Watch out! Make room for the new Abu Garcia Revo STX low profile baitcast reel (continued)

Drag: The drag system of the Revo STX was the most impressive I’ve fished to date in such a small reel. In the lab, our Revo STX produced a killer 24 POUNDS of drag pressure when locked down. That's right!!! 24 lbs of drag pressure! At first the 12 pound line on the reel kept on snapping in the middle of the line during the test. We finally spoolled up some 20 pound line and that still snapped half of the time. So we had to up the line test one more time before we got the final result. After we tested out the 24 pounds of drag force, we thought our scale was going bad, so we replaced it with a spare and we were simply amazed by what the Abu Garcia can achieve. This incredible drag force can easily pull in saltwater game fish!! When it reached maximum drag power we were surprised that the drag pressure was still smooth and let out line consistently! We then proceeded to take apart the reel to see what’s behind this powerful drag force. This Abu Garcia baitcast reel incorporates their Carbon Matrix™ Drag System which consists of a set of carbon fiber washers. We also found something else inside. Underneath the main gear there is a washer typical of other reels, but what was surprising was its material. It appears to be a heat resistant composite material very similar to Quantum’s ceramic drag washer – a composition that has produced very positive results Quantum.

The Revo STX produces 24 POUNDS of force through these carbon fiber washers

In the field we tested the drag throughout its range by adjusting the clicking drag star. At each setting, the performed as expected – smooth and consistent with no hesitation. Cranked down, the drag can easily haul in big bass or put a dead-stop to big stripers on the run.

Palming is easy and comfortable thanks to the low profile design

Ergonomics: From the first time we held the reel at ICAST to our field tests, we found the ergonomics of the Revo STX quite good. The reel weighs only 8.75 ounces and feels well balanced with the rods we paired it up with. No matter how you hold the entire setup, either from the trigger or palming the reel, the low profile design is easy and comfortable to hold. The only thing that we found here that might bother some anglers is in the levelwind area. Depending on how you palm the reel you might find your index finger situated directly in front of the levelwind hitting the pawl cap screw. If you rest your index finger is on the rod, then this poses as no issue. In addition to the weight and low profile design, the Revo STX makes use of bearing supported, rubber handle knobs that are quite welcoming when retrieving large crankbaits or ripping an entire day.

The guts of the Revo STX

Durability: Though the time frame of our tests were only a month, we’ve put the Revo STX through quite a bit. It went through many fish, many hands, and a lot of stress from continuous use. Though it did receive minimal boat rash everything else passed our durability test. Of course, from a durability perspective, only time will tell, but today the reel still cranks very smoothly, the anti-reverse still shows no backplay, and it continuous to perform fish after fish thanks to a solid overall design.

A rugged aluminum chassis is designed to take on loads from the field

A Titanium Nitride wormshaft increases the longevity of the reel

In addition Abu Garcia has incorporated some premium spool bearings to the Revo STX. The HPCR™ (High Performance Corrosion Resistant) bearings are made in Germany and instead of treating them with a rust resistant substance after the bearings have been fabricated, these high quality bearings are actually made from a rust resistant material. The end result is that these HPCR™ bearings can handle more stress, have a better dry-running behavior, can handle higher RPM, and if contaminated, they will still continue to run better than a standard bearing.

A closer look at the spool

Application: Built for bass anglers, the new Abu Garcia Revo STX can handle other freshwater species as well. The Revo STX is a good reel to cast many size lures from hardbaits to soft-plastics. The model we reviewed has a gear ratio of 6.4:1 and is a great all-around speed. Price wise, the STX is the top end of the series, and is priced to move at $199.99.