I mentioned in my first post yesterday that I had picked out a newbie kit for Father's Day. Thought I'd ask everyone's opinion on this rig. It's a Cortland rod (CL graphite, 4/5 #), reel (55), line (444 floating rocket taper), leader (4X Precision II Trout), backing line (well, backing line).
I wasn't overly impressed with the reel. I'm a southpaw, so I removed the spool to reverse the pawl and drag. The pawl is a long plastic piece that struck me as having a short life expectancy. The drag gear had to be taken off and turned over, but there were no instructions on how to do so. It's a good thing I got it apart and back together on the first try, because I don't think the plastic keepers for the gear would have stood up to another attempt. AND the gear fits in a carved spot in the side, just tall enough for it to have clearance when it's seated. This meant I had to cock it at an angle with one edge in the carved out spot and cram it down a little crooked until the keepers were halfway engaged in their grooves.
All in all, it seems like a fairly high quality setup to my untrained eye, with horrible engineering inside the reel.

I'm open to all criticism, yelling, fatherly advice, blatantly bigoted opinions, and free stuff. Again, thanks in advance for your help.

Steve.