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Last but not least from Loop is the Opti Strike. It’s big. It’s full cage. How is it going to stand up to the competition? Keep reading…

This reel is A LOT like the Evotec HD. Instead of re-writing everything, if you're curious to learn more about this reel, please read that review which goes into more detail. It’s available here.

 

8-Weight Shootout Full Results

 

Weight

9.2 ounces.

 

Drag

 

 

With more drag than the other two Loop reels, the Strike was off to a strong start, unfortunately, in this test 6 lbs just isn’t going to cut it. The Strike has 3.5lbs of effective drag and a quite good 42% at half drag. Finally, it has a whopping 1.21 lbs when turned all the way down. At least you know that if you turn it all the way down you'll have the right amount of drag for a lot of fishing situations...

 

Drag Test Graph

 

 

Sound

Like the other Loop reels it’s silent coming in, soft going out.

Spool & Retrieval Rate

The Strike is absolutely enormous. It holds 4 times as much backing as the Abel SDS. Quite frankly, this is in no way an 8-weight reel. It may be an 8-weight Spey reel, but for a single hander, it’s just way too big. Because of its size, it almost isn’t even worth talking about things like retrieval rate since with a reasonable 200 yards of backing, you’re not even half way up the spool…

 

Looks & Ergonomics

See Evotec review. It’s more or less identical.

 

Finish and durability

 

 

Like the Evotec, it’s solid.

 

Warranty

Lifetime to the original owner + $30 fee.

 

Price: $705

 

Conclusion

It's just way too big. Should the Loop Opti Strike have been in the test? No. It’s just nowhere near an 8-weight size and that comes through in the results. It's pretty hard to compare it to reels that are so much smaller...

 

 

Buy it with Free Shipping here.

 

Pros

  • Huge capacity.
  • Good durability

 

Cons

  • Really not an 8-weight reel
  • A spool release cap that’s way too easy to lose.