I've been using the HS-30 on one of my bream outfits for about 12 months now & find it's excellent. Very smooth to use, good even line lay, smooth drag & very robust construction. The only problem is that when I first got it the drag would loosen itself off very slowly when I was doing lots of repeated casting (flicking lures, no problem bait fishing) but after about 3 months it stopped doing that it now it stays where I set it. I assume it needed to bed itself in or something. Anyway I think they are great reels for the money. They will give the performance us adults need for serious fishing & they are tough (& cheap) enough to let the kids bash them around & they still work beautifully.

I must say i only have one Okuma reel ( Salina II 5000 ) and it took alot of talk to get me to buy it. ( i think Okuma are over rated crap, but that is just my oppinion after seeing my friends constantly returning them for refunds or replacements.

I just got a Fin Nor 5500 and a 9500 for $149 each at a local tackle store. Bullet proof and i'm sure they will last me 10 years at least. Very happy .

Cheers guys for the feed back. Will put this one through it's paces. I had a Banax for which this a replacement for. The Banax kept seizing up for no reason kept it well greased etc but there was something in the construction that kept slowing it down and making it hard to wind very unhappy with it. If this one shits itself Grant I'll try the Finor which I was looking at as well. Cheers

And cannot fault them - absolutely the smoothest drag of ANY reel I have used.  Caught sambos up to 36 kgs, dhuies up to 19kg, huge macks, GT's - as I said given them a serious bashing and they are still going strong.  Only warranty issue I had was I wore a handle out - they replaced it without question and actually gave me two replacements as I mentioned I had two of the same reels ............now that is customer service !     

i have a hs 55 on my 7' very nice reel