# Saltist 20H or Abu 6500 mag elite???



## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

have a decision to make all input would be appreciated

Surf and pier fishing lead and bait mostly

distance & durability main priorities


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

For utmost distance and controllability in all conditions, the Mag Elite's hard to beat. Since the ME's have a pair of same sized inboard spool bearings and a magnetic brake system, the casting distance is great. However, the drawbacks to any 6500-sized Abu is that they are a bit short on line capacity (around 220 yards of 0.35mm mono, packed carefully) and their stock drags are a bit anemic. The drag can be easily upgraded with Carbontex. They are easy to service and parts are easy to come by.

I don't have a Saltist 20H so I can't comment on that.


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## inshoreangler95 (Jun 15, 2008)

Abu for ultimate distance and durability due to their strong frame but personally ide rather the saltist, dont know why its just i guess capacity or something, i love big conventionals!


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

The frame on the Saltist is one piece machined aluminum, and probably much stronger than the Abu. The Saltist is also a much smoother reel to me, with a nicer handle. The drag is weak out of the box, but gets stronger after a few uses. I would have to say the Mag Elite would be easier to control than the Saltist though. I have the 30 and I love mine.


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## Rocks&Reds (Mar 15, 2007)

I have numerous reels,525's,5 different abu's the newest being 6500 C3 CT Mag Highspeed, which has the mags and the carbontex drag system 6'3:1 ratio. its a super reel, all the abu's I have are magged ( sportmags,elites). But by far my faverite for distance,drag,line cap. is the Daiwa Saltist30H, I acually sold my daiwa slx20shv to get one. Have not tried the 20 but a friend has one and loves it.TJMO

Chris


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

*Jmo*

Yes,no doubt the 6500 is a more castable reel.. Yes,it will catch fish.. BUT,you will have to put an aftermarket drag in it to have a smooth consistant drag,imho,most important function of a reel to catch a fish.. Otherwise they will become jerky junk drags... 
Yes they clean up easily,and parts are easy to obtain,but they get junked up quicker'n most reels,jmo... 

The diawa has a smooth drag right out of the box.. PROVEN DURABLE.. No right out of the box it won't touch a mag 6500,but with the proper tweeking it will cast well,and at least close to the same standards... You don't have to break it down after every use.. Most times just hose it down with fresh water and back the drag off.. 
As others have said,it has more line capasity as well.. JMO,but it is a much better FISHING reel.. As far as casting go with the 6500,as far as fishing the diawa excells... jmho


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## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

also would 1 be better than the other using braid????


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## Rockfish1 (Apr 8, 2005)

the new smoke gray Mag Elites come with the Carbontex drags in them outta the box... spool it and cast it...


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## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

difference in CS & CT???


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## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

get a pair of saltist... a 20h AND a 30h.

great bugger reels. alot better then Abu in alot of aspects..


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## bctom (May 25, 2007)

cs levelwind
ct no levelwind


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## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

basstardo said:


> The frame on the Saltist is one piece machined aluminum,


No it isn't actually. The Saltist has a cast aluminium frame rather than a machined one as in the case of the more expensive Saltiga. The stock drag of the Saltist 20 has also come in for a lot of criticism but can be improved by replacing the stock drag washers with carbon washers.



Drumdum said:


> Yes,no doubt the 6500 is a more castable reel.. Yes,it will catch fish.. BUT,you will have to put an aftermarket drag in it to have a smooth consistant drag,


The new Mag Elites are fitted with carbon drag washers as standard. Unless they've changed recently the Saltist 20 is not. Maybe Daiwa have now recognised the problem and corrected it but the first Saltist 20s were fitted with ordinary fibre washers. The drag on these reels was pretty poor delivering a max drag of only about 6lb. The info on the Daiwa site doesn't indicate any improvement to the drag though.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Stick with mono on the conventionals. Blowups can get expensive quick, and braid for distance casting isn't exactly the best choice. I would stick with a good 14-20 lb test line. Many, many folks, including myself, use the Sufix Tritanium Plus 17lb. I would also get a CT and skip the levelwind if you get the Abu. You'll end up there anyway, so cut out the middleman and go straight to it.


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## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

without the levelwind wont you have to thumb the line onto the spool evenly while reeling???


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

Childs said:


> without the levelwind wont you have to thumb the line onto the spool evenly while reeling???



Yes , but you can darn near do it in your sleep with just a little practice. You will have less to worry about as far as shock knots passing thru the levelwind, and more distance can be had, etc. no need for a levelwind when tossing weight and bait, now if your working a plug- that's a different story.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

snowy said:


> No it isn't actually. The Saltist has a cast aluminium frame rather than a machined one as in the case of the more expensive Saltiga. The stock drag of the Saltist 20 has also come in for a lot of criticism but can be improved by replacing the stock drag washers with carbon washers.
> 
> 
> The new Mag Elites are fitted with carbon drag washers as standard. Unless they've changed recently the Saltist 20 is not. Maybe Daiwa have now recognised the problem and corrected it but the first Saltist 20s were fitted with ordinary fibre washers. The drag on these reels was pretty poor delivering a max drag of only about 6lb. The info on the Daiwa site doesn't indicate any improvement to the drag though.


 I've owned slooshes,slv's,until the ole lady bought me a new saltist 20. I have yet to use it,but will shortly... You see all those slooshes and shv's took some rough treatment,and lasted over 7yr without new washers,and they were just begining to get jerky then... They caught a lot of fish,and I was and am still happy with them.. That is why I still buy diawas,because they last and the drags hold up.. Actually I don't put more than 6lbs of drag on a fish when using 17lb line,usually less.. They may just be fiber drag washers,but they hold up better than the ones in abu.. imho

The only 6500 mag elite I owned was the green one.. Didn't use it often,but it casted great.. I did own several 7000s and the drags in all those went lickity split... Had problems from dog gear coming loose to clicker turning to junk.. If the newer carbon drags in the elites are standard,it would have to be a great reel.. The 7000's put a bad taste in my mouth for abu,and will probably stick with diawa,as they are tried and true... jmo,after using these reels.


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## dmaaero (Jan 27, 2008)

I"d say for fishing get the saltist, it"s the smoothest reel i ever had. For distance casting get the abu. I find after a good cast with an abu, you really don"t have much line left on it !!!


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## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

If i was to get the Saltist are there things that could be done to it to make it cast like the Abu???


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## Rockfish1 (Apr 8, 2005)

if you want more capacity then the ABU's, get yourself a Penn 525 Mag... it holds plenty of line and will land anything you'll hook off the point...


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## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

im not really concerned with line capacity casting distance is first i also dont want to have to replace it every year so....


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## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

The other reel in this range that it might be worth waiting to have a look at is the new magged version of the Avet SX.


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## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

14 or 17 mono on a saltist 20.

slightly harder to cast than elite, but not so much as to be an issue.
I sold 3 mag elites and bought 20's


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## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

Drumdum said:


> The only 6500 mag elite I owned was the green one.. Didn't use it often,but it casted great.... If the newer carbon drags in the elites are standard,it would have to be a great reel.


You can now get the carbontex upgrade drag washer kits from Smoothdrag for your older Abus.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Childs said:


> If i was to get the Saltist are there things that could be done to it to make it cast like the Abu???


Yes. Clean the bearings out and put in red Rocket Feul, changes the brakes to the little black ones that come with the reel, and she should zing it out there great. The difference in distance between the two reels is negligible, and in a fishing situation, you probably wouldn't notice it.


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## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

thanks to all


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

well here are some things that haven't been mentioned that affect me and may or may not be important to you.

1. your hand size. the diawa is larger than the abu, you will have an easier time manipulating the abu if you have smaller hands.

2. the diawa until they come out with a mag kit will NOT cast anywhere near what a mag reel will, esp not a mag reel with a smaller spool and better casting spool design. I don't care what anyone says about that either, we took a few 20s, 30s, 525s and abus. My Hatteras Outfitters Custom Blue Yonder will outthrow ANY of my friends reels on their rods, and by a noticable amount at that.

3. The diawa drags in my 20 are carbon, they are not the same bs paper ones i've seen in other threads. I cleaned them out, relubed them myself and they are fine now, drag hands down goes to the diawa even with the the carbon upgrades in 6500's, i don't care what anyone tells you about that either. Drumdum is absolutely right in that department as well as the next couple.

the diawa is a tank. YOu will probably not fish it hard enough to even really need to maintain it. Tolerances are greater, sand won't kill it right away and take you out of the game like it will and has my abus during a bite. 

Unfortunately kenny is totally right about that as well. My magged yonders after a day or two of fishing need new oil, and get a good cleaning, not always a breakdown cleaning but a good cleaning, it WILL NOT perform the same after two days of casting will yellow rocket fuel. again the daiwa this is not an issue.

also as has been mentioned the abu is simple to take all the way down and put back together. Actually the new saltist is a breeze compared to the other diawas. so really, both are easy to clean and do complete dissass.

one thing left out is that the diawa has a much faster retrieve ratio and cranking power.

another is that centrifugal brake reels work by friction. If you spill oil or have oil on your collar where your breaks touch, you no longer have breaks.

also, if your reel for some reason goes underwater long enough for water to get inside your breaks become useless as well. in this aspect mag reels work well.

it all depends on what kind of fishing your doing as far as your gear, target fish, and where your fishing. 

my goto stick is a fusion mag with a 6500 Hatteras Outfitters Blue Yonder

my backup is a fusion mag with a 7500

among the extra reels i have for bad days is the diawa 20. why? because it may not be the best caster, but if my 1 and 2 go down, my third reel will keep me fishing.


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## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

NTKG said:


> well here are some things that haven't been mentioned that affect me and may or may not be important to you.
> 
> 1. your hand size. the diawa is larger than the abu, you will have an easier time manipulating the abu if you have smaller hands.
> 
> ...


Thanks


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## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

so would a blue yonder be suggested over the saltist 20H and the Abu 6500 mag elite


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## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

Childs said:


> so would a blue yonder be suggested over the saltist 20H and the Abu 6500 mag elite


I think NTKG's Blue Yonder is fitted with one of the mag conversion kits supplied by Hatteras Outfitters. A standard Blue Yonder (or Elite as they are known over this side of the pond) does not have mag brakes. For distance casting a Mag Elite would be a better choice but I'd actually check out the new magged Avet SX before purchasing either the Mag Elite or Saltist. The Avet is a bit more expensive but has a machined aluminium cage and carbon drag.


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## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

NTKG said:


> 3. The diawa drags in my 20 are carbon, they are not the same bs paper ones i've seen in other threads.


Then Daiwa must have seen the error of their ways and upgraded the stock drag to carbon. The Saltists were not originally fitted with carbon drags as this tackle tutoial by Alan Tani over on the Senor Tuna forum clearly shows


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## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

*Tutorial Link*

Ooops - forgot to include the link to Alan's tutorial...

http://www.senortuna.com/main/showthread.php?t=14827


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

snowy said:


> Then Daiwa must have seen the error of their ways and upgraded the stock drag to carbon. The Saltists were not originally fitted with carbon drags as this tackle tutoial by Alan Tani over on the Senor Tuna forum clearly shows


yes, I had seen Alans thread on it and figured they would eventually need to be replaced. Although the prior diawas with their cloth drags were excellent. The 20 that I have has the carbon drags in it. I"ll take apart later adn post a picture.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

snowy said:


> You can now get the carbontex upgrade drag washer kits from Smoothdrag for your older Abus.


 I sold it this spring... That was the last remaining abu I owned...


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## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

basstardo said:


> Yes. Clean the bearings out and put in red Rocket Feul, changes the brakes to the little black ones that come with the reel, and she should zing it out there great. The difference in distance between the two reels is negligible, and in a fishing situation, you probably wouldn't notice it.


if you want speed. dont do that.
put yellow RF in the BIG bearing, and ref rf in the smaller spool bearing.
naturally due to physics the big bearing starts up slower then the small one, so using thinner oil in the big one and slow in the small one.
you can achieve a agreement between the 2 bearings on startup speeds.

but IMO [in my opinion] for fishing. get the daiwas, time tested. you wont be sorry.


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## OBX_Nomad (Mar 8, 2005)

The original question was about distance and duribility. . . go with the Saltist, hands down.


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## Childs (Apr 3, 2008)

anyone got a suggestion for a rod to pair with the reel, keep in mind distance is my main concern, also dont want it snapping on me casting lead


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## Fishman (Apr 23, 2000)

I know that some of the Abus cast great but the Daiwa is built a lot stronger with better drags


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## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

*Choice*

When you see this much discussion it means you won't go wrong with either.


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## mud (Sep 23, 2007)

tsunami for the rod. Pair it with the 11ft rated 4-10oz or 12ft rated 6-10. I have an Avet sx on my 11 and a saltist 30 on my 12 and wow they beat my tica/slosh combos.


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