Quantum Catalyst PT, good reel, bad reel?

[Bassboss]

I was gonna get the HSTA, but I'm beginning to think otherwise, it's just a little to wide, I'd like something a little smaller, and lighter. I'm also looking to find a reel to match my soon to be Abu vengance. And this reel fit the budget great! At tackle warehouse it 140, which is 10 bucks off. So a 150$ reel must be pretty good. I've read reviews on BPS, and Cabelas, and it seem like a good reel. It's got a good amount of bearings, and good ones too. My first Casting reel was a Bill dance Quantum, and I liked it for the first half year or so, than it got bumpy, grindy, and noisy. I'm not really phased by this because it was only 50 bucks (a combo) so probably only a 25$ reel. So what did I expect. :lol: It's also got a swept handle with I really like! :D

Anyways, anyone use this, seems pretty nice.

[PAbassmaster]

Quantum reels are pretty decent reels if you make sure you buy the higher grade models.  I have owned many Quantum products from energys to catalyst spinning reels.  The spinning reel catalyst is awesome I have had limited problems but I haven't tried the baitcast.  Anyway, the energy baitcast reels that I have are experiencing many problems such as grinding and squeeking, kind of like what you said.  I heard great things about the better models such as the KVD tour edition but they are expensive.   If you are looking for a reliable reel for a decent amount of money you may want to look in the direction of Abu Garcia.  They are reliable and by far the best baitcast reel I have ever owned.  I believe the retail is about 145 if you go to Susquehanna Fishing Tackle you can get a good deal right now. sfttackle.com.

[Pro Reel]

I am somewhat skittish to weigh in on this. It's easy to offend folks by bashing their favorite brand. That being said, I would recommend that you look in another direction. I keep in contact with several reel repair guys around the country and participate in several reel repair forums. I also have contacts with a lot of dealers. Quantum has been having a lot of problems for the last few years. Poor design and cheaply made parts are causing a mess. I often buy damaged reels from an ebay reseller. They get all of the returned merchandise from some of the big name stores. A lot of these returns are quantum reels. I recently bought a PT 570 that was described as locked up. I got it cheap and thought it might be a simple problem. When i opened the reel< I was shocked to see what looked like a rats nest of plastic shavings. They were everwhere and had all the gears jammed. Turns out that a poor design lets the pinion gear slowly eat away at the nylon/plastic pinion Carrier. I replaced the carrier and sanded all the sharp edges off the pinion. I hope it lasts the new owner a long time. I have since talked to several people that have had the same problem with various models , including the KVD reels. A friend of mine works the reel counter at a BPS and has told me that Quantum KVD reels are the second highest return they have. The first is the Daiwa twitching reels. Run as fast as you can from those reels. All that being said, I know several guys who have the Quantum reels and love them. They have not had any problems at all. So if you love your Quantum, don't get mad at me for this post. I know they have a lot of great reels, but they seem to have a lot of lemons mixed in. I have a lot of faith in Abu reels. They are built strong. Abu is also great about keeping a parts supply for discontinued reels. I can get oem parts for 30 year old Ambassaduer reels. I love most Shimano reels, but hate the fact that they don't keep making parts for discontinued reels. BPS has some great reels and they are decent about having parts for the reels. Stay away from other store brands. BPS is the only store brand that has a parts department. Daiwa makes some of the best reels out there, as long as it doesn't twitch, but they also discontinue models and make design changes frequently, and then the parts supply drys up. Plueger makes some good reels and seems to have parts for some older reels. I don't have much experience with other brands to comment on them. These are just my experiences and opinions, hope I don't offend anyone.

[crankenstein]

I just bought a Catalyst a couple of weeks ago. I've used it twice and I think it's going to be a good one. I've got it on a 6' 4" Team All Star rod and am using it for spinnerbaits. Casting distance is great with 14lb mono and with the ACS set with 2 brakes I haven't backlashed it once. It's lightweight and palms great. I had a Daiwa Advantage and sold it for the reason you stated, it was just too wide. The Catalyst is also over an ounce lighter, too.