the reel was ok if you are fishing for guppies. all 3 of my kids had a hard time reeling in the fish they had caught and the little fish they did catch didn't put up much of a fight but it was a good starter reel. 3 stars

I grew up 25-35 years ago using Zebco reels (mainly their 202 model). The old 202's would work for years and years. I used mine from Ohio to Georgia, and everywhere in between. They worked great, and rarely gave me any trouble.

When my son asked me to take him fishing recently, I "splurged" and got myself a new rod, and a brand new reel. I went with the brand I knew & trusted from my childhood, and got a Zebco 404. I am regretting that decision.

The Zebco 404 certainly is cheap. Not inexpensive, but >cheap<. If you unscrew the front cover, then try to screw it back on, feel the nice abrasive scraping of cheap plastic rubbing on cheap plastic. It certainly doesn't inspire confidence.

The threaded nut that fastens the spinnerhead on the front of the spool came loose after a couple hours of use. One drop of thread locking adhesive would have prevented this. If Zebco was too cheap to use Loctite on the threads, then torquing it properly at the factory might have also done the job.

If you don't mind only casting out 15-20 feet before the line tangles inside the reel, then THIS REEL IS FOR YOU! I had this problem with the factory supplied line, and also with the two different types of line I wound onto the spool. Prior to reloading the spool with line the most recent time, it was so tangled that I had to cut the line from the spool, one dinky section at a time (using suture scissors & hemostats - NOT fun at all).

As a kid, I NEVER had this much trouble with my Zebco reels. A couple weeks ago, at our last fishing trip (~4 doz bluegills, a few largemouth bass, and a couple crappie), I ended up swiping my son's (non-Zebco, no-name) rod & reel combo. It worked SO MUCH better than my super-duper new Zebco 404.

Definitely a "thumbs down" on this reel, and a big question mark on the build/design quality of other Zebco reels.
1 star