Daiwa Recaptures "It" with this Limited Edition Steez

Total Score: 8.50 + ULTIMATE ENTHUSIAST AWARD

Introduction: Style with ease: Daiwa's celebrates the 15th anniversary of its flagship low profile baitcaster, the Steez, this year with a bright, shiny new model (literally), that we previewed back on Christmas day, 2020. Kind of fitting considering each time I have the opportunity to handle a high end reel, it feels like a gift to myself. Now I could be mistaken, but it feels to me as if Steez has never really received the acclaim it deserved since the JDM model won our Ultimate Enthusiast Award ahead of the USDM model's debut back in 2006. Apparently, that Type R+ rotor was too difficult to tame as Daiwa quickly offered variants with less dynamic casting abilities. Additionally, similar to a new and updated version of a popular swimbait, the Steez could never emerge from the shadow of its OG predecessor, the TDZ.

We previewed this reel back on Christmas Day 2020

I found this last bit ironic because the Steez and TDZs' internals are virtually the same. Even the spools are interchangeable. So maybe it was just the shape of this reel. Nevertheless, as Daiwa offered variants to tame the performance of the original 103, and other reels debuted for me to test and write up, I lost touch with Steez. In 2017, I reconnected briefly through the Steez A TW1016, a reel that I really enjoyed, but for me, it lacked that true enthusiast appeal. I've always felt an aluminum Steez was simply a Zillion.

With Winter behind us, it was finally time to take it out for some fishing
 

I also fished the Daiwa SS SV in there somewhere but passed on other Steez platform variants like the CT choosing instead to stick with my original 103H. With the simultaneous debut of the new Zillion, Alphas, and Steez Limited, I got caught up in the fanfare and ordered all three reels not realizing the Steez Limited isn't really new, just a stylized variant of the Steez SV TW with the new, SV Boost braking system and perhaps some hyper-improvements. At first glance, a lot of those improvements just seemed like pre-existing technologies repackaged for marketing convenience. Nevertheless, that bright new finish caught my attention, so let's take a closer look at this limited edition 15th Anniversary Steez.

Re-Introducing Daiwa's 2021 Limited Edition Steez SV TW 1000/1001

Impressions: This variant of the Steez, with the modified non-handle sideplate, and T-Wing line guide actually made its debut roughly five years ago in 2016 as the Steez SV TW. Apparently Daiwa Japan halted production of the original Steez platform two or three years prior to this (at least for the Japanese market). There was a 2014-16 Steez Limited that together with the SS SV filled the gap in between. So this anniversary reel appears to be a 5 year celebration of this specific, T-Wing enabled platform.

This is the first new Steez I've fished since the Steez A TW back in 2017

Along with the modifications necessary to incorporate the T-Wing line guide within a Steez-like frame, Daiwa took the opportunity to redesign the non-handle sideplate. The external dial for adjusting the reel's casting brakes is now only half exposed and nestled within the sideplate. Also new with this design is a lever to release that sideplate instead of the screw that used to be in the middle of the brake adjustment dial. It's a refinement that's five years old and one that works well with the reel's overall, more stealthy look.

Matched with my Megabass Bearing Down