Thanks for unboxing the updated Soloking Acura. I really like the short shaft update and the deep spool option. I'll probably get one soon. If it weren't youtube I'd have no idea this reel got an update. The best way for manufactures to advertise is through youtube.
Hey Pac-Man! Haha yea I was actually caught off guard by this update as well myself… I think someone in the bfs Facebook I’m in actually found the new version and I reached out to Soloking to ask about it and have been in communications with them on seeing if a retrofit kit can be offered to older Acura owners. Will have to do some testing to see if one can be offered. Anywho, thanks so much as always for sharing your thoughts and cheers my friend!
Hey David! Haha yea… I don’t quite have the income to collect cars lol 😆. I have enough of a problem with fishing gear as it is… love to hear your take on the reel when you receive it! Hopefully it comes soon! Cheers my friend!
hi peter - thanks for the latest information on the acura soloking. i will soon purchase the pro model to add to my bfs arsenal. i am such a serious tackle junky that i had to get rid of my wife! life's easier now and every day is a happy fishing day for me . currently i am tying mono weed guards on hundreds of jigs as i am tired of loosing tackle to the messy beavers living in my backyard lake catch-a-whopper. not having the mechanical skills you do i really enjoy seeing you tear apart, reassemble and give your honest views about reels and casting reviews. keep up the great work. you are a good man and the time and effort you put into your channel when time allows is greatly appreciated. - eric
Hey Eric! Hahaha the age old debate of gear vs wife 😆. I hope this is just a joke but I also appreciate your dedication to fishing!!! 🙌🙌🙌😆. Appreciate the kind words as always and cheers my friend!
Ordered the soloking acura pro after watching this video as my first BFS reel after what seems like hundred of hours of researching all my possible options. Have plenty of baitcasters which I love, but first BFS style baitcaster. Am excited to try it out as I have been turning to my spinning setups lately as I like throwing trout magnets and extremely light lures which my current baitcasters can't really handle. Am looking forward to your in depth on the field casting performance of the new soloking and how the 5.5 gram spool fares compared to the old one. Would also love to see you do a video on the new Seasir M1 with the 4.9 gram spool as I read on reddit that you recently ordered one. Was out of stock of the left handed retrieve when I actually came across the reel last night on Ali, though it's probably for the best as I've already bought one new spinning, BFS, AND fly fishing setup along with new lures in the past month.
Hey Elo! I gotta say I think that you will be happy with the Acura Pro and its ability to cast 1g lures. I’ve been casting 0.52g weightless ajing worms about 20-22 ft consistently and when I added a 0.6g cheb weight it felt like I was casting a heavy lure haha. Just removing 1g has made the reel much more capable at casting lower weights. Remember though that the other half of the equation is your rod so get a rod that is capable of complimenting the reels ability to cast low weight lures. As for the M1 yes that is correct! I do have one on order and it’s been moving fast through the shipping process. Hopefully, it’ll arrive some time next week. It’s crazy to hear that I’m on Reddit? Haha never used that platform but very cool to hear that the channel is being talked about there 🙌🙌🙌. Thank you for taking the time to comment and for your support! I hope to be able to share more about the Acura Pro soon as well as the M1! Cheers my friend!
Hey Antin! Yea I’m hoping to see the Acura pro start to slowly come down to the prices they were going for right before the pro release. I think the aliexpress version I listed is actually already down to $46 USD? Unfortunately, it appears it’s only RH 7.1 for now… In any case, the clamber 2 does perform quite well and I do think we’re getting to that point where bfs reels are getting to diminishing returns in terms of casting. It really is pretty exciting to be in bfs right now. Anywho, thank you for sharing your thoughts as always and cheer my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL In my country the price of acura pro is 4/5 of the clamber 2 price now on Ali) Yeeeaahh i was waiting for about 4 years to came into bfs casting..and i did it only in 2022 and I'm happy that I have not done this before. I saved a lot of money and nerves.
@@MrAntinsk8 hey Antin! Haha yea we’re at a really awesome point in the bfs industry right now. Hoping to see prices overall start to slowly come down as the economy slows as well but in the meantime I think the budget reels will always have their place. Super awesome to see these budget reels keep up with the top dollar reels out there! Cheers my friend!
Hey sir, are you still planning to make a video about cutting the old acura spool shaft and make extension spool shaft? I think It's very useful and help so many people who wants to custom their long shaft spool reel
Hey angga! So, I did actually modify one of my old Acura reels to an Acura Pro but it’s not something I would advise doing. Here’s why, 1. You actually need a spool tension shaft from a completely different reel, the gka200, 2. You need to cut and modify the length of that tension shaft and I would say it isn’t easy to do precisely, and 3. The cut you make on the spool tension shaft has to be done in a manner in which it will reduce the surface area that the Acura pro spool shaft and the newly cut spool tension shaft will interact. So, while it’s definitely doable I don’t think it’s really worth the trouble. If it were more straight forwards and “easy” I would suggest doing the mod to folks. As it is though the Acura pro is quite affordable now and has salt resistant bearings which is quite nice to see. Sorry about the let down… Let me know if you have questions though and I can still guide you on how to do it if you’d like. Cheers my friend!
hi peter? - thanks for the nice reply to my comment about you being the heir apparent to tackle advisors. based on your reviews of the kingfisher flight feather i bought one and cant wait to put it through its paces next spring. i have two solokings. i want to buy one of the soloking pro's left hand retrieve model. when i looked the day you did your review i could not find the pro model reel listed on either alliexpress or amazon. i am afraid of buying them only to discover that i will not get the new pro model. i am hoping you can get a little money when your fans buy one by posting a link to the sites which are selling them like the reel test does. thanks! - eric
Hey Eric! It’s my pleasure and I am very humbled by the comparison you made! As far as the Acura Pros are concerned, all available models being sold should be pro models from what I was told. Both Amazon and Aliexpress currently have the pro models for sale and the affiliate links are in the video description above! Oddly, the cheapest Aliexpress link I have above only has the RH version for sale but it did briefly have the LH available so maybe it will become available again soon. I did not list the more expensive aliexpress link because the Amazon price is a bit cheaper. Hope that helps and yes my name is Peter! Pleased to meet you and cheers my friend!
Hey Marlon! My pleasure! As to your question I would say it is “better” than the dark wolf ultra which it is a variant of. The dark wolf is a larger reel and 100 sized so it’s not quite the same? As for the aurora air, that will outcast the Acura pro but also is almost double the price. My aurora air has had QC issues but those who don’t have these issues love theirs. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Hey Eric! Wow! They’re pretty darn good I agree and even better with the pro model. My only gripe is that they shrank the star drag and on mine it feels a bit mushy… hope that that’s not the case with yours. Cheers my friend!
Hey thealin! Thanks so much for the recommendation! I will say in my use of both reels that the pro outcasts the non pro handily with anything in the sub 1g to 2g range. Anything higher and they will cast fairly similarly with slightly improvements to the pro model. I’m not sure how valuable a dedicated casting test video would be for the two reels as we only have the pro model available nowadays. Was there anything specific you wanted to know about the pro model vs the non pro? Unfortunately, I have to pick and choose what videos I make as time is a bit of a limited resource for me but more than happy to chat and converse with you about the two reels! Cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Hey! First of all, thank you for such a quick response. Well i just ordered this reel today and i wanted to know how good is this reel casting 2g compared to kastking valiant eagle 2 bfs. I've had the eagle 2 bfs for about 3 months now and i can't cast 2g comfortably. My main lure is a 2g crankbait for most of my fishing in small streams and i don't have the accuracy and distance that i desire. So in my scenario will the acura cast easier and more accurate? What is your opinion? My rod is Ace hawk cu double with the ultra light tip of course. Thank you very much!
@@TheAlin25 hey thealin! Ah I see. Yea the Acura pro should handle a 2g no problems at all. While I haven’t cast it on your exact setup you should be getting at least something on the order around 50ft or so with 2g. Ideally more but there are a lot of factors that come into play. Line type/amount, aerodynamics of your lure, your casting skill, wind, etc. hands down though your Acura pro will outcast that valiant eagle 2 as it is not as overbraked. Let us know how things go with the reel! Cheers my friend!
Hey, me again. Quick question, are there any deeper spools on aliexpress that fit into the valiant eagle 2 so it can hold more line? I was thinking that, since i will use the acura pro for my stream fishing i would not waste the eagle 2 and use it for bigger baits like 10 grams or so. But i would need a deeper spool to have enough line for my personal use. Thanks for all the help.
Hello. Thanks for the video. I have 3 Acura, but all have some small slit/airspace/gap between the frame and spool, so if I am using a thin braid it can catch there (when I have a backlash or do not stop with a thumbing time). The braid will be damaged, previously, I thought I had a bad braid, but now I can see why I have those problems with the braid.
Hey romalo! Yea unfortunately with cheaper reels like this you will not have extremely tight tolerances between the spool and frame. My suggested work around is to just use 0.6 goh or 0.128mm braid as this should be thick enough to not get caught there. In any case 0.6goh is what I use mainly and what I recommend to everyone to use as it offers good “thinness” to strength imho. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Yes, same here, I am thinking about using a thicker braid. The problem is, I am fishing with heavier weights, not true Japanese BFS standards. I am using rigs, that Ukrainian pro anglers created like 15-18 years ago, it's a removable rig, we call it "Cheburashka". Overseas it's known as cheb rig now. Anyway, if I put a thicker braid on a shallow spool it won't be enough for a long cast, seems I have to use a deep spool only. Nonetheless, thanks for your time and reply. Have a nice day.
@@romaloboda2280 hey roma! Ooc what kind of distances are you casting? Typically, I spool about 50m of the 0.6goh diameter but can actually fit a decent amount more depending on the spool. If I’m aiming for longer distances I’ll bump up to 70m but have actually used 100m for some saltwater based set ups. I often use cheburashka weights as I really prefer to have my soft plastics setup in a weedless configuration. Cheers my friend!
Hey yep! Yea the Zeus seems to be well endorsed by quite a few people on the bfs Facebook group. I just haven’t taken a look at one but it does have the potential to boast 12+1 bearings if the handle is swapped to one with bearings. You can pick one of these up for around $10 on aliexpress. Cheers my friend!
Thanks. It's too smooth to replace but a tip on degreasing: turn the shaft and bearing, upended, into a small vial filled with acetone. That way, no reason to remove the bearing for cleaning.
Hey Dennis! Great tip! My only concern would be the small oring that helps to seat the spool bearing on Acura pro might get a bit dried out. If you wanted to not damage the oring you could maybe try a non solvent based degreaser that’s friendly to plastic and rubber? That’s a very good tip though for those who don’t want to remove the c-clip! Cheers my friend!
Hey terribleat! This is the updated acura also known as the Acura pro. Soloking lightened the spool shaft by 1g and it casts 1g lures extremely well. This is my favorite budget reel hands down. Hope that helps answer your question and cheers my friend!
@@terribleatfishing hey terribleat! Very cool to hear! I hope the reel treats you well and don’t hesitate to comment again if you’ve got any questions! Cheers my friend!
Hey house! Which specific bearings are you interested in? If you want the spool and side plate bearing sizes then iirc you’re looking at 2x 834 bearings. I do have a teardown video of this reel as well and I also have videos showing how to remove and replace the spool bearing as this reel uses a small c-clip to hold the spool pin in place. Also, are you going to be replacing bearings for an Acura pro or an older Acura reel? Hope that helps! Cheers my friend!
@@house530 hey house! No such thing as a dumb question. That being said, yes you are correct! 8mm(outer diameter) x 3mm(inner diameter) x 4mm(width). Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thank you so much I’m ordering the reel tonight for the 11.11 sale tonight, and wanted to if I can find the AliExpress fishing hybrid bearings orange seal which I have used on my reels and really improved the smoothness on my reel. Would that be a good upgrade to this reel or just go with roro bearings? Thank you so much my man.
@house530 hey house! Tbh I have not actually tried the Acura pro with roro bearings yet. I’ve been using the stock bearings and they have been quite good. I will probably swap over my old acuras Roro bearings at some point in the near future but I think you should try fishing the reel first without upgrades unless you really want to take advantage of some sale prices. To answer your question if orange seals vs roros I say go Roro. The orange seals are not that great imho. They are typically quite loud and their tolerances are not as good as the roros as well as not being micro bearings. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Hey sepa! Indeed the Acura was becoming a better and better value as the price was dropping and now with the new version it stands to only be an even better value! Hopefully, there will be be an upgrade kit that allows older Acura owners(and other variant owners???) to upgrade to this new version. Cheers my friend!
Hey Carlos! At this point, I would say that the two reels can in some way be two different reels now. The micro monster still uses a long shaft spool making it a full gram heavier than the Soloking Acura pro’s short shaft spool. They both share the same number of bearings now however the Acura pro has 5 salt resistant stainless steel bearings whereas the micromonster does not. In general, if you aren’t looking to fish salt water or extremely light lures the reels will be comparable so I’d say go with whichever you can find cheaper. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Hey bass! Thanks so much for the questions! To answer your first I actually have not done a bearing swap in this reel yet. I did flush the spool bearings but I haven’t swapped over the roros from the old reel just yet. So… I guess my answer is it doesn’t quite need it(just clean and relube the stock ones) but it also doesn’t hurt imho. Will look into a review on Ali braid! In the meantime, there’s a great channel that does super in depth reviews of line called the line labratory. I think they’ve already look at one or two offerings from aliexpress but they seem to mainly focus on US, JDM, or Australian lines so far. Thanks again for your questions and request and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Thanks for your response bro, you're one of the top BFS channels out there, keep it up! I did bump into that line lab channel the other night, great channel but I think you're right about it being focused on more readily available lines. At least for now. I know there's no way to eliminate all variables, but any performance metrics you could offer on a reel or line etc would be awesome (casting distance, smoothness, reel spin time [mainly only indicative of how free the bearings are which usually equates to easier castability], different casts with different weights etc). Showing us the guts and specs is great and helpful, and there's no casting machine to be perfectly consistent with a cast, but anecdotal evidence is still a helpful source. Thanks my man
Hey bass! I hear ya loud and clear and I appreciate the request! Currently working on quite a few reels to cast test and also get more unboxing and teardowns on as well as some other types of videos to throw into the mix to help folks out. The product queue keeps growing haha and I want to be sure I’m doing what I can to give as much info as I can instead of just giving purely subjective info. What’s great to me might not be to you so yea I’m constantly at odds with purely subjective results. I do hear what you are saying and a person’s feelings and experience also do matter as well. I just ask for a bit of patience as I slowly get through this ever growing queue 😅. It’s like once I get to almost finishing videos for one reel two more new ones pop up lol. It’s like the red queen effect… gotta keep running faster and faster to stay in the place lol. Don’t worry though I hope to get to these reels sooner rather than later. I will say that the Acura Pro is my favorite budget reel under $100 and will likely remain that way for quite some time I think… it casts under 1g and is very smooth. Some feel that the reel is a bit underbraked but I think it’s more of a lure weight range consideration rather than being outright underbraked. Also, it’s not too hard to add some magnets to the sideplate if the end user wants. Quite easy to do actually. Anywho, I hope that helps and I really appreciate your request! Cheers my friendn
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I can dig it bro, either way I'm gonna stay tuned and see what you got to say, you're work is appreciated and helpful. And thanks for taking the time to respond, I hear you on all that, and value your input
Hey zait! While the two reels look similar the biggest difference is that the commando is actually a larger frame and spool than the Acura. The commando is based on a similar style reel but is considered a 100 sized reel. Other reels that share this OEM design are the Soloking bmc100, Soloking gka200, Tsurinoya dark wolf, Seasir commando, and bearking little turtle. The Acura is a similar OEM design, as mentioned, but it is a smaller 50 sized reel. It is similar to reels such as the Tsurinoya dark wolf ultra, kingdom micro monster, bearking Zeus, and Kyorim/histar black knight 2. As they’re not quite the same size reels it would not be a fair comparison to make unfortunately. The commando will not be able to cast ultra low weight lures as well as the Acura pro due to the larger spool diameter and heavier weight. I hope that helps and if you have more questions feel free to ask away! Cheers my friend!
Hey ttang! Believe it or not I actually just use my phone to film all of my overheard videos and I use a GoPro to film anything outdoors. Hope that helps and cheers!
Hey Sean! Yea it’s interesting to see the saltwater resistant bearings being added to the reel for sure. I was told, by Soloking, that people should still give their reels a good rinse after using them in a salt environment. This is something that I think should be done regardless to get rid of any salt build up on the reel anyhow. Anywho, hurry up and make more videos!!! Would love to see you using one of these on the yak! Cheers my friend!
Hey Syj! Either reel will be great but the Acura pro should be a bit cheaper and has a short shaft spool vs the DWU. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Great video thanks. Have you been able to establish whether there is any difference in casting or general usage? Do think the updated 10+1 version is the better choice, certainly seem sto be cheaper on Ali Express.
Hey Lawrence! That’s a good question and I have a partial answer for you haha. What I mean is that the Acura pro will cast under 1g when paired with the right rod which is something the non pro was never able to do. Afaik the older version is no longer on sale on aliexpress. It may be that the infographic material is a bit outdated and causing some confusion. Imho, the Acura Pro is a great buy and a good performer. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Hey doc! I think you sent me an email a couple days ago and I’ve completely forgotten to respond to you so my apologies on that. Wife and kid have been sick so I’m a bit low on sleep and strung out haha 😅. Anyhow, to get to your question, the spool will fit but the tension rod will have some issues. I still need to find a bit of time to modify the tension shaft and see if it will be compatible. If it is I think Soloking can sell spools and tension shafts to people who already have older acuras as upgrade kits. Will have to see though… hope that helps and cheers my friend!
I just bought my first true bfs combo last night after watching this video. I went the budget route as I didn't wanna spend a buttload of cash just in case bfs wasn't for me. I bought the Doviello HICC50 with the 6' handing magic L Ultra-light rod. I already own a "power bfs" combo which is a Daiwa Alphas SV TW800S paired with a 6'10" Cashion icon bfs rod. I also have a 7'1" St Croix Mojo Bass Trigon BFS rod not being used which is a medium light, which rod would you use for bass fishing? The UL magic L or the ML st croix? Also is 8lb Daiwa j-braid grand x8 to much? Sorry for all the questions and love your channel!
Hey falling! Holy moly that is music to my ears! So glad that the video helped you make a decision! Imho, you can probably actually get away with just using that Handing UL rod for bass fishing provided you stick to the lure weights it recommends. Granted you’ll have to use your drag a lot more if you get into a bigger fish but the rod and reel should be able to handle it! If you want to throw heavier lures then break out that ML rod. As far braid goes, daiwa jbraid is good stuff but they tend to run a bit thicker than most jdm or CDM braids I think. 8lb should be right around 0.13mm which is basically what I like to use. If you were to get jdm/CDM braid they would rate that thickness at around 0.128mm and call it a 0.6goh line and probably rate the breaking strength at approximately 10-12lbs. The line should work decently as a first line and then you can experiment from there. Remember don’t over spool your reel! Try and stick to around 50m or so. Hope that helps, welcome to the bfs abyss and cheers my friend!!!
Hey Juan! Thanks so much for the kind words! Excited to see how the reel performs and to see if there are any internal changes or improvements! Cheers my friend!
Hey Theo! There’s quite a few rods I would recommend off aliexpress. What type of fishing are you planning to do and what’s your budget? Cheers my friend!
Your videos have helped me a ton and I’m sure save money as well I’m starting out with 2 of these reels and I’m thinking of getting 2 of the jenko double down rods in 6’6 medium light action or get one of them and one of the handling magic rod in medium light action for $36.99 from Amazon but I’m excited to start my bfs fishing hope you’re havhaving a great day god bless
Hey Donnie! Right back at you my friend! Hm… I think starting with the Magic L might be an easier start but I’ve also heard good things about the double down. I guess make your choice based on what makes sense to your wallet. Cheers my friend!
@@roberttudor5322 hey robert! Thanks for the question! Hm… how about let’s start with what you’re aiming to do or what you are planning to use the reel for? Also, what’s your budget for the reel? Cheers my friendn
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL the DWU has arrived, it feels waaayyy better than then Zephyr, also 5x smoother but when I reel it, it doesn’t spin that much, maybe because I just tested it and was cold from outside being delivered. I paired it with the Handing Magic Soul 2.1m 2,5-12g exfast, and I will order 2 more rods, I want the Handing Miracle also, 3-10g fast, will go with that Lemoren’s glass rod, and one from Mifine untill 5g max , I also wanna don’t spend that much since I have like 10 combo’s now but for BFS I’v just had the Zephyr and it wasn’t as good as I heard, maybe because of the road, but the DWU like I said it’s another level
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL also today it came the Seasir Cast X Z or 2 idk, paid 11€ for it and again it feels way better than my Kastking Crixus Armor X with ceramic bearings upgrade 🤣🤣🤣🤣 The DWU was 64€ and I love it, with the Handing Magic soul, both are lighter than my Iphone 🤯😂
@roberttudor5322 hey Robert! Thanks for the update! Glad to hear you are enjoying and like your DWU. If/when you’re ready for another reel lmk and I’d be more than happy to let you know what I think might fit your needs the best at that time! If you have any other questions feel free to reach out to me again! Cheers my friend!
@roberttudor5322 hey Robert! Haha nice! Yea the cast x and cast x z are fairly nice reels for the low price they ask. Imho, you should take the cast x spool and put it in the cast x z and use it like that =). You will have a shallow spool carbon body reel that is very smooth then. Cheers my friend!
8/22. Hi Peter, after mild use, the Acura HICC50 magnetic drag setting wheel (left side, right hand reel) has completely seized up. After an attempted lube, I sent a note to Soloking and got no reply re replacement part. Do you know of a source? Nothing shows up at aliexpress. Thanks.
Hey Dennis! I would suggest trying to reach out to the Soloking store on aliexpress again. They would be able to help get you a sideplate. It sounds like your sideplate needs to be replaced unfortunately. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
I purchased this reel based on your review (it is amazingly smooth). On my reel the spool shaft bearing is somehow locked onto the shaft above the pin with no visible means of lock-in-place; it's smooth but will not move on the shaft. Any ideas?
Hey Dennis! You are absolutely correct. If you look carefully they’ve included a small o-ring on the spool shaft to keep the bearing in place. It’s actually a really nice touch that you don’t normally see on lower priced reels. If you want to remove the bearing you’ll need a pick of some sort to remove the o-ring. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Looking at the spool tension cap on the old accura, it looks like the new spool and spool tension tip should work in it.. Have you tried putting the old spool cap on the pro and see if there is a clicking spool tension capability? It would be interesting?
Hey Joseph! From my limited tinkering, it doesn’t appear that the pro has the ability to gain the clicking spool tension cap. That is unless you make some modifications to the spool tension rod. Still trying to find a moment to get around to modifying my pro’s tension rod to fit the older Acura and then get some testing in. Hopefully soon! Cheers my friend!
@@quanloikid1 It won't work because you have the support shaft in there now so the clicker won't fit down in the hole. The new capital fit on the old reel but the old cap with the clicker won't fit on the new reel. The other thing I've noticed is on the clicking version you can't even get all the spool play out of the real because it won't tighten down far enough whereas with the non-clicking version you can pretty much tighten it down to where the spool doesn't even spin. So most people say you get finer adjustment without the click but I'm noticing you get more range of adjustment without the click. I've noticed on most of the reels with the clicking they don't get as tight as non-clicking reels. The only big name brand reel I have that has the clicking spool tension is an Abu Toro beast and that one does get pretty tight but all of the aliexpress reels that I've bought with clickers do not.
Hey Patrick! Haha I think I have some footage from fishing with the AP but not quite enough for a good video. Time is a bit limited right now for various reasons and my to review list just keeps growing… Keep having to prioritize and reprioritize videos unfortunately. Did you have any specific questions on the reel? I can give you some personal insight into it if you’re on the fence. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I do have the reel and it is my #1 and old hicc50 is my #2 go to. Lol just wondering how others feel. God bless and Merry Christmas.
@@patrickhartman6818 hey Patrick! For the price Soloking asks imho the AP is the “best” performing reel for anything 0.5-10g. If you start going up in price you’ll get some gains but imho they are marginal and the price you pay goes to other things like materials and build quality/manufacturing practices/advertising/etc. I hope you’re getting good use out of your acuras! They’re great reels for sure! Cheers my friend!
Hey tube! According the Soloking the original long shaft version doesn’t have benefits over the newer short shaft version. From what they’ve told me, the short shaft version has a stronger spool shaft that will not bend under pressure as easily, and it is also almost 1g lighter than the long shaft spool. Now most of that weight is along the center axis and so how much it actually helps reduce the moment of inertia is beyond me but in my experience I was able to cast lower weights with the pro vs the original reel. Many say that the pro model is a bit underbraked but you can always add some 0.5mm thick 4mm diameter n52 magnets to the existing one to increase the overall brake strength. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL so the new reel just came in and I don't know if it's just because maybe I have a little use (not a whole lot) on my long shaft version or If it's the extra bearing but the non-Pro is WAY smoother. It also free spins better. Also noticed they changed the drag system from a screw-on dragStar to a spring loaded one which on my pro model is kind of clunky/grabby compared to the screw-on version. The drag does seem stronger on the pro version though. You also get a larger range of adjustment on the spool tension without the clicker.
Just wondering if you can tell if there is any pinion support on the pro version. After seeing the posts on the BFS fishing channel. I'm thinking of modifying my deep spool by cutting the long shaft and using the long end as the pinion support. Thanks W8TLS
Hey w8tls! Yes, if you are referring to bearing support similar to what Shimano called x-ship! Both the non pro and pro versions have double bearing pinion support. Hope that helps! Curious how your venture will turn out. I’m also in the middle of trying to figure out if there’s a way to just swap the new pro spool and tension shaft into the old version as a “cheaper” upgrade path for older Acura owners so stay tuned for that. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@W8TLS hey w8tls! Yep I completely agree! Just gotta sit down and try to retrofit this and get it on video and then test it out for bugs. The dilemma is do I do this before or after getting some casting impressions… in any case, cheers my friend!
Hey crank! I think overall if you are casting ultra light lures or if you are planning to use your reel in salt environments then it’s a worthwhile upgrade. Otherwise, there might be a way to retrofit the older reels to use the new spools but I have to test it out first. The pro frame is ever so slightly different from the old frame which might cause some issues. Will look into it and report back. Cheers my friend!
Hey Antin! Overall, it feels better with the exception of the star drag. I find that it is a bit too small and a bit mushy feeling for my taste. Soloking has said that they will go back to the old star drag after this production batch. With the change to the short shaft and reduction in 1g of spool weight I can cast 0.52g weightless plastic setups about 20-22ft consistently and accurately. The pro can be found on aliexpress for around $48 for the 7.1 single spool option. I am currently trying to see if there is a good way to retrofit the old Acura so that people don’t need to fully commit to a new one if they own an older one but I would like to see if Soloking will send me a replacement tension shaft so that I can do my testing. If not then no big deal and I’ll try anyways. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@MrAntinsk8 hey Antin! My pleasure! Hopefully Soloking responds to me soon… otherwise I’m just gonna hack up my pro to test out the retrofit. Feels kind of wrong and I will be sad to lose the pro. lol… 😅. Cheers my friend!
Hey yep! Ah ok yea I have heard people having good experiences with their bk2 as well so it’s been very positive or negative in terms of reports I’ve heard. I gotta say if I could piece together a Frankenstein DWU reel I’d probably use the bk2 a line guide. I think it does have a larger opening than this new elliptical line guide even. Anywho, thanks for sharing your experiences with the bk2 and cheers my friend!
@yep.ultralight hey yep! Yea I’d love to make a Frankenstein DWU variant. Prob go something like Acura or Zeus frame, Acura pro spool and brakes, and BK2 line guide. Would be a monster of a reel I bet. That being said, all of these reels perform pretty darn well so I was surprised that they even wanted to bother updating the reel. Short shaft spools are awesome! Cheers my friend!
Just got mine. New to bfs. What type and strength line would you recommend for the shallow and deep spool? I fish local ponds with light cover for smb. Most fish around 1-2 lbs but I’ve caught a few 4 lbers. Thanks!
Hey David! I really like to use braid and would suggest looking for something that has 0.6 goh or 0.128mm listed as the diameter. That should equate to around 12 lb test. I’d go with that for both spools but honestly you’ll probably just use the shallow spool 99.9% of the time. Cheers my friend!
Hey house! Definitely something to look into for sure. There’s also something to be said about stock bearings that have been acetone flushed and relubricated with a low viscosity oil. Perhaps something to test down the road??? 🤔 thanks for the suggestion and cheers my friend!
Hey farisk! The two reels are fairly close but there are better reels than the Acura pro nowadays. What lure weights are you looking to cast and what’s your budget? Cheers my friend!
Hey catcher! That’s quite an open ended question that needs a bit more defining points I think haha. If you want to know which can cast under 1g with the right rod then the Acura Pro would be the choice. The DWU can cast 1g, not the best for 1g tho, and above but it really struggles and likely cannot do under 1g. Hope that helps clarify things a bit! Let me know if you have more questions and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Greetings. I want to choose from these two reels the one that will provide me with greater comfort when fishing with 2-5 gram wobblers at short distances
@@Catcher777 hey catcher! I think both reels will do what you are looking for. The Acura Pro often goes on sale and can be found for under $40 USD whereas the DWU is rarely on sale. I would go with whichever you can find at a lower cost. The AP will allow you to cast under 1g with the right rod as well. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Hey mark! You got me haha. Technically yes the reels are very similar but there are some key differences. The Acura pro has an updated spool design which no longer uses the long shaft design and so reduces the spool weight by 1g, they also changed 5 bearings to anti-corrosion stainless steel bearings, and finally the Acura uses a magtrax style braking system as opposed to the fixed ftb braking system the DWU uses. Hope that helps clarify! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks! I've had a couple DWU before but I have a Dexterity that I've just repaired so I think the Acura pro will be perfect to pick up cheap and use on that rod 👍🏻
For all my fellow BFS'rz The HiStar BKII is of much higher quality than the ones initially reviewed by many 2 yrs or so back, spool bearing has clip like this. Got mine circa 10/23 or so and fine for price I paid.
Hey Abel! That’s awesome to hear! I had heard of issues with the original bk2 and their AR bearings but it’s good to hear that the histar versions are much better! Thanks for sharing your experience and cheers my friend!
So I've had an SLX BFS and it was pretty nice but I'm in the market for the best sub $100 bfs reel I can get my hands on? Would you recommend this? I had the Clamber Hyper Micro as well but I'm looking for something a little more "power bfs" oriented that will comfortably throw 8lbs Fluorocarbon and up to 5/16oz baits. Any and all feedback would be appreciated
Hey Tim! The Acura, and any DWU variant, for that matter should do what you’re looking for with relative ease. I’m not sure how much fluoro you’ll be able to get on the shallow spool though as 8lb fluoro has a diameter of around 0.23mm which is quite a bit thicker than braid of a similar breaking strength. As I typically do not use straight fluoro I don’t think I can comment on how much line you’ll be able to spool up with but they do have a deep spool that will likely suit your needs just fine. Amazon does have the Acura available which should facilitate an easy return process if you don’t happen to like the reel but I’ve really enjoyed my older Acura and this new one has some benefits to it. I do have a gripe with the star drag being small and not feeling like it clicks very well as well as being a bit mushy but I believe Soloking will be swapping back to the older style after this first production run is completed. If you want to cross shop and are ok with a long spool shaft then I suggest looking at the Tsurinoya dark wolf ultra, Tsurinoya genius, bearking Zeus, kastking zephyr, and if you ok with going just over $100 then the ifishband clamber 2. Hope that helps and cheers!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL How come no mention of the Micromonster Light?? My dad got one so he can go BFS trout fishing with me. It’s NICE! The 7:1 gear ratio model comes with 2 spools as well, and it’s SUPER smooth with no slop anywhere. The color looks bitchin too. I’m surprised you never reviewed one. I guess with so many DWU clones it’s hard to keep up, but the Micromonster is the best one IMO. No short shaft version of it yet though so nod towards the Soloking Acura Pro there. It does have clicky everything though including spool tensioner. I would love to see you do a review of one. There is nothing wrong with having another high quality option… Cheers!
There is a reel on Dankung fishing which looks like the Kingfisher called the Cormorant which looks to be a grey/black Kingfisher with clicking drag and spool tension knob. It seems to be the same platform as the Kingfisher. What do you think? Doc 1/5
Hey Joseph! I think the ff01 is actually a fantastic reel that just basically needed a drag clicker. Ffftackle, the company that produces the ff01, listened to what the public wanted and released out the cormorant version of the ff01 which is what you’re seeing on Dankung’s website. This is a black, non-bright colorway compared to the kingfisher variant, has a drag clicker and has undergone a process to harden the main gear for longevity. I do think that this reel will be a really solid offering but not at the price that dankung had it listed for unfortunately. I would wait until nakoshop has it listed on their website as they are supposedly going to sell it at a lower price point. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Sir, how acura compare to Seasir Mansory which is in same range price? The Seasir mansory that comes with 2 hybrid ceramic bearings... Oh ya, The Seasir Comando looks preety similar with Acura, is it same platform with the acura or not? Sorry for my bad english sir, its not my mother language
Hey angga! No need to apologize for your English. It is quite good and I can understand you just fine so good on you for learning and using a second language well! To answer your question/s, my experience with the Mansory was not very good and I may have received a defective unit so I can’t quite tell how good it is. That being said, the Mansory spool outer diameter is 33.4mm vs the 30mm of the Acura/Acura Pro. The spool weight of the Mansory with bearing is 7.0g vs 6.5g for the Acura and 5.5g for the Acura Pro. Just by those stats, I would make an educated guess that the Acura and Acura Pro are going to be better suited for casting lighter lures under 2g. I know the Acura Pro can cast under 1g with ease, accurately and consistently. As for the commando, this is based on the dark wolf frame which is a 100 sized frame and while it looks similar is actually a larger size overall. My friend, theconstantangler, just released a review on the commando so go check out his channel if you are interested in learning more about that reel! Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
OK, i have only owned metal reels, screws on the palm plate. I just purchased one of these, no instructions, given it works like my ABU baitcaster, surf reel, no big deal, but how do you open the palm plate? Just twist it? I don't want to break anything.
Hey mark! Underneath the palm plate there is a small lever towards the front of the reel. This will lock and unlock the side plate. Once it is unlocked you can twist the plate downwards and then it will be able to be pulled away from the reel. If this is your first bfs baitcasting reel I suggest the following; turn the spool tension dial so that your spool does not wiggle back and forth and so that the spool will not free spin too easily, then start with your brakes high(I mean at max) and then as you slowly get used to casting back them off until you hit a backlash, I would use braid 0.6goh or 0.128mm or 12lb test and about 50m or so of it, get yourself some practice plugs and then head to an open field(trust me on this… it’s so easy to get caught up on things when you’re beginning). Let me know if you have other questions but I think that’s a good place to start! Cheers my friend!
Hey yep! Hahaha you got me 😆😆😆… jokes aside I would never sell out to the big brands. I like holding brands accountable and finding deals too much to do that 😂. Cheers my friend!
Hey flats! To be honest, I don’t think I can give you a solid answer just yet as I haven’t gotten a chance to really put the new Acura Pro to use. However, I would predict that they will cast very similarly because of the spool dimensions/weight and also having similar brake setups. I’d probably give a slight edge to the clamber 2 as its spool is ever so slightly lighter at 5.3g vs 5.5g for the AP. So… I think it mainly boils down to how much you have for budget, and does frame material matter to you. With the Acura you will have a bit more flexibility as you can get a double spool option but I have never use the deep spool to be honest as I don’t have any uses for it in my fishing styles. I think the biggest factor that will affect your casting, if you are eyeing these two reels, will likely be the rod that you are looking at using as reels aren’t the full equation when it comes to casting. Hope that helps a bit! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I'm thinking about getting the 6'6 tsurinoya dragon 2 and I'm mainly going to be using this new setup for bottom contact stuff since I already have an slx bfs on a cashion 7' light for treble baits. I also mainly use braid to fluoro. The price between these reels don't matter to me, I'm mainly looking for a good all around budget bfs to pick up what the slx can't do.
@@oFLATSMASTERo hey flats! Another rod you might want to take a look at is the tsu elf ajing. It’s a bit more moderate of an action and is 7.5’ but it’s a super fun rod for casting and as it’s made for ajing, basically salt ultralight jigging for horse mackerel, it seems like it’d be a good match for what you’re looking to do. It is more of an UL than the 6.5’ dragon 2 you’re looking at though so that might or might not deter you. However, between the two reels I might lean to the clamber 2 but if you can wait until November 11th there should be some decent sales going on on aliexpress. Hope that helps and cheers!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks for your thorough replies, it helps a bunch since I'm very indecisive haha. I'll wait till November 11th and check out thiers sales, thanks.
@@oFLATSMASTERo hey flats! My pleasure! Yea hopefully there’ll be some good ones going on then. November 11 is typically aliexpress’ largest sale of the year so fingers crossed this year will be good. Will try to make a video on that when it comes around! Cheers my friend!
Hey Soren! What I was told is that the shortened shaft helps to prevent any spool shaft bending when larger fish are caught with the long shaft version. Additionally, the 5 salt resistant bearings make the reel “officially” salt water ready. The spool being lighter and better at casting lower weight lures is just a side benefit but it’s one that I actually see a huge benefit for as I cast a 0.52g ajing worm at my local lake regularly. I’m not sure how many folks out there can take advantage of the extremely low weight but I think it’s awesome that the reel can go that low. Anywho, thank you for sharing and cheers my friend!
@@christopherlee4613 hey Chris! Exactamundo! Yea they lost some space inside that area and so the style of clicker they were using doesn’t quite work/fit with the new tension shaft. I’m going to see if I can modify the tension shaft though somehow to work with the older setup since an “upgrade” kit would be awesome for owners of the older Acura reels! Cheers my friend!
Hey Patrick! That’s awesome to hear! It really is a very versatile reel and can be used for all sorts of species but it does do quite well with lower weight lures. Thanks for sharing your use for the reel and cheers my friend!
Thanks for unboxing the updated Soloking Acura. I really like the short shaft update and the deep spool option. I'll probably get one soon. If it weren't youtube I'd have no idea this reel got an update. The best way for manufactures to advertise is through youtube.
Hey Pac-Man! Haha yea I was actually caught off guard by this update as well myself… I think someone in the bfs Facebook I’m in actually found the new version and I reached out to Soloking to ask about it and have been in communications with them on seeing if a retrofit kit can be offered to older Acura owners. Will have to do some testing to see if one can be offered. Anywho, thanks so much as always for sharing your thoughts and cheers my friend!
Looking forward to it arriving in mail. What an addictive passion, but it could be worse, imagine collecting cars.
Hey David! Haha yea… I don’t quite have the income to collect cars lol 😆. I have enough of a problem with fishing gear as it is… love to hear your take on the reel when you receive it! Hopefully it comes soon! Cheers my friend!
hi peter - thanks for the latest information on the acura soloking. i will soon purchase the pro model to add to my bfs arsenal. i am such a serious tackle junky that i had to get rid of my wife! life's easier now and every day is a happy fishing day for me . currently i am tying mono weed guards on hundreds of jigs as i am tired of loosing tackle to the messy beavers living in my backyard lake catch-a-whopper. not having the mechanical skills you do i really enjoy seeing you tear apart, reassemble and give your honest views about reels and casting reviews. keep up the great work. you are a good man and the time and effort you put into your channel when time allows is greatly appreciated. - eric
Hey Eric! Hahaha the age old debate of gear vs wife 😆. I hope this is just a joke but I also appreciate your dedication to fishing!!! 🙌🙌🙌😆. Appreciate the kind words as always and cheers my friend!
Ordered the soloking acura pro after watching this video as my first BFS reel after what seems like hundred of hours of researching all my possible options. Have plenty of baitcasters which I love, but first BFS style baitcaster. Am excited to try it out as I have been turning to my spinning setups lately as I like throwing trout magnets and extremely light lures which my current baitcasters can't really handle. Am looking forward to your in depth on the field casting performance of the new soloking and how the 5.5 gram spool fares compared to the old one. Would also love to see you do a video on the new Seasir M1 with the 4.9 gram spool as I read on reddit that you recently ordered one. Was out of stock of the left handed retrieve when I actually came across the reel last night on Ali, though it's probably for the best as I've already bought one new spinning, BFS, AND fly fishing setup along with new lures in the past month.
Hey Elo! I gotta say I think that you will be happy with the Acura Pro and its ability to cast 1g lures. I’ve been casting 0.52g weightless ajing worms about 20-22 ft consistently and when I added a 0.6g cheb weight it felt like I was casting a heavy lure haha. Just removing 1g has made the reel much more capable at casting lower weights. Remember though that the other half of the equation is your rod so get a rod that is capable of complimenting the reels ability to cast low weight lures. As for the M1 yes that is correct! I do have one on order and it’s been moving fast through the shipping process. Hopefully, it’ll arrive some time next week. It’s crazy to hear that I’m on Reddit? Haha never used that platform but very cool to hear that the channel is being talked about there 🙌🙌🙌. Thank you for taking the time to comment and for your support! I hope to be able to share more about the Acura Pro soon as well as the M1! Cheers my friend!
Awesome info as always!!! thanks for sharing.
Hey wirin! My pleasure as always and thank you so much for the kind words and your support! Cheers my friend!
The best budget reel has become even better !!! Amazing! But clamber 2 with it's price kills it.
Hey Antin! Yea I’m hoping to see the Acura pro start to slowly come down to the prices they were going for right before the pro release. I think the aliexpress version I listed is actually already down to $46 USD? Unfortunately, it appears it’s only RH 7.1 for now… In any case, the clamber 2 does perform quite well and I do think we’re getting to that point where bfs reels are getting to diminishing returns in terms of casting. It really is pretty exciting to be in bfs right now. Anywho, thank you for sharing your thoughts as always and cheer my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL In my country the price of acura pro is 4/5 of the clamber 2 price now on Ali) Yeeeaahh i was waiting for about 4 years to came into bfs casting..and i did it only in 2022 and I'm happy that I have not done this before. I saved a lot of money and nerves.
@@MrAntinsk8 hey Antin! Haha yea we’re at a really awesome point in the bfs industry right now. Hoping to see prices overall start to slowly come down as the economy slows as well but in the meantime I think the budget reels will always have their place. Super awesome to see these budget reels keep up with the top dollar reels out there! Cheers my friend!
Ali Express has this reel for $37. How much is a Clamber 2?!
@@DavidBronstein1961 about 90 i think but on 11.11 and other sales it costs 65
Hey sir, are you still planning to make a video about cutting the old acura spool shaft and make extension spool shaft? I think It's very useful and help so many people who wants to custom their long shaft spool reel
Hey angga! So, I did actually modify one of my old Acura reels to an Acura Pro but it’s not something I would advise doing. Here’s why, 1. You actually need a spool tension shaft from a completely different reel, the gka200, 2. You need to cut and modify the length of that tension shaft and I would say it isn’t easy to do precisely, and 3. The cut you make on the spool tension shaft has to be done in a manner in which it will reduce the surface area that the Acura pro spool shaft and the newly cut spool tension shaft will interact. So, while it’s definitely doable I don’t think it’s really worth the trouble. If it were more straight forwards and “easy” I would suggest doing the mod to folks. As it is though the Acura pro is quite affordable now and has salt resistant bearings which is quite nice to see. Sorry about the let down… Let me know if you have questions though and I can still guide you on how to do it if you’d like. Cheers my friend!
hi peter? - thanks for the nice reply to my comment about you being the heir apparent to tackle advisors. based on your reviews of the kingfisher flight feather i bought one and cant wait to put it through its paces next spring. i have two solokings. i want to buy one of the soloking pro's left hand retrieve model. when i looked the day you did your review i could not find the pro model reel listed on either alliexpress or amazon. i am afraid of buying them only to discover that i will not get the new pro model. i am hoping you can get a little money when your fans buy one by posting a link to the sites which are selling them like the reel test does. thanks! - eric
Hey Eric! It’s my pleasure and I am very humbled by the comparison you made! As far as the Acura Pros are concerned, all available models being sold should be pro models from what I was told. Both Amazon and Aliexpress currently have the pro models for sale and the affiliate links are in the video description above! Oddly, the cheapest Aliexpress link I have above only has the RH version for sale but it did briefly have the LH available so maybe it will become available again soon. I did not list the more expensive aliexpress link because the Amazon price is a bit cheaper. Hope that helps and yes my name is Peter! Pleased to meet you and cheers my friend!
Hello mate thx for your reviews, Is this better than tsurinoya dark wolf / histar aurora
Hey Marlon! My pleasure! As to your question I would say it is “better” than the dark wolf ultra which it is a variant of. The dark wolf is a larger reel and 100 sized so it’s not quite the same? As for the aurora air, that will outcast the Acura pro but also is almost double the price. My aurora air has had QC issues but those who don’t have these issues love theirs. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thank you so much for sharing this my friend 🔥
@marlonbando7560 hey Marlon! My pleasure!
Great reel review as always
Hey Gus! Thanks so much for stopping by! Cheers my friend!
I rrally love mine. So much i bought 2 more
Hey Eric! Wow! They’re pretty darn good I agree and even better with the pro model. My only gripe is that they shrank the star drag and on mine it feels a bit mushy… hope that that’s not the case with yours. Cheers my friend!
Hey, it would really help to put a test casting with this reel. Maybe a comparison against the older version with the long shaft. Thanks
Hey thealin! Thanks so much for the recommendation! I will say in my use of both reels that the pro outcasts the non pro handily with anything in the sub 1g to 2g range. Anything higher and they will cast fairly similarly with slightly improvements to the pro model. I’m not sure how valuable a dedicated casting test video would be for the two reels as we only have the pro model available nowadays. Was there anything specific you wanted to know about the pro model vs the non pro? Unfortunately, I have to pick and choose what videos I make as time is a bit of a limited resource for me but more than happy to chat and converse with you about the two reels! Cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Hey! First of all, thank you for such a quick response. Well i just ordered this reel today and i wanted to know how good is this reel casting 2g compared to kastking valiant eagle 2 bfs. I've had the eagle 2 bfs for about 3 months now and i can't cast 2g comfortably. My main lure is a 2g crankbait for most of my fishing in small streams and i don't have the accuracy and distance that i desire. So in my scenario will the acura cast easier and more accurate? What is your opinion? My rod is Ace hawk cu double with the ultra light tip of course. Thank you very much!
@@TheAlin25 hey thealin! Ah I see. Yea the Acura pro should handle a 2g no problems at all. While I haven’t cast it on your exact setup you should be getting at least something on the order around 50ft or so with 2g. Ideally more but there are a lot of factors that come into play. Line type/amount, aerodynamics of your lure, your casting skill, wind, etc. hands down though your Acura pro will outcast that valiant eagle 2 as it is not as overbraked. Let us know how things go with the reel! Cheers my friend!
Hey, me again. Quick question, are there any deeper spools on aliexpress that fit into the valiant eagle 2 so it can hold more line? I was thinking that, since i will use the acura pro for my stream fishing i would not waste the eagle 2 and use it for bigger baits like 10 grams or so. But i would need a deeper spool to have enough line for my personal use. Thanks for all the help.
Hello. Thanks for the video.
I have 3 Acura, but all have some small slit/airspace/gap between the frame and spool, so if I am using a thin braid it can catch there (when I have a backlash or do not stop with a thumbing time). The braid will be damaged, previously, I thought I had a bad braid, but now I can see why I have those problems with the braid.
Hey romalo! Yea unfortunately with cheaper reels like this you will not have extremely tight tolerances between the spool and frame. My suggested work around is to just use 0.6 goh or 0.128mm braid as this should be thick enough to not get caught there. In any case 0.6goh is what I use mainly and what I recommend to everyone to use as it offers good “thinness” to strength imho. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Yes, same here, I am thinking about using a thicker braid. The problem is, I am fishing with heavier weights, not true Japanese BFS standards. I am using rigs, that Ukrainian pro anglers created like 15-18 years ago, it's a removable rig, we call it "Cheburashka". Overseas it's known as cheb rig now. Anyway, if I put a thicker braid on a shallow spool it won't be enough for a long cast, seems I have to use a deep spool only. Nonetheless, thanks for your time and reply. Have a nice day.
@@romaloboda2280 hey roma! Ooc what kind of distances are you casting? Typically, I spool about 50m of the 0.6goh diameter but can actually fit a decent amount more depending on the spool. If I’m aiming for longer distances I’ll bump up to 70m but have actually used 100m for some saltwater based set ups. I often use cheburashka weights as I really prefer to have my soft plastics setup in a weedless configuration. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Hey. Typically, my distance is around 50 meters, plus I often retie and cut damaged parts, so I need more braid on the spool.
@@romaloboda2280 hey Roma! I think you should be able to comfortably put 70m of 0.6goh onto the Acura pro shallow spool. Cheers my friend!
The jenko feels really good and it’s a one piece and I like the long handle it’s what I’m use to lol
Hey Donnie! That’s awesome to hear! Glad it’s working out for you! Cheers my friend!
oh, a friend bought the Zeus but I wasn't sure if it any good as its rarely mentioned on youtube. Good to know its another solid budget option.
Hey yep! Yea the Zeus seems to be well endorsed by quite a few people on the bfs Facebook group. I just haven’t taken a look at one but it does have the potential to boast 12+1 bearings if the handle is swapped to one with bearings. You can pick one of these up for around $10 on aliexpress. Cheers my friend!
very nice as always
Hey Joseph! Thanks so much for the kind words as always! Hope all is well with you and cheers my friend!
Thanks. It's too smooth to replace but a tip on degreasing: turn the shaft and bearing, upended, into a small vial filled with acetone. That way, no reason to remove the bearing for cleaning.
Hey Dennis! Great tip! My only concern would be the small oring that helps to seat the spool bearing on Acura pro might get a bit dried out. If you wanted to not damage the oring you could maybe try a non solvent based degreaser that’s friendly to plastic and rubber? That’s a very good tip though for those who don’t want to remove the c-clip! Cheers my friend!
Have you tested this with 1 gram weight for casting? Thank you
Hey terribleat! This is the updated acura also known as the Acura pro. Soloking lightened the spool shaft by 1g and it casts 1g lures extremely well. This is my favorite budget reel hands down. Hope that helps answer your question and cheers my friend!
I ordered it and look forward to testing it out. cant beat the price. thank you again@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL
@@terribleatfishing hey terribleat! Very cool to hear! I hope the reel treats you well and don’t hesitate to comment again if you’ve got any questions! Cheers my friend!
Do you know the bearing sizes for this particular reel, thank you
Hey house! Which specific bearings are you interested in? If you want the spool and side plate bearing sizes then iirc you’re looking at 2x 834 bearings. I do have a teardown video of this reel as well and I also have videos showing how to remove and replace the spool bearing as this reel uses a small c-clip to hold the spool pin in place. Also, are you going to be replacing bearings for an Acura pro or an older Acura reel? Hope that helps! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL yes side plate bearings, I watched the video thank you for the fast reply, dumb question so this would be 8x3x4 correct
@@house530 hey house! No such thing as a dumb question. That being said, yes you are correct! 8mm(outer diameter) x 3mm(inner diameter) x 4mm(width). Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thank you so much I’m ordering the reel tonight for the 11.11 sale tonight, and wanted to if I can find the AliExpress fishing hybrid bearings orange seal which I have used on my reels and really improved the smoothness on my reel. Would that be a good upgrade to this reel or just go with roro bearings? Thank you so much my man.
@house530 hey house! Tbh I have not actually tried the Acura pro with roro bearings yet. I’ve been using the stock bearings and they have been quite good. I will probably swap over my old acuras Roro bearings at some point in the near future but I think you should try fishing the reel first without upgrades unless you really want to take advantage of some sale prices. To answer your question if orange seals vs roros I say go Roro. The orange seals are not that great imho. They are typically quite loud and their tolerances are not as good as the roros as well as not being micro bearings. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
The Accura v1 is probably very common and has proven itself enough to be the king for sure. Right now. Everything changes.
Hey sepa! Indeed the Acura was becoming a better and better value as the price was dropping and now with the new version it stands to only be an even better value! Hopefully, there will be be an upgrade kit that allows older Acura owners(and other variant owners???) to upgrade to this new version. Cheers my friend!
after the acetone wash and oiling the clamber2, I'm not sure which reel I like better, acura1 or clamber2
@@sepaonualvar hey sepao! Interesting! Any particular reason why you’re finding it hard to figure out which one you like more? Cheers my friend!
How does it compare to the Kingdom Micro Monster? Anyone have experience with both reels?
Hey Carlos! At this point, I would say that the two reels can in some way be two different reels now. The micro monster still uses a long shaft spool making it a full gram heavier than the Soloking Acura pro’s short shaft spool. They both share the same number of bearings now however the Acura pro has 5 salt resistant stainless steel bearings whereas the micromonster does not. In general, if you aren’t looking to fish salt water or extremely light lures the reels will be comparable so I’d say go with whichever you can find cheaper. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Thanks, very helpful. In doubt I think I will go with the more popular Acura
Good stuff bro. What did you decide about this needing a bearing swap or not?
Can you please do some reviews about BFS/AliExpress braid?
Hey bass! Thanks so much for the questions! To answer your first I actually have not done a bearing swap in this reel yet. I did flush the spool bearings but I haven’t swapped over the roros from the old reel just yet. So… I guess my answer is it doesn’t quite need it(just clean and relube the stock ones) but it also doesn’t hurt imho. Will look into a review on Ali braid! In the meantime, there’s a great channel that does super in depth reviews of line called the line labratory. I think they’ve already look at one or two offerings from aliexpress but they seem to mainly focus on US, JDM, or Australian lines so far. Thanks again for your questions and request and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Thanks for your response bro, you're one of the top BFS channels out there, keep it up!
I did bump into that line lab channel the other night, great channel but I think you're right about it being focused on more readily available lines. At least for now.
I know there's no way to eliminate all variables, but any performance metrics you could offer on a reel or line etc would be awesome (casting distance, smoothness, reel spin time [mainly only indicative of how free the bearings are which usually equates to easier castability], different casts with different weights etc).
Showing us the guts and specs is great and helpful, and there's no casting machine to be perfectly consistent with a cast, but anecdotal evidence is still a helpful source. Thanks my man
Hey bass! I hear ya loud and clear and I appreciate the request! Currently working on quite a few reels to cast test and also get more unboxing and teardowns on as well as some other types of videos to throw into the mix to help folks out. The product queue keeps growing haha and I want to be sure I’m doing what I can to give as much info as I can instead of just giving purely subjective info. What’s great to me might not be to you so yea I’m constantly at odds with purely subjective results. I do hear what you are saying and a person’s feelings and experience also do matter as well. I just ask for a bit of patience as I slowly get through this ever growing queue 😅. It’s like once I get to almost finishing videos for one reel two more new ones pop up lol. It’s like the red queen effect… gotta keep running faster and faster to stay in the place lol. Don’t worry though I hope to get to these reels sooner rather than later. I will say that the Acura Pro is my favorite budget reel under $100 and will likely remain that way for quite some time I think… it casts under 1g and is very smooth. Some feel that the reel is a bit underbraked but I think it’s more of a lure weight range consideration rather than being outright underbraked. Also, it’s not too hard to add some magnets to the sideplate if the end user wants. Quite easy to do actually. Anywho, I hope that helps and I really appreciate your request! Cheers my friendn
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I can dig it bro, either way I'm gonna stay tuned and see what you got to say, you're work is appreciated and helpful.
And thanks for taking the time to respond, I hear you on all that, and value your input
@bassandtreblefishing hey bass! Much appreciated my friend! Merry Christmas and happy holidays!!!
Nice review!
Hey Dallis! Thanks so much for the kind words! Cheers my friend!
can you make a comparison these reel with seasir commando? it has the same shape
Hey zait! While the two reels look similar the biggest difference is that the commando is actually a larger frame and spool than the Acura. The commando is based on a similar style reel but is considered a 100 sized reel. Other reels that share this OEM design are the Soloking bmc100, Soloking gka200, Tsurinoya dark wolf, Seasir commando, and bearking little turtle. The Acura is a similar OEM design, as mentioned, but it is a smaller 50 sized reel. It is similar to reels such as the Tsurinoya dark wolf ultra, kingdom micro monster, bearking Zeus, and Kyorim/histar black knight 2. As they’re not quite the same size reels it would not be a fair comparison to make unfortunately. The commando will not be able to cast ultra low weight lures as well as the Acura pro due to the larger spool diameter and heavier weight. I hope that helps and if you have more questions feel free to ask away! Cheers my friend!
What camera did you use to film this down view? Looks really good!
Hey ttang! Believe it or not I actually just use my phone to film all of my overheard videos and I use a GoPro to film anything outdoors. Hope that helps and cheers!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL nice phone thank you and keep up the good work!
@@TTangOutdoors hey ttang! Phone cameras have definitely come a long ways and are pretty impressive imho! Cheers my friend!
Great vid! Curious to see the performance comparison. Saltwater resistant alone makes this a worthy buy
Hey Sean! Yea it’s interesting to see the saltwater resistant bearings being added to the reel for sure. I was told, by Soloking, that people should still give their reels a good rinse after using them in a salt environment. This is something that I think should be done regardless to get rid of any salt build up on the reel anyhow. Anywho, hurry up and make more videos!!! Would love to see you using one of these on the yak! Cheers my friend!
You suggest this or the dark wolf ultra
Hey Syj! Either reel will be great but the Acura pro should be a bit cheaper and has a short shaft spool vs the DWU. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Great video thanks. Have you been able to establish whether there is any difference in casting or general usage? Do think the updated 10+1 version is the better choice, certainly seem sto be cheaper on Ali Express.
Hey Lawrence! That’s a good question and I have a partial answer for you haha. What I mean is that the Acura pro will cast under 1g when paired with the right rod which is something the non pro was never able to do. Afaik the older version is no longer on sale on aliexpress. It may be that the infographic material is a bit outdated and causing some confusion. Imho, the Acura Pro is a great buy and a good performer. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL здравствуйте! soloking acura pro vs kingdom micro monster ???? Что лучше выбрать?????🤝🤝🤝
I bought the new pro for $45 and hope the spool will fit in the old 8.1. Doc
Hey doc! I think you sent me an email a couple days ago and I’ve completely forgotten to respond to you so my apologies on that. Wife and kid have been sick so I’m a bit low on sleep and strung out haha 😅. Anyhow, to get to your question, the spool will fit but the tension rod will have some issues. I still need to find a bit of time to modify the tension shaft and see if it will be compatible. If it is I think Soloking can sell spools and tension shafts to people who already have older acuras as upgrade kits. Will have to see though… hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Ya new reel ❤
Hey kaba! Haha yep sort of a semi new reel! Thanks for commenting and cheers my friend!
I just bought my first true bfs combo last night after watching this video. I went the budget route as I didn't wanna spend a buttload of cash just in case bfs wasn't for me. I bought the Doviello HICC50 with the 6' handing magic L Ultra-light rod. I already own a "power bfs" combo which is a Daiwa Alphas SV TW800S paired with a 6'10" Cashion icon bfs rod. I also have a 7'1" St Croix Mojo Bass Trigon BFS rod not being used which is a medium light, which rod would you use for bass fishing? The UL magic L or the ML st croix? Also is 8lb Daiwa j-braid grand x8 to much? Sorry for all the questions and love your channel!
Hey falling! Holy moly that is music to my ears! So glad that the video helped you make a decision! Imho, you can probably actually get away with just using that Handing UL rod for bass fishing provided you stick to the lure weights it recommends. Granted you’ll have to use your drag a lot more if you get into a bigger fish but the rod and reel should be able to handle it! If you want to throw heavier lures then break out that ML rod. As far braid goes, daiwa jbraid is good stuff but they tend to run a bit thicker than most jdm or CDM braids I think. 8lb should be right around 0.13mm which is basically what I like to use. If you were to get jdm/CDM braid they would rate that thickness at around 0.128mm and call it a 0.6goh line and probably rate the breaking strength at approximately 10-12lbs. The line should work decently as a first line and then you can experiment from there. Remember don’t over spool your reel! Try and stick to around 50m or so. Hope that helps, welcome to the bfs abyss and cheers my friend!!!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL appreciate the advice! Ty!😃
Hey falling! It’s my pleasure! Happy to help out a fellow angler. Tight lines and cheers my friend!
That’s Incredibly Cool! Cheers!🥂❤️✨
Hey Juan! Thanks so much for the kind words! Excited to see how the reel performs and to see if there are any internal changes or improvements! Cheers my friend!
Which Rods would you use for it from aliexpress
Hey Theo! There’s quite a few rods I would recommend off aliexpress. What type of fishing are you planning to do and what’s your budget? Cheers my friend!
Your videos have helped me a ton and I’m sure save money as well I’m starting out with 2 of these reels and I’m thinking of getting 2 of the jenko double down rods in 6’6 medium light action or get one of them and one of the handling magic rod in medium light action for $36.99 from Amazon but I’m excited to start my bfs fishing hope you’re havhaving a great day god bless
Hey Donnie! Right back at you my friend! Hm… I think starting with the Magic L might be an easier start but I’ve also heard good things about the double down. I guess make your choice based on what makes sense to your wallet. Cheers my friend!
If I bought the DWU, should I buy this too? In the 8:1:1 gear ratio, also I own the Zephyr. DWU will arrive tomorrow
@@roberttudor5322 hey robert! Thanks for the question! Hm… how about let’s start with what you’re aiming to do or what you are planning to use the reel for? Also, what’s your budget for the reel? Cheers my friendn
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL the DWU has arrived, it feels waaayyy better than then Zephyr, also 5x smoother but when I reel it, it doesn’t spin that much, maybe because I just tested it and was cold from outside being delivered. I paired it with the Handing Magic Soul 2.1m 2,5-12g exfast, and I will order 2 more rods, I want the Handing Miracle also, 3-10g fast, will go with that Lemoren’s glass rod, and one from Mifine untill 5g max , I also wanna don’t spend that much since I have like 10 combo’s now but for BFS I’v just had the Zephyr and it wasn’t as good as I heard, maybe because of the road, but the DWU like I said it’s another level
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL also today it came the Seasir Cast X Z or 2 idk, paid 11€ for it and again it feels way better than my Kastking Crixus Armor X with ceramic bearings upgrade 🤣🤣🤣🤣
The DWU was 64€ and I love it, with the Handing Magic soul, both are lighter than my Iphone 🤯😂
@roberttudor5322 hey Robert! Thanks for the update! Glad to hear you are enjoying and like your DWU. If/when you’re ready for another reel lmk and I’d be more than happy to let you know what I think might fit your needs the best at that time! If you have any other questions feel free to reach out to me again! Cheers my friend!
@roberttudor5322 hey Robert! Haha nice! Yea the cast x and cast x z are fairly nice reels for the low price they ask. Imho, you should take the cast x spool and put it in the cast x z and use it like that =). You will have a shallow spool carbon body reel that is very smooth then. Cheers my friend!
8/22. Hi Peter, after mild use, the Acura HICC50 magnetic drag setting wheel (left side, right hand reel) has completely seized up. After an attempted lube, I sent a note to Soloking and got no reply re replacement part. Do you know of a source? Nothing shows up at aliexpress. Thanks.
Hey Dennis! I would suggest trying to reach out to the Soloking store on aliexpress again. They would be able to help get you a sideplate. It sounds like your sideplate needs to be replaced unfortunately. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
I purchased this reel based on your review (it is amazingly smooth). On my reel the spool shaft bearing is somehow locked onto the shaft above the pin with no visible means of lock-in-place; it's smooth but will not move on the shaft. Any ideas?
Hey Dennis! You are absolutely correct. If you look carefully they’ve included a small o-ring on the spool shaft to keep the bearing in place. It’s actually a really nice touch that you don’t normally see on lower priced reels. If you want to remove the bearing you’ll need a pick of some sort to remove the o-ring. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Looking at the spool tension cap on the old accura, it looks like the new spool and spool tension tip should work in it.. Have you tried putting the old spool cap on the pro and see if there is a clicking spool tension capability? It would be interesting?
Hey Joseph! From my limited tinkering, it doesn’t appear that the pro has the ability to gain the clicking spool tension cap. That is unless you make some modifications to the spool tension rod. Still trying to find a moment to get around to modifying my pro’s tension rod to fit the older Acura and then get some testing in. Hopefully soon! Cheers my friend!
@@quanloikid1 It won't work because you have the support shaft in there now so the clicker won't fit down in the hole. The new capital fit on the old reel but the old cap with the clicker won't fit on the new reel.
The other thing I've noticed is on the clicking version you can't even get all the spool play out of the real because it won't tighten down far enough whereas with the non-clicking version you can pretty much tighten it down to where the spool doesn't even spin. So most people say you get finer adjustment without the click but I'm noticing you get more range of adjustment without the click. I've noticed on most of the reels with the clicking they don't get as tight as non-clicking reels. The only big name brand reel I have that has the clicking spool tension is an Abu Toro beast and that one does get pretty tight but all of the aliexpress reels that I've bought with clickers do not.
Have you done a casting impression on the hicc50 pro? Or is that for spring.
Hey Patrick! Haha I think I have some footage from fishing with the AP but not quite enough for a good video. Time is a bit limited right now for various reasons and my to review list just keeps growing… Keep having to prioritize and reprioritize videos unfortunately. Did you have any specific questions on the reel? I can give you some personal insight into it if you’re on the fence. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I do have the reel and it is my #1 and old hicc50 is my #2 go to. Lol just wondering how others feel. God bless and Merry Christmas.
@@patrickhartman6818 hey Patrick! For the price Soloking asks imho the AP is the “best” performing reel for anything 0.5-10g. If you start going up in price you’ll get some gains but imho they are marginal and the price you pay goes to other things like materials and build quality/manufacturing practices/advertising/etc. I hope you’re getting good use out of your acuras! They’re great reels for sure! Cheers my friend!
So is there any benefit In the old long shaft or only negatives? And how much difference does it really make if any?
Hey tube! According the Soloking the original long shaft version doesn’t have benefits over the newer short shaft version. From what they’ve told me, the short shaft version has a stronger spool shaft that will not bend under pressure as easily, and it is also almost 1g lighter than the long shaft spool. Now most of that weight is along the center axis and so how much it actually helps reduce the moment of inertia is beyond me but in my experience I was able to cast lower weights with the pro vs the original reel. Many say that the pro model is a bit underbraked but you can always add some 0.5mm thick 4mm diameter n52 magnets to the existing one to increase the overall brake strength. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL so the new reel just came in and I don't know if it's just because maybe I have a little use (not a whole lot) on my long shaft version or If it's the extra bearing but the non-Pro is WAY smoother. It also free spins better. Also noticed they changed the drag system from a screw-on dragStar to a spring loaded one which on my pro model is kind of clunky/grabby compared to the screw-on version.
The drag does seem stronger on the pro version though. You also get a larger range of adjustment on the spool tension without the clicker.
Just wondering if you can tell if there is any pinion support on the pro version.
After seeing the posts on the BFS fishing channel. I'm thinking of modifying my deep spool by cutting the long shaft and using the long end as the pinion support.
Thanks
W8TLS
Hey w8tls! Yes, if you are referring to bearing support similar to what Shimano called x-ship! Both the non pro and pro versions have double bearing pinion support. Hope that helps! Curious how your venture will turn out. I’m also in the middle of trying to figure out if there’s a way to just swap the new pro spool and tension shaft into the old version as a “cheaper” upgrade path for older Acura owners so stay tuned for that. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Good to know the pinion is double bearings. That will make it easier to convert. 😁
@W8TLS hey w8tls! Yep I completely agree! Just gotta sit down and try to retrofit this and get it on video and then test it out for bugs. The dilemma is do I do this before or after getting some casting impressions… in any case, cheers my friend!
Would you recommend an upgrade from the old version to this?
Hey crank! I think overall if you are casting ultra light lures or if you are planning to use your reel in salt environments then it’s a worthwhile upgrade. Otherwise, there might be a way to retrofit the older reels to use the new spools but I have to test it out first. The pro frame is ever so slightly different from the old frame which might cause some issues. Will look into it and report back. Cheers my friend!
Did you tested it? Much better than old?
Hey Antin! Overall, it feels better with the exception of the star drag. I find that it is a bit too small and a bit mushy feeling for my taste. Soloking has said that they will go back to the old star drag after this production batch. With the change to the short shaft and reduction in 1g of spool weight I can cast 0.52g weightless plastic setups about 20-22ft consistently and accurately. The pro can be found on aliexpress for around $48 for the 7.1 single spool option. I am currently trying to see if there is a good way to retrofit the old Acura so that people don’t need to fully commit to a new one if they own an older one but I would like to see if Soloking will send me a replacement tension shaft so that I can do my testing. If not then no big deal and I’ll try anyways. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Big thanks for information.
@@MrAntinsk8 hey Antin! My pleasure! Hopefully Soloking responds to me soon… otherwise I’m just gonna hack up my pro to test out the retrofit. Feels kind of wrong and I will be sad to lose the pro. lol… 😅. Cheers my friend!
The BK2 I have is fine, but its a right handed version. Also the clicked on the pro sounds really good. The BK2 clicker is pretty poor
Hey yep! Ah ok yea I have heard people having good experiences with their bk2 as well so it’s been very positive or negative in terms of reports I’ve heard. I gotta say if I could piece together a Frankenstein DWU reel I’d probably use the bk2 a line guide. I think it does have a larger opening than this new elliptical line guide even. Anywho, thanks for sharing your experiences with the bk2 and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL yes my thoughts exactly, it has the best line guide for sure
@yep.ultralight hey yep! Yea I’d love to make a Frankenstein DWU variant. Prob go something like Acura or Zeus frame, Acura pro spool and brakes, and BK2 line guide. Would be a monster of a reel I bet. That being said, all of these reels perform pretty darn well so I was surprised that they even wanted to bother updating the reel. Short shaft spools are awesome! Cheers my friend!
Just got mine. New to bfs. What type and strength line would you recommend for the shallow and deep spool? I fish local ponds with light cover for smb. Most fish around 1-2 lbs but I’ve caught a few 4 lbers. Thanks!
Hey David! I really like to use braid and would suggest looking for something that has 0.6 goh or 0.128mm listed as the diameter. That should equate to around 12 lb test. I’d go with that for both spools but honestly you’ll probably just use the shallow spool 99.9% of the time. Cheers my friend!
Although this has the upgraded bearings, what about doing the roro micro bearings upgrade, how much better can it get? Noticeable? Need to?
Hey house! Definitely something to look into for sure. There’s also something to be said about stock bearings that have been acetone flushed and relubricated with a low viscosity oil. Perhaps something to test down the road??? 🤔 thanks for the suggestion and cheers my friend!
hi sir which one is good is it tsurinoya genius or soloking acura pro? cause ive got the tsurinoya one
Hey farisk! The two reels are fairly close but there are better reels than the Acura pro nowadays. What lure weights are you looking to cast and what’s your budget? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL ive usually used 4g and below
@fariskamarzaman2334 hey fariska! Ok what budget do you have to work with? Cheers my friend!
Greetings. Tell me, which reel will win if we compare this Soloking with DWU?
Hey catcher! That’s quite an open ended question that needs a bit more defining points I think haha. If you want to know which can cast under 1g with the right rod then the Acura Pro would be the choice. The DWU can cast 1g, not the best for 1g tho, and above but it really struggles and likely cannot do under 1g. Hope that helps clarify things a bit! Let me know if you have more questions and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Greetings. I want to choose from these two reels the one that will provide me with greater comfort when fishing with 2-5 gram wobblers at short distances
@@Catcher777 hey catcher! I think both reels will do what you are looking for. The Acura Pro often goes on sale and can be found for under $40 USD whereas the DWU is rarely on sale. I would go with whichever you can find at a lower cost. The AP will allow you to cast under 1g with the right rod as well. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
How are they selling this for £29 to the United Kingdom on AE when the DWU is still around £56? Same reels right just different colours?
Hey mark! You got me haha. Technically yes the reels are very similar but there are some key differences. The Acura pro has an updated spool design which no longer uses the long shaft design and so reduces the spool weight by 1g, they also changed 5 bearings to anti-corrosion stainless steel bearings, and finally the Acura uses a magtrax style braking system as opposed to the fixed ftb braking system the DWU uses. Hope that helps clarify! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks! I've had a couple DWU before but I have a Dexterity that I've just repaired so I think the Acura pro will be perfect to pick up cheap and use on that rod 👍🏻
@markevansangling hey mark! Yea it’s a hard deal to pass up imho especially for, essentially, an updated DWU variant. Cheers my friend!
For all my fellow BFS'rz The HiStar BKII is of much higher quality than the ones initially reviewed by many 2 yrs or so back, spool bearing has clip like this. Got mine circa 10/23 or so and fine for price I paid.
Hey Abel! That’s awesome to hear! I had heard of issues with the original bk2 and their AR bearings but it’s good to hear that the histar versions are much better! Thanks for sharing your experience and cheers my friend!
So I've had an SLX BFS and it was pretty nice but I'm in the market for the best sub $100 bfs reel I can get my hands on? Would you recommend this? I had the Clamber Hyper Micro as well but I'm looking for something a little more "power bfs" oriented that will comfortably throw 8lbs Fluorocarbon and up to 5/16oz baits. Any and all feedback would be appreciated
The solo king Acura is super nice for the money I’ve done very well with mine I’ve had it for months and love it
Hey Tim! The Acura, and any DWU variant, for that matter should do what you’re looking for with relative ease. I’m not sure how much fluoro you’ll be able to get on the shallow spool though as 8lb fluoro has a diameter of around 0.23mm which is quite a bit thicker than braid of a similar breaking strength. As I typically do not use straight fluoro I don’t think I can comment on how much line you’ll be able to spool up with but they do have a deep spool that will likely suit your needs just fine. Amazon does have the Acura available which should facilitate an easy return process if you don’t happen to like the reel but I’ve really enjoyed my older Acura and this new one has some benefits to it. I do have a gripe with the star drag being small and not feeling like it clicks very well as well as being a bit mushy but I believe Soloking will be swapping back to the older style after this first production run is completed. If you want to cross shop and are ok with a long spool shaft then I suggest looking at the Tsurinoya dark wolf ultra, Tsurinoya genius, bearking Zeus, kastking zephyr, and if you ok with going just over $100 then the ifishband clamber 2. Hope that helps and cheers!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Super helpful info man! Thank you!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL How come no mention of the Micromonster Light?? My dad got one so he can go BFS trout fishing with me. It’s NICE! The 7:1 gear ratio model comes with 2 spools as well, and it’s SUPER smooth with no slop anywhere. The color looks bitchin too. I’m surprised you never reviewed one. I guess with so many DWU clones it’s hard to keep up, but the Micromonster is the best one IMO. No short shaft version of it yet though so nod towards the Soloking Acura Pro there. It does have clicky everything though including spool tensioner. I would love to see you do a review of one. There is nothing wrong with having another high quality option… Cheers!
Hey tim! Wow sorry must have missed this comment… in any case my pleasure and cheers my friend!
There is a reel on Dankung fishing which looks like the Kingfisher called the Cormorant which looks to be a grey/black Kingfisher with clicking drag and spool tension knob. It seems to be the same platform as the Kingfisher. What do you think? Doc 1/5
Hey Joseph! I think the ff01 is actually a fantastic reel that just basically needed a drag clicker. Ffftackle, the company that produces the ff01, listened to what the public wanted and released out the cormorant version of the ff01 which is what you’re seeing on Dankung’s website. This is a black, non-bright colorway compared to the kingfisher variant, has a drag clicker and has undergone a process to harden the main gear for longevity. I do think that this reel will be a really solid offering but not at the price that dankung had it listed for unfortunately. I would wait until nakoshop has it listed on their website as they are supposedly going to sell it at a lower price point. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Thanks very much. The company is Flight Feather?@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL
Sir, how acura compare to Seasir Mansory which is in same range price? The Seasir mansory that comes with 2 hybrid ceramic bearings... Oh ya, The Seasir Comando looks preety similar with Acura, is it same platform with the acura or not? Sorry for my bad english sir, its not my mother language
Hey angga! No need to apologize for your English. It is quite good and I can understand you just fine so good on you for learning and using a second language well! To answer your question/s, my experience with the Mansory was not very good and I may have received a defective unit so I can’t quite tell how good it is. That being said, the Mansory spool outer diameter is 33.4mm vs the 30mm of the Acura/Acura Pro. The spool weight of the Mansory with bearing is 7.0g vs 6.5g for the Acura and 5.5g for the Acura Pro. Just by those stats, I would make an educated guess that the Acura and Acura Pro are going to be better suited for casting lighter lures under 2g. I know the Acura Pro can cast under 1g with ease, accurately and consistently. As for the commando, this is based on the dark wolf frame which is a 100 sized frame and while it looks similar is actually a larger size overall. My friend, theconstantangler, just released a review on the commando so go check out his channel if you are interested in learning more about that reel! Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks for your advise sir!, Thank you very much
OK, i have only owned metal reels, screws on the palm plate.
I just purchased one of these, no instructions, given it works like my ABU baitcaster, surf reel, no big deal, but how do you open the palm plate?
Just twist it?
I don't want to break anything.
Hey mark! Underneath the palm plate there is a small lever towards the front of the reel. This will lock and unlock the side plate. Once it is unlocked you can twist the plate downwards and then it will be able to be pulled away from the reel. If this is your first bfs baitcasting reel I suggest the following; turn the spool tension dial so that your spool does not wiggle back and forth and so that the spool will not free spin too easily, then start with your brakes high(I mean at max) and then as you slowly get used to casting back them off until you hit a backlash, I would use braid 0.6goh or 0.128mm or 12lb test and about 50m or so of it, get yourself some practice plugs and then head to an open field(trust me on this… it’s so easy to get caught up on things when you’re beginning). Let me know if you have other questions but I think that’s a good place to start! Cheers my friend!
c'mon bro this isn't an unbiased review, you have sold out to "big fishing" haha (kidding people, this guy is totally unbiased)
Hey yep! Hahaha you got me 😆😆😆… jokes aside I would never sell out to the big brands. I like holding brands accountable and finding deals too much to do that 😂. Cheers my friend!
For bfs bass fishing 1.5g - 7g would you pick this acura or the clamber 2? Its mostly open water so im looking for distance casting. Thanks.
Hey flats! To be honest, I don’t think I can give you a solid answer just yet as I haven’t gotten a chance to really put the new Acura Pro to use. However, I would predict that they will cast very similarly because of the spool dimensions/weight and also having similar brake setups. I’d probably give a slight edge to the clamber 2 as its spool is ever so slightly lighter at 5.3g vs 5.5g for the AP. So… I think it mainly boils down to how much you have for budget, and does frame material matter to you. With the Acura you will have a bit more flexibility as you can get a double spool option but I have never use the deep spool to be honest as I don’t have any uses for it in my fishing styles. I think the biggest factor that will affect your casting, if you are eyeing these two reels, will likely be the rod that you are looking at using as reels aren’t the full equation when it comes to casting. Hope that helps a bit! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I'm thinking about getting the 6'6 tsurinoya dragon 2 and I'm mainly going to be using this new setup for bottom contact stuff since I already have an slx bfs on a cashion 7' light for treble baits. I also mainly use braid to fluoro. The price between these reels don't matter to me, I'm mainly looking for a good all around budget bfs to pick up what the slx can't do.
@@oFLATSMASTERo hey flats! Another rod you might want to take a look at is the tsu elf ajing. It’s a bit more moderate of an action and is 7.5’ but it’s a super fun rod for casting and as it’s made for ajing, basically salt ultralight jigging for horse mackerel, it seems like it’d be a good match for what you’re looking to do. It is more of an UL than the 6.5’ dragon 2 you’re looking at though so that might or might not deter you. However, between the two reels I might lean to the clamber 2 but if you can wait until November 11th there should be some decent sales going on on aliexpress. Hope that helps and cheers!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks for your thorough replies, it helps a bunch since I'm very indecisive haha. I'll wait till November 11th and check out thiers sales, thanks.
@@oFLATSMASTERo hey flats! My pleasure! Yea hopefully there’ll be some good ones going on then. November 11 is typically aliexpress’ largest sale of the year so fingers crossed this year will be good. Will try to make a video on that when it comes around! Cheers my friend!
dont think brings much undet 1g nobodz throw anz thing amd 1g shot the old out of the box to the mon
Hey Soren! What I was told is that the shortened shaft helps to prevent any spool shaft bending when larger fish are caught with the long shaft version. Additionally, the 5 salt resistant bearings make the reel “officially” salt water ready. The spool being lighter and better at casting lower weight lures is just a side benefit but it’s one that I actually see a huge benefit for as I cast a 0.52g ajing worm at my local lake regularly. I’m not sure how many folks out there can take advantage of the extremely low weight but I think it’s awesome that the reel can go that low. Anywho, thank you for sharing and cheers my friend!
Nooooo Nooooo Noooooo.... bad boy.... bad boy.... 💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Hey Chris! Haha yea… I’m not bad!!! I swear!!! I’m just sharing information with everyone =) cheers my friend!!!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL just kidding my friend... cool review... makes me want to get one.
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I know the reason why theres no clicker in the spool tensioner... its because of the extra shaft for the spool...
@@christopherlee4613 hey Chris! Exactamundo! Yea they lost some space inside that area and so the style of clicker they were using doesn’t quite work/fit with the new tension shaft. I’m going to see if I can modify the tension shaft though somehow to work with the older setup since an “upgrade” kit would be awesome for owners of the older Acura reels! Cheers my friend!
My acura is my crappie reel.
Hey Patrick! That’s awesome to hear! It really is a very versatile reel and can be used for all sorts of species but it does do quite well with lower weight lures. Thanks for sharing your use for the reel and cheers my friend!