Phantom Baitcasting Reel

I am in no way affiliated with Pisicfun. This reel just caught my eye and as a lifelong tournament fisherman and reel repair guy I thought I'd like to dissect one of these new Chinese reels. For folks who might be interested here's the results of the autopsy of the very interesting and very affordable Pisicfun Phantom. Let's see how it stacks up against the Lew's and Abu comparable reels. First I should point out the ordering process was simple and secure. I had no problem using both Visa and Paypal for making orders. I was impressed Pisicfun shipped SAME DAY with tracking and sent notice of shipping to both email and text.(Photo 1) Packaging was excellent, the reel came with a full easy to read schematic and even a FREE reel cover!! Nice bonus.(Photo 2) Now about the Phantom...easy open left side plate, exposing a dual braking system - You'll find a 0-10 external magnetic brake (5 mags) and a 6-pin internal centrifugal brake. Both were free of any defects and solidly constructed. I found both were easy to adjust using one hand. Dual braking is a feature usually found on the more expensive reels. I noted both the Star Drag and the Cast Control cap have click features...very nice. The Phantom's oversized handle appears to be made of carbon and the grips are high density EVA foam. Excellent features. Another well thought out feature are the grips attractive screw out caps. This makes caring for the two sealed bearings located within the grips very easy. I also noted the Phantom has a rubberized grip pad on the thumb bar...very nice.(Photo 3) Shows the simple integrated Star Drag clicker system. I was surprised to find the Drive Shaft to be made of hardened aluminum and hallowed out. Usually an expensive feature found on higher end reels.(Photo 4) Reveals another surprise...The clutch pawl, clutch cam and clutch plate were made of aluminum. I found this so surprising I conducted a scratch test and a magnet test on both. You guessed it, failed to scratch the metal and the magnet was negative. Very impressive. Most baitcasters even in the mid hundred dollar range use plastic for those pieces. Amazing. This photo also gives you a good look at the hardened aluminum Drive Gear. Cleanly machined and well aligned with little to no play giving the Phantom a 7.0:1 gear ratio. Nice. (Photo 5) Reveals the Drive Gear and the impressive Drag Stack. Four carbon fiber discs giving up to 17 pounds of drag force at this price.....no way. (Photo 6) You'd think at this point I couldn't or shouldn't be surprised by this little reel, but I was. Note the ball bearing in the base portion of the Drive Shaft. This bearing supports the bulk of the load imposed on the drive shaft as the handle is turned under pressure. The outer end of the drive shaft is supported by an Instant Anti Reverse bearing and a second bearing located on top the anti reverse. Having bearings located at each end of the Drive Shaft makes this reel even more impressive at this price point. To sum it up, I'm very impressed with the Piscifun Phantom. I've seen servicing reels for many many years and I don't recall ever seeing a baitcaster built with such quality components and high tech engineering at anywhere near this price. Next test will be on the water. In the next couple of days I'll be taking the Phantom out to Lake Mead to give it the ultimate fresh water text by targeting Lake Mead Stripers. I'll report back the results this weekend.

I’ve used this reel today for the first time and compared it with my Shimano curados and castaic and also the Daiwa Tantula and this reel is more comfortable to use and would rather use this reel than the others

This reel is UNBELIEVABLE! I can nearly cast the entire spool every time. I have now converted to this reel because it out preforms all of my Shimano and $200+ Pfluegers. It is tremendously smooth! This reel is like dream. Oh, and did I mention how light this reel is? I use this reel on my Denali KOVERT Lite. The combo put together doesn't even weigh as much as a 8oz reel! The internals of this reel are amazing! The internals are whats most important.

The PIscifun folks have been (nicely) bugging me for a review, and I told them I'd get to it very soon, so here I am.I bought this reel with a plan.I put it on a Lamiglas 702ULC casting rod, 4-8lb line. Dandy rod, btw.I filled it with 20lb bright yellow 8-strand braid and took it trout fishing on the Sacrament River today. It holds a lot of braid.I FG-ed a 6 ft fluorocarbon butt to that, followed by a 6lb leader.I set it up as if I were drift fishing for steelhead, in miniature, with just a few split shot on a dropper.You have to trust me when I tell you that this reel and that rod were born for each other. They weigh literally nothing.OTH, it also feels very good on a Cabela's Fish Eagle bass rod. Might have to get another, or maybe one of new PIscifun Torrent reels for that heavier rod will arrive from the Fish FairyPrecise comes to mind. Tight. Clean. Accurate. Far beyond what I expected at the price. This is a quality reel.I currently own nine Ambassadeurs of various sizes and configurations, a couple of Shimanos, and a KastKing Speed Demon, which ain't a bad reel at all, so I have some feel for well functioning baitcasters.The Phantom is an absolute beauty. The green trim is easy on the eyes.It is smooth, and quiet. The handles are super comfortable. It fits the hand very nicely.The anti-backlash knob on the high tech handle side clicks, thus making it very accurate and easy to use, functions perfectly. The magnetic brake took no more than one or two casts to fine tune. The spool release was easy to work, so it is easy to lube.I was casting this light rig 30-35 yards without even trying. Lighter is harder with baitcasters.I did backlash once or twice, okay, 3 times, when I first started casting, but hey, that's what crochet hooks are for. It stopped happening as I grew more familiar with this little jewel.I'll be back out there with it very soon. I can hardly wait to use it again.I can't say I'd pick any thumb bar reel for cold weather steelhead over my upgraded 5501C3's, the button is best, IMHO, but I'll buy another Piscifun the next time I need a reel. I was impressed. This is a great reel. You could pay a lot more and not get anything better.A winner.New edit:Okay, I went back out to the Sacramento, through Redding, CA, pretty big water, and now that I have it tuned in on both sides of the reel and me with it, this might be the easiest to cast reel I've ever used.Amazing, just amazing.

I really wanted to love this reel. The Glowing recommendations on YouTube and reviews on Amazon seemed too good to be true until I tried the thing myself.The reel itself feels great and at the price, it's hard to compete with the features but a few things have to be said.Pros:Dual brake system at this price.So so so light.Looks great!But then we get to the issues of real life usage.Cons:* The screech. The centrifugal breaks are so loud! I followed some advice about cleaning and oiling them but this only helped for about 2 uses. It's now louder than ever after 5 sessions.* The drag is definitely not as powerful as they claim. Maybe if you used some special tool to tighten it past what you'd manage with your hands.* Breaks are a little weak and require a lot of adjustment If you don't want to use too tight spool tension.All in all, im probably being a little harsh on it but the biggest issue is that it sounds like some sort of jet engine when you cast with at least lvl1 centrifugal break which is quite annoying and a deal breaker for me

This reel is excellent value for money. Very lightweight, good build quality, smooth and once the 2 different braking systems are set, relatively birds nest free. This is my first baitcaster and its been easier to use than I expected. I would recommend this reel.

Great company very helpful if you have any difficulties with your product. Smooth reel and easy to use

Very good quality for the price

Ich habe die Rolle nun ein dreiviertel Jahr in Gebrauch und muss sagen => Spitze.Anfangs hatte ich Probleme, die Rolle spulte katastrophal die Schnur auf, aber wie so oft, liegt das Problem nicht an der Technik, sondern beim Besitzer zwischen den Ohren!Die Spule- tension war falsch eingestellt und siehe da => spult perfekt auf!Der innere Aufbau ist deutlich hochwertiger als bei Abu Garcia Rollen mit dem doppelten Preis, da es im Inneren weitest gehend ohne POM- Kunststoff zugeht => keine Sollbruchstellen, die die Haltbarkeit einschränken. Die Wurfweite ist auch mit 6,5gr - Ködern noch bei gut 30 Metern.Insgesamt die wohl beste Rolle in dem Baitfinesse- Segment unter 200 Euro, siehe auch Youtube- Test Videos (deren positive Erfahrungen ich nur bestätigen kann).Die Rolle ist ideal für eine leichte Spinnrutre - 28 Gramm Wurfgewicht; ich fische sie an einer Zeck Fishing All Black und bereue die Anschaffung keine Minute.