Brakes: The T3 Air's casting brake adjustment range is quite vast thanks to Daiwa's 3D MagForce braking system, but on a reel made for finesse applications we found it overkill. In order to tame the spool so that it could cast that finesse jig on our setup, we had to adjust the broad range lever at the bottom of the reel to "MAX" and the external dial to "10". Even then we needed to moderate the spool with our thumb a good amount to avoid an overrun.

The T3 Air benefits from Daiwa's Magforce 3D, but we find it a bit overkill on a finesse reel.

With the Aldebaran BFS, fine tuning adjustment was not necessary and with the same effort imparted into the cast, our finesse jig traveled further with this setup than that of the T3 Air.

For finesse applications, all you need is to set the bottom lever to maxbrake" and adjust from 0-20 on this external dial.

Subsequent attempts with the T3 Air set at less braking force variations all resulted in overruns. On paper it would seem the T3 Air is more capable, but in our hands at least, in practical application, the settings that allow this reel to be even more free are of no benefit because the spool is just too out of control.

Both the dragstar and spool tension knob on this reel feature micro-click adjustments.

Features: The T3 Air scores very well on our check list of features with the one oddity being there was no vial of oil in the box with our reel. To be honest, we rarely use the factory supplied oil anyway, but just the same this seems like an odd oversight on a top end reel from Daiwa Japan. Perhaps it was just ours?

Design & Ergonomics: The hollow sensation one feels while using the reel thanks to the T3 platform's frame material aside, the T3 Air is a very comfortable reel to palm. The handle length is a standard eighty millimeters. This is better than the typical shorter handles that used to come on JDM Shimano and Daiwa reels, but we'd still like something a little longer.

The design of these knobs are very cool, but they're not very comfortable to use.

The knobs are another area where this reel is polarizing. Daiwa did its best to shave weight from this reel where ever possible. They even hollowed out the knobs of this reel and while it makes for a very avant-guard design, in practical application, these knobs are not very comfortable to fish. It just doesn't feel like there's enough to hold onto.

All of the breakdown screws on the T3 Air are located on the same side of the handle sideplate making it a bit easier to open up.

Lastly, when it comes to breaking the reel down for maintenance, the T3 Air is as simple as they come to take apart. The three breakdown screws on the handle sideplate are easy to locate and are all facing the same direction so there's no flipping the reel back and forth and accidentally dropping the sideplate to let loose all the internal parts.

Application: The T3 Air's applicability to a wide range of techniques is directly related to its line capacity. This reel has a very shallow spool. On the surface, with two different retrieve ratios, a max drag tested up to nine pounds, and a braking system equipped with a wide range of adjustments, you'd think this reel could handle any number of presentations and techniques but with such a shallow spool, you're more or less limited to finesse applications.