Ghosts Review Of New Quantum Smoke & BPS Carbonlite B/C Reels

[ghost]

I've had a chance to fish both reels in the past few days.

First the Carbonlite, in left hand.  The reel is very nice and lite in weight.  The color is good, not too bad; it's a darker yellow than the 2 Shimano Calcuttas I have.  The dual braking works great, did not get one birds nest and I even used lures in the 1/4 oz range.  This what surprised me with this reel and did not know it till I handled one.  The spool control knob clicks!  Yes, it just doesn't tighten up but clicks when you turn it...not a bad feature on a $120 reel.  All in all I am very happy with this reel, it's very smooth and can do double duty as a finesse and medium duty baitcast reel.  Only grips is the eva grips.  I really don't care for them so I put on black Reel Grips.  It bulked up the grip and it feels much better.  I mentioned before that eva grips tend to cut easily.  So I improved the grip on the grip and don't have to worry about the eva ripping.  The carbon handle is nice, glossy black and it's swept.  Gives it a high end look to it and drops the weight also.  I do own a special edition Pro Qualifier that BPS had out during this years Bass Classic/reel trade in.  The reel is black with a hint of purple and glitter, depending how the sun hits it.  Anyways, the Carbonlite and the PQ special edition weigh almost the same, the difference is a quarter ounce.  7 3/8 oz on the Carbonlite and 7 1/2 ounce on the PQ special edition.

The Quantum Smoke, also in left hand is a sleek, stealthy looking reel.  It means all business, the new almost skeletal reel handle adds to the stealth look.  Upon checking it out at Cabelas (this is the 6.3:1 gear ratio), it spun nice, a real looker, actually better than the Quantum Tour Edition I have of the same body style.  You can feel how lite the reel is and when mounted on a rod, it felt good to the hand.  Again, I'm not thrilled with the eva grips, I put on black Reel Grips so the eva will last longer and it bulks up the grips.

Using this reel on the water....didn't like it.  Yup, you read right I didn't like it.  The ACS braking is....eh.  I had to click to the second ACS braking to keep it from having the line run over and I use braid.  I do have the Tour Edition and the Catalyst, all 3 share the same body and ACS braking.  On the Tour Edition and Catalyst, I only need to click to the fist ACS braking and I'm good to go with any weight lure.  So thats a minus on the Smoke reel.  The Smoke IMO did not feel as smooth when retrieving either.  The  BPS Carbonlite which costs almost $80 less felt smoother, and the Tour Edition and Catalyst both a year older year are much more smoother.  This really did not sit good with me, since the Smoke is an upgrade in weight, looks, I think bearings than last years Tour Edition and Catalyst.  I feel for the $200 price tag that it's not worth it.  The looks alone makes it very special and the feel of the reel makes it comfortable.  The palming sideplate does stick out a bit and to tell you the truth, I've heard people complain that it's uncomfortable; to me I didn't really notice the bulge.

So in conclusion, I'm very happy with the BPS Carbonlite and will be keeping that reel, since I've waited for a few years for BPS to come out with left handed version of the Prolite and was drooling when I saw the Carbonlite come out.  It's a sharp looking reel, very comfortable, easy to cast different weight of lures, easy to palm and not too harsh on the eyes.

The Quantum Smoke...is going back...not happy with this Quantum reel.

[BASSclary]

I love my Carbonlite, I couldn't be happier with it. My only beef with it is that its not a favorite color of mine, but it doesn't look bad. Has handled everything i've thrown at it all season.

[OHIO]

I was impressed with the Smoke that I tried, but I didn't use it for long.

The Catalyst I have has served me well. It's a great reel for the money and I really like the looks of it.

IMO most of the higher end BPS products are always a safe bet.

[21farms]

...7 3/8 oz on the Carbonlite

i'm confused here...the carbonlite is supposed to weigh 6.7 ounces. i've weighed mine and it does.

Using this reel on the water....didn't like it. Yup, you read right I didn't like it. The ACS braking is....eh. I had to click to the second ACS braking to keep it from having the line run over and I use braid. I do have the Tour Edition and the Catalyst, all 3 share the same body and ACS braking. On the Tour Edition and Catalyst, I only need to click to the fist ACS braking and I'm good to go with any weight lure. So thats a minus on the Smoke reel. The Smoke IMO did not feel as smooth when retrieving either. The BPS Carbonlite which costs almost $80 less felt smoother, and the Tour Edition and Catalyst both a year older year are much more smoother.

i'm assuming you got the smoke 100 because you mentioned a fixed ACS braking position. the ACS braking on the smoke 100 is not the same as the catalyst's which is the original 4-position micro ACS. the smoke 100 has micro ACS II which has 9 positions. regardless, it should not matter where you have to set the dial as long as you can get it to do what you want it to do. that being said, my problem with quantum's ACS system is that it's a relatively complicated system with all the pins, springs, weights, actuators, and system housing all mounted on the spool, which adds weight exactly where you don't want it.

as for smoothness, i think checking out the reels in the stores is misleading. both cabelas and BPS mount their display reels on very heavy faux handles, the weight of which makes every reel feel smoother than it will on an actual graphite rod. reels, however, do get smoother over time as the main and pinion gears "mesh" together (another reason display reels feel smoother than the new-in-box reels you bring home).

now, are you sure the smoke body is the same as the catalyst and tour edition? even from photos, the body looks like a new design to me, although that ungainly bulging palming sideplate profile is still there.

[Mike Z]

I'm glad I read your review on the Carbonlite. I was at a BPS for the first time today and looked at the Pro Qualifier, Carbonlite and some of the signature series reels. Then looked at the Revo SX in both the old model (on sale) and the new model. I really liked the new Revo SX but also liked the clicking feature on the Carbonlite.

I have heard great things about the PQ, but not a whole lot on the Carbonlite and I wasn't sure. Also not sure how they compare to the Revo series or the Shimano reels in the sub $200 range. I'm done buying signature series reels though as I am not sure I want to be paying for a name when I could get something just as good for a few bucks more.

[RWSCHMITZ]

Using this reel on the water....didn't like it. Yup, you read right I didn't like it. The ACS braking is....eh. I had to click to the second ACS braking to keep it from having the line run over and I use braid. I do have the Tour Edition and the Catalyst, all 3 share the same body and ACS braking. On the Tour Edition and Catalyst, I only need to click to the fist ACS braking and I'm good to go with any weight lure. So thats a minus on the Smoke reel. {Quote from Ghosts review}

Why would that bother you ???

I have 2 Calcutta 250DC reels and one is set on 3 the other I set on 4 for the same bait.

I have a SMOKE 150 coming this week, I do a review when I get my.