Hit or Miss? The KastKing Valiant Eagle 

Hey gang! Incase you missed my community post, I have an update. KastKing immediately returned my email and after a brief back and forth, they sent me a band new reel. Very smooth transaction and great customer service! I look forward to taking this new reel back to snakehead lagoon and picking up where I left off.

10:42 that thing went straight up DC on me 🤣 that old man did too! Funny stuff!

Thanks for posting the update. It sounds like Kastking had great customer service. Hopefully the new reel works well.

Great review! Be curious to hear what you learn from Kast King.

Hey, Joe, great to see ya. Pray you are well. Great video

Only cheaper reel I've ever had any luck with is the Piscifun Alijoz 300..That thing has been a workhorse. 3 years and still going.

It survived the first drop test LOL! Little snakehead make it sing after you caught him. Too bad it got messed up. Looked like a good reel for the price.

My Piscifun Torrent did that straight out of the box and it was a lubrication issue as it shipped bone dry. Added some reel oil and it cleared right up. Haven’t tried KastKing yet, they seem decent enough. I like the color and style on that reel. Great unboxing and overview Joe!

LOL, make sure you get that first drop test out of the way early!!! Hate to see that it failed so quickly. I've heard a lot of good things about Kast King. I started to order one of the spinning reels but decided to go with the Okuma Avenger instead since I already have 3 of those and they have been really superb reels at the price point. Thanks for sharing. I really need to get down there and catch some snakehead. They are on my bucket list. Tight Lines!

I'm glad you only paid $25 for it. I'm still shocked that it would make that sound so soon. I guess it's true when they say, you get what you pay for! Thanks for sharing this buddy! It definitely sounded like a great deal. Keep up the good work buddy!

Several years ago, I got curious and ordered some bait casters for under $25, I ordered two, from eBay, they came in, I checked them out, fished them hard and ordered 8 more! They were every bit as good as Bass Pros mid range reels. Well I had my Stroke, so that was that. But overall those reels were solid, very solid for the price! I’m a Bass Pro reel guy, I have been since the early 1990’s, I absolutely wore many out, and these cheap reels give then a run for the money in quality!

Looks very cool, but thats about it unfortunately Joe. I love my DC reel i didn't know i could get one for $25 frog skins 😂. Thanks for sharing brother ✌️

I fish a ton and I’ve learned over the years is buy the best you can afford. I put my gear to the test and shimano and Abu are my tried and true reels, and actually the Plusinno reels are good for a budget

Great review and too bad it had issues. Had the same issue with a reel from TEMU, but lost the footage when my laptop died. Nice job Joe and big congrats on hitting 1K in Subs!!!!

1st drop test 🤣 Is a sweet looking reel. Nice overview on the 1st part! Love that you put it to the test right away on the snakeheads. That definitely did not sound good after that catch. 11:00 pop up 🤣😂Perhaps it was a fluke thing? Curious to see what Kastking does or says about this. Good stuff Joe!

Nice job Joe👍 Keep’em coming

I just can’t seem to pull the trigger on those expensive reels. All my baitcaster reels are Piscifun. If I get a couple seasons out of them, I call it a win. I actually may order one of these too. Great review Joe!! Love the humor bro. I had to pause the video when that old man made an appearance. 😂

You can just put mono to braid on that reel Joe that way it don’t slip on the spool for you

I have about seven or eight black max 3s. I’ve had expensive reels and I’m sorry these do the job! I’m glad to see other folks are willing to try the cheaper products. I used to buy the bass pro reels on sale Father’s Day. Seems like they don’t have sales anymore. And those reels did crap out after about two years. I’ve never had a black max three fail yet. For a spinning I just use the 3000 piscifun. The bail hits the knuckles a little bit, but I can deal with it. At 26 bucks I expect it to last one year, but I’m doing better than that.

First drop test, lol. Great overview and a great test. Too bad about the result, let us know what response you get from the company.

Wonder if gears are plastic and metal something sounds funky or it could be your line winder bar. Try putting some good oil on the line winder bar👍

Great review brother!

Thanks man this video helped a lot!

Nice review Joe! Let me know what Kast king says

Looks like a serviceable reel

Thanks for the Video 🎣

Mine sounds nothing like that🤞. Definitely sounds like a bearing for sure. Kastking is a great company probably just got a bad one. Some nice snake heads tho. Great vid thanks for sharing 👊

I recently picked up a Kastking spincast reel, seems like a decent reel for what it is

Great video man keep up the great work and I just think you got a messed up one. I have 3 or 4 of there reels and all work well for me

That sucks the reel crapped out on you so quickly. Hopefully, its like you said and you just got a dud. I also hope Kastking makes it right. Looking forward to the updates. Great video, as always! Thanks for sharing.

Very similar to the Penn Baitcaster came out like a year back.

The only thing worse than that sound in a reel is that sound in your hip or neck. Great video Joe.

I own 8 Kast King Baitcasters most are the discontinued 10 ball-bearing Royal Legend a few Royal Legend II one or two Valiant Eagles Had all a minimum of three years had my oldest Royal Legends for 5 years All served me very well with no issues but I clean and lube their internals every winter I can give a confident buy recommendation for the Royal Legend series as I have had them long enough great budget baitcasting reels I likely will not be buying any more Kast King baitcasting reels as I found an outstanding deal on Abu García Max Pro4 a $85 baitcasting real I found for under $50 TMD off Ebay I now have 8 of them and absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever for $48 TMD there is no better deal on a baitcasting real very very happy with the Abu García Max Pro4's

Sometimes you get what you pay for, I guess. Those snakeheads are toothy critters.

Not a good sound! Like the $25 price tag! interesting to see what KastKing will do. Thanks for sharing!

It is the bearing

I have the same reel from Kastking for $20 mine hasn't gotten that loud yet 😂 but I'm thinking that when the company runs Blowout Clearance sells, I believe they are the reels that don't or didn't quite pass Quality Checks therefore they don't want to trash the product and they sell as Clearance 😞 That's my Opinion lol and I don't know for sure but makes sense 😕 But without paying over 150 for a Reel What can we compa

Wow really would have thought it would have lasted longer than that. I've heard some of the older ones weren't bad maybe you got a dud

Questionable for $25, and if you like bait-casters. I’m a spinning reel guy though. The sound got lower it seemed like, after you messed with it, but I would throw you off my boat if I had to listen to that all day😂😂. Hopefully it was just yours.

Maybe I spoke too soon

Hey man, don't knock the DC! Lol. That reel was kind of a let down. Not exactly worthy of being a King. Lol. Also, the logo on the front below the line guide straight up looks like a Batman symbol. Lol