Comparing the Ambassador 6500 with the Chinese knock off. I bought two new DynaMicer Dancer XW-50 reels with 8' Meat Hunter rods for the same price as one rod with a 6500.
I bet the xw40 is one size under the 50. Over all they have worked ok. The bait click on one of them quit working and the level tends to put a little to much line in the center of the spool. But you can get 3 for the price of one 6500 and 3 baits on bottom is better than one if your catfishing.
i use the abu baitcasters as well i have a 6000 i was lookin for one to teach my son how to use one but i didnt order the xw40 got another abu instead lol
They do cast but I wouldn't call them a casting reel. On a river jetty you can always pitch a rod or 2 out short and that's where I see me using these 2 in the coming years. The level wind tends to put more line in the middle no matter what you do to fix it. If you're casting a lot, save your $$ and put it towards a good reel.
