Daiwa 20 Crosscast 45 SCW QD Reel

How well is it built?

The Crosscast is built around Daiwa's DS4 body components and Digigear II gearing, with three ball bearings, and it has the solid, no-nonsense feel you'd expect from a reel at this price.

The all-black finish runs right through from the body to the spool and handle, so it looks a lot smarter on the rods than its price tag suggests.

Three bearings isn't many for a big pit, and that's the main place you can tell it's a step down from the Emblem 35 SCW, which I rate a little higher for build.

But Digigear II is a proven gear system, and for a reel that's going to spend most of its life on a pod, it's well made where it matters.

The metal HIP line clip is a nice touch too, as plastic clips are often the first thing to wear on a cheaper reel, and a metal one gives you a clip you can trust cast after cast.

How well does it cast and retrieve?

Casting is what the Crosscast 45 is all about.

The 45mm spool profile is the shape Daiwa use for distance, and it's paired with Slow Cross Wrap, which reduces the oscillation to lay the line more neatly, and an LC-ABS spool with a double-lip profile to cut friction as the line comes off.

Daiwa reckon that adds more than 5% to your casting distance, and that's exactly the sort of edge you're after on a big pit.

There are two spool versions. The shallow C takes 300m of 0.35mm, which is plenty for casting and means you can fill three spools from a 1,000m spool of line, while the deeper LD takes 530m of 0.35mm for anglers who need more capacity.

The 4.9:1 ratio is on the low side, but the big spool still brings in up to 104cm of line per turn of the handle, so winding in from range or retrieving a lead quickly is no hardship, and the low gearing gives you plenty of power when you're playing a fish.

How useful is the drag system?

The QD in the name is Daiwa's quick drag, which lets you go from fully locked up to a free-running setting in less than a full turn of the knob.

It's a great system for carp fishing, as you can set it loose while you wait for a take and then tighten it quickly once you're into a fish.

It's rated to 15kg of drag, which is more than enough for any carp in the UK or abroad, and having the drag knob on the front of the spool keeps it right where your hand naturally goes.

Twistbuster 2 helps keep line twist down, which matters on a reel you're going to be casting with all day, and between that and the Slow Cross Wrap line lay, the line comes off the spool cleanly.

Is it good value for money?

For the money you're getting a 45mm big pit with Slow Cross Wrap, an LC-ABS spool, a 15kg quick drag, Digigear II and a metal line clip, which is a good package, although there are cheaper big pits like the Okuma 8K that do a similar job, and the Shimano Ultegra 5500 XTD is the better reel if you can stretch a little further.

It's cheaper than the Emblem 35 SCW, which gives you a few more refinements and a slightly better build, and a lot cheaper than the Basia, but for most anglers the Crosscast does everything they need.

If you'd rather have a baitrunner than a quick drag, the Crosscast BR is the cheaper option, but for distance fishing the 45 is the one I'd choose.

It suits carp anglers who fish big waters and want a proper distance reel on a budget, as well as anyone building a matching set of three without spending a fortune.