TEMPO Sphera Spinning Reel 1000

Please read below for a much more in-depth review. This addition to my review is after 2 outings using this reel. Great "bang for the buck" without a doubt! I have this partially filled with cheap mono with the last 100 yards being Sunline FC Sniper 7lb Fluorocarbon line as I'm using this for anything from light crankbaits, 1/8 ounce spinner baits but primarily 1/16 through 1/4 ounce jigs of every conceivable type. The line lays on the spool perfectly, I have not had ANY line twist (90% of this is putting the line on properly to begin with) and the drag works quite well. I've never bought any reels from companies I'm not familiar with. I fish in local bass tournaments and do as much bass fishing outside of tourneys as my partially crippled body (disabled vet 100% rating) allows and I'm REALLY impressed thus far with this reel. Among the 1st things I do when buying a new reel from anyone is to disassemble it to make certain it's been lubed from the factory. I also use full synthetic lubricants as they don't break down at all and cold weather doesn't affect them anywhere near as much as petroleum based lubricants. I cleaned everything and added my synthetic grease & oil, but this was not necessary as this was well lubed throughout. This is something that is becoming less & less common today. I can't recall how many reels I've bought (or repaired for others) that came from the factory completely dry, lubrication wise. Needless to say, reels without lubrication fail quite quickly. The build quality of this reel is a lot better than the price indicates I could expect. I probably made 75-100 casts with this in total thus far with a whopping 3 Pickerel & 2 Largemouth caught. The incredibly late spring here in NE Pa (along with the 52 degree H2O temp) has kept the bass fishing slow. They're not in season anyway, but I'm 100% catch & release anyway as I measure & snap pics of "pigs" and today's replica mounts are vastly superior in quality (so long as you provide good pictures & accurately measure) & even a lot less cash compared to taking a pig out of a small lake and diluting that lake's genetic pool for big bass. Remarkably, this reel performed as well as the more than 20 "mid-high end" reels I own, some costing over $200 (spinning reels) and this, aside from having a significantly smaller body than comparably sized reels has scored 10/10 in every single aspect I'd rate a reel on. As a comparison, I also bought a mid-end Daiwa spinning reel as I like the 2500 size with a higher speed retrieve and one of mine is simply worn out after 20+ HARD years of fishing on it. This reel compares quite well with a Daiwa that cost more than 3x as much. I'll update this review as this season goes by so potential buyers can have the best descriptive review I can offer. I received this reel today and must say I have a mixed 1st impression. The reel seems to be incredibly small for a 3000 series reel. I have reels that are 1000 series that are approximately the same size. Now, the physical size of the reel doesn't necessarily mean its small size is an issue. So long as the spool is large enough to hold the advertised line capacity, the actual size of the reel's body doesn't matter. The one aspect where the reel's size *might* make a difference would be in its' ability to reel in a large, hard fighting fish. Being on the small size means that every internal component itself therefore must be smaller than normal also. I'll update this review once I get a few outings using this reel. The 2nd aspect of my first impression is in operation & cosmetic appeal. This IS a very fine looking reel. It LOOKS to be well made and actually if looks alone mattered this would get 10/10 stars as this reel literally looks as good or better than many reels I have that cost anywhere from $100.00 to more than 2x that amount. Then there is the operation. WOW! I was half expecting to get a very low quality reel. I'm happy to say I have the exact opposite feeling about this reel after removing it from the box, tightening the handle & testing it in my hands. The rotational operation could not be more smooth. I did have an issue with the anti-reverse in that it would not engage until I flipped the anti-reverse switch a few times. I know exactly what the ani reverse roller bearing looks like, and it seems the rollers in this reel were lightly stuck in the disengaged position. After flipping the switch a few times the anti reverse works flawlessly as well. I feel ZERO "slop" (up/down, side to side) in the main gear, measured by holding the reel's body in one hand and trying to move the handle with the other. This is impressive as this means there are tight tolerances in the design of this reel, which will hold everything (though especially the main drive gear & driven or pinion gear) aligned making for not only a long lasting interaction but one that ought to be far stronger than a reel with imprecise tolerances. To give a better reference to those unfamiliar with how a reel is constructed and designed grab an older spinning reel that has less than 3 ball bearings. You'll be able to feel that you can move the reel handle up/down & side to side (in relation to the reel's body) quite a bit, an amount you can physically see with your eyes. This one aspect of the reel impresses me more than all of the others combined! The bail operation is also excellent. Now, I manually flip my bails back as that helps reduce/eliminate line twist, something everyone who has used any spinning reels is already familiar with. My point is this bail is easily flipped open and will easily trip closed when the handle is rotated. There's no bind whatsoever in any operation of this reel. I've been fishing hundreds of times/year since I was 11, 40 years ago and several hundred tournaments ago. It's simply 2nd nature for me to manually flip the bails on all of my spinning reels so I have less line twist. Line twist is the direct cause of the 'rat's nests' one gets with a wad of tangled line on a cast. That tangle almost always requires you cutting out the tangle, restringing the rod, retying your lure on and leaves you short of line remaining on the spool which drastically reduces the distance you can cast the same lure versus a reel spool being filled to capacity. It is so "2nd nature" to me that I don't even consciously know I'm flipping the bails back after my casts. My point with this review is that if you want, this bail will trip closed all by itself with minimal effort. Overall I'm highly impressed with this reel, as it exists (unused), appears & functions. Once I get some time on the water with it, I'll update this post.