Drag: What did not surprise me is the Steez's drag. While not anywhere near the most powerful with a max rated drag of only eleven pounds (11lbs), it is smooth, consistent, reliable, and quite sufficient for my needs. In one instance, getting a fish to bite a rat bait underneath an overhanging branch, I used my thumb to lock down the Steez's spool as I pulled the fish out into more open water, then released my thumb to let drag do its work and tire the fish out a bit before landing.

Still among the more comfortable Daiwa platforms to palm

Design & Ergonomics: The Steez, and just about every other Daiwa reel will forever suffer in the shadow of the irreplaceable TDZ in terms of ergonomics. Daiwa got it right with that reel and many feel nothing has come close since, save for, perhaps, the original TD Zillion. I'm actually not in this camp and find all Steez platforms I've fished, including this one, perfectly comfortable in my hand. That's saying a lot since I'm not particularly fond of the modifications needed in a reel's shape to accommodate that T-Wing line guide. At least not the early iterations. Daiwa has done a really wonderful job lessening that wide affect in recent TW enabled platforms and it really shows. The Steez's weight, or really, lack thereof has always been its strong suit with me, and I'm sure that has to do with the magnesium frame.

I'm a fan of the new generation I-knobs

Price & Applications: Where the Steez does suffer is right here - retail price. As a flagship product, the Steez has always been expensive. Back in 2006, it debuted at $450. The standard, 2016 Steez SV TW currently sells for $550 at TackleWarehouse. This Steez SV TW LTD 1000 lists for about $640. It is designed as a general purpose reel but can handle everything from finesse duties to big bait work if you find a way to make its line capacity work for you. This is the most capable Steez reel I've had the pleasure to fish.

Conclusion: After going through this review, you probably will not believe me when I say I actually did not like this reel when I first held it. What honestly turned me off was all the "Hyper" references together with the reel's price tag. But because it is a limited edition flagship reel, I felt an obligation to check it out. During disassembly for that Christmas Day preview article, I accidentally scratched the reel with a flathead screw driver because the tool slipped off the top of the screw as I was unfastening. That was my incident with the potentially fragile finish.

Perhaps this is the reason, or at least part, for why the Steez is so pricey - Made in Japan

Fishing the reel on board my Megabass Bearing Down, I was reminded at how well the Steez platform suits me. It's light, performs at a high level, and is super smooth. Taking the reel out of what I perceived to be its comfort zone and assigning it some big bait, wake bait duties opened my eyes to what this reel can really handle - and that's everything. It can hold enough line in my braid plus leader setup for big baits, casts small and big baits alike very good distances, has the power to move fish out from tight cover, and through all that has never made a strange sound, had an unexplainable lock up, or any other incident.

I'm actually still in disbelief the Steez LTD handled everything I put it through

I'm actually still in disbelief it handled everything I put it through. I still find its price tag too high and cannot in good conscience recommend it over its far more affordable TD Zillion sibling, but at the same time, I'm not about to let it go. Do you think if I set it next to my pair of Steez 103HLs, they'll somehow spontaneously reproduce? Ok, now THAT's asking too much. In all seriousness, if you can overcome the cost to acquire and bring yourself to fish this pricey little, limited edition gem from Daiwa, it may just restore your faith in what high-end can be.

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