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Well....FWIW, here is my 2 cents. I have 3 of them (2 4500 and 1 3500) and find them to be "just OK". They are a "B" reel for sure.
The 3500 is nice size for an 7-8' rod and I have tried both 30# PP and 30# stleath and had problems with both. Its not the line it is the action of the spool on retrieve. IMO the 3500 spool sits up too high on shaft and the skirt is too short the shaft is actually exposed during retrive! (I have never seen another reel that lets the spool shaft get explosed.) It works well with mono but I have had a massive mess when the line wraps under the spool and around the shaft when a guest was using in...and that was mono.
The entire bait runner series does NOT have the super slow ossilation feature and is not designed for braid. So I wound not say it is flawless.
The 4500 works a little better with briad perhaps because of the spool diameter but I still would not call it flawless. Depending on the weight of lure you may have problems in some wind conditions. It also does not have super slow osilation so when the line comes off the spool during a cast it has to go up and down on the spool rapidly. It works OK but not perfect IMO. I used them last season with briad...this year they have mono.
The drag is very good. The bails will break if you are rough with them but the real weakness is the handle. The knobs will get stiff and it is hard to fix, Parts are *very* expenisve...almost cheaper to buy a new reel then a handle and bail. The parts prices took a massive jump this past year.
Lots of comm bass guys use them hard here but tossed them after a year of real hard use because of the problems. They are really tough on their gear. They are having much better luck with the Thunnus series of bait runner (which is a metal reel). I have 2 of those just for boat eeling and they are made much better then the $100 baitrunner reel.
I have to say when using eels this bait runner feature (on both the normal baitrunner and the thunnus) is sweet and works very well. I have take plenty of fish on them some over 30# and they worked out fine.
So over all it is a OK reel for the money (with the 4500 being better then the 3500) but it is not without its problems IMO. I was surprised to hear someone said it worked flawlesy with briad...its clear to me with braid " your mileage will vary" you better check it yourself (get an extra spool with mono loaded for when it windknots up)
If you were interested in the 3500 I would get the equivelent in a penn. Works better and parts are much cheaper. The 4500 size I lean towards the shimano and they are heavier duty then the lagest penn bait runner.
IMO they don't make an ultra high quality baitrunner. Thunnus is the best they make . Even that has problems with briad from time to time.
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