15 Jul
Taro’s Gear Review On The Daiwa Caldia
OVERALL SCORE: 4.5
Introduction
The box and manual are in Japanese.The Daiwa Caldia was previously only available in Japan. It recently became available at Bass Pro Shops across North America. WFN managed to get on for $114.95 (CAD), and we have seen them advertised for $99.99 in the US. It’s not common that JDM imports become so widely available in North America, so we wanted to put it to the test in order to see if it’s worth the hype.
Appearance
The Caldia looks great on any rod.The Caldia has a beautiful pearl white and gunmetal black frame. It has a clean and elegant appearance that looks futuristic and ahead of its time. The simple color scheme means that it will look good on a variety of different rods.
SCORE: 5
Construction
The reel is built with quality parts and feels sharp, sensitive and rock solid all at once. This is thanks to Daiwa’s Digigear II design that creates a perfect mesh between the drive gear and pinion gear. It also uses light but strong aluminum for the spool and handle. The reel has Daiwa’s Airbail, which is a hollow stainless bail arm. This makes the bail strong yet very light.
SCORE: 4.5
Egonomics
The reel feels sharp and sensitive. It is balanced very well, and makes fishing seem effortless for extended periods of time. The large handle grip feels comfortable and not too soft.
SCORE: 4
Casting
This reel casts further than the average spinning reels on the market. The spool design has really paid off it terms of creating extra distances on casts by allow the line to flow easily off the spool.
SCORE: 5
Retrieve
New Fireline had a tendency to wrap around the bottom of the spool, but the problem went away after the line was broken in.The retrieve is extremely smooth and feels like a top of the line reel. There is no wobble and almost no noise at all when cranking the reel. The reel did have a problem with new Fireline wrapping around the bottom of the spool if there was any slack in the, but that went away after using the line for a while. It seemed like just and issue with the new Fireline being a little stiff for the reel.
SCORE: 4
Drag
The drag is silky smooth and has one of the nicest drag sounds on the market, the drag moves in the smallest increments and is a joy to listen to when a fish is putting it to the test. I had a chance to do this when I hooked into a muskie while walleye fishing. The reel handled the large fish with ease, and I was able to land it quickly.
SCORE: 5
Innovation
The Caldia is definitely ahead of its time. The design, look and feel are great. It incorperates a lot of advanced features into an affordable reel.
SCORE: 5
Price
The reel is retailing for $114.95 (CAD). This is an absolute steal! In my opinion, this reel matches up to spinning reels in the $250-$500 price category. The advanced set of features and amazing feel can’t be beat in its price range.
SCORE: 5
Conclusion
The Daiwa Caldia is a great reel that performs extremely well. When you factor in the cost, it’s an absolutely amazing deal. You get a reel that compares to some of the top of the line reels for a fraction of the cost.
OVERALL SCORE: 4.5
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