century.  Most all are patents that belong exclusively to that maker for 18 years (you called out MagForce - fits right here).  

Technology is how to package it, reduce labor assembly steps, and, especially, how to build it cheaper to increase profit margin.  In the case of spinning reels, technology in the last decade included CAD/CAM to overcome their inherent bad design.  While technology can include how to make them better, it always includes how to make them cheaper.  

It can be Material of Construction choice, because some materials, e.g., hard-anodized alloy gears, are cheaper to manufacture, and the technology of the hard anodizing process has caught up with properties needed in gears, etc.  Another MOC is plastic/composite frames.  

Consider the subject reel is a cheap knock off of another entry-level reel - just how many quality corners do you think they cut to get this product out the door.  What suffers the most is MOC that may not have the mechanical properties needed for the long run.  

[Cgolf]

1 hour ago, bulldog1935 said:

Technology is a convenient word that deserves thought on its own.  

Paradigm changes in function of fishing reels happen about 3 or 4 times/ century.  Most all are patents that belong exclusively to that maker for 18 years (you called out MagForce - fits right here).  

Technology is how to package it, reduce labor assembly steps, and, especially, how to build it cheaper to increase profit margin.  In the case of spinning reels, technology in the last decade included CAD/CAM to overcome their inherent bad design.  While technology can include how to make them better, it always includes how to make them cheaper.  

It can be Material of Construction choice, because some materials, e.g., hard-anodized alloy gears, are cheaper to manufacture, and the technology of the hard anodizing process has caught up with properties needed in gears, etc.  Another MOC is plastic/composite frames.  

Consider the subject reel is a cheap knock off of another entry-level reel - just how many quality corners do you think they cut to get this product out the door.  What suffers the most is MOC that may not have the mechanical properties needed for the long run.  

I believe that they cut a lot of corners or just choose the lowest cost options.  Comparing the subject reel to say my Lews American hero reel I have that is 4 years old, the subject reel out performs that reel. The fit and finish aspect of my comment as it applies to just Abu Garcia reels, I would say that if I did a blind test, the 2 C3’s (20+ years old) and the Black Max 3600 (20+ but previous owner took very good care of it) vs the Revos, 2 of which were in the 200+ range, I would say today that the older reels feel and look better made, and perform better. I would likely say that the Revos aren’t worth the money I paid for them, luckily I got them on clearance because they were last years models. Which is a great way to get expensive cheap, because 2-3 years down the road whether you bought last years model or the latest greatest is irrelevant. Overall I am disappointed with most of the newer reels I have bought, most of my older reels are much better quality than the newer reels, but they just don’t cast as far.

The thing I do not know, is the factory where the Sougayilang reel is made, is it one that makes reels for other brands as well? 

I think I hijacked my own thread, but this is a very good and interesting discussion.
 

[bulldog1935]

30 minutes ago, Cgolf said:

The thing I do not know, is the factory where the Sougayilang reel is made, is it one that makes reels for other brands as well? 
 

They're deep in the A/E fishing market, listing the most entries in every category.  They're either really good at sourcing their products, or they do make their reels and completed reels or parts for other brands.  Logically, they're building off something that's already in their manufacturing capability, and applying quality cuts to get here.  

Reviews on their spinning reels are smooth out of the box, non-function in a few months.  

 

"Out performs" a 4-y-o entry level reel to me is less pertinent than how it will perform in 4 years.  My first ebay-buy $120 Super Duty is in its 6th salt year - its brake fits my distance niche better than most, I'd put it against any reel for light-lure distance, and it's still going strong with only a magnet swap for onset of corrosion.  

[Cgolf]

13 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

They're deep in the A/E fishing marking, listing the most entries in every category.  They're either really good at sourcing their products, or they do make their reels and completed reels or parts for other brands.  Logically, they're building off something that's already in their manufacturing capability, and applying quality cuts to get here.  

Reviews on their spinning reels are smooth out of the box, non-function in a few months.  

 

"Out performs" a 4-y-o entry level reel to me is less pertinent than how it will perform in 4 years.  

That is what I am interested in finding out, the how long. Ultimately this was a curiosity for me rather than a need, so time will tell. I just wish I could get the geariness out of my Quantum icons. For the deal I got on them replacing bearings or having someone service them would cost more than I paid for them. Sadl6 we are becoming a throwaway society and stuff is built to fail. 
 

If you know of a place to source the old Abu Black Max 3600s inexpensively I would be interested. That is probably my favorite reel in my collection. 

[Bigbox99]

23 hours ago, Cgolf said:

I haven’t encountered this with any of my reels yet, including the Lews Crush which is priced high to not have a metal frame.

You have, but you probably didn't notice it.  Some people have a higher tolerances to noticing these things than others.  Once I started fishing with aluminum frame and handle side plate reels and that effortless winding power became the norm it is immidiately noticeable how poor the winding power is with these plastic frame reels when winding in a fish especially through slop when the reel is under load.  They still work and the spool spins backwards when the handle is spun forwards but that smooth and effortless winding power is gone.   You are very well aware you are winding in a fish with these reels where as with a very solid feeling reel you really don't notice that through the reel.  

[ABU is overpriced]

If you want cheap, you buy used from Daiwa, Shimano. If you want even cheaper, buy used Abu since they don't retain their value at all. Personally, i would never waste my time on basement assembled noname reels. But that's just me.

[bulldog1935]

As long as we're hijacking here, I have a very specific niche that needed very specific rod specs.  

After exhausting JDM for the multipiece rockfish casting rod I wanted, I chased absolutely everything on Ali Express.  

This is an 8-1/2' 7-pc rod to fit in a bicycle half-frame bag, and pedal to a fabled snook hole at a dam that forms a tide-basin limit.  It's a half-day kayak paddle, and the only other way to get here is an hour on a bicycle.  It's a winter activity shore fishing small glass minnows and poecilids for bait, using equally small lures.  So I saw this in a cheapie, and knew I could make this work before I bought it.  

Note the rod has exactly half the number of tip guides that a casting rod requires.  The only way to make it work is assemble the 7 pieces as spiral guides, with rings down on the 3 tip sections.  

 

Note that the shorter 6-pc versions don't have enough pieces to assemble this way.  

Best thing about it, the reel seat accepts the long foot on my custom 4500CT built for shore micro-jigging.  

 

I wrote my honest review for this rod on Ali Express, and was almost surprised when they published it - doesn't reliably cast its 2-g-rated low-end, but makes up for it casting 3 g - also, only the 7-pc casting rod can be assembled spiral-guides to function as a casting rod...

[MAN]

Without a doubt when I developed rods and reels I was held to a margin standard that I needed to hit despite raw material and labor cost rises every year. There were always 2 solutions. 

1. De-spec

2. Change factory

 

What made it easier was the change in U.S. consumer's mindset that overall anything that last 3-5 years was acceptable and not deemed a waste of money.  This kinda trickled down from the influx of cheap appliances, accessories, electronics, (my wife's piece of crap Ikea furniture) and so forth into the U.S. market the past couple of decades.  Also with nearly everyone in the fishing industry having to do the same, it made it hard to call out one over the other for making the subtle changes. 

 

 

 

 

[txchaser]

If I recall correctly, that brand is known for having a great entry-level BFS reel.