Hey Fellas...

I'm looking to put together a rod & reel for use for surf fishing down in Galveston...hopefully for some bull reds this year. I'm considering the following reels & wanted to get some input on them:

Penn 209M
Penn 309M
Penn Defiance 40

From the research I have done...it appears that the 209M & 309M are virtually similar with the 309M being slightly larger & able to handle larger line sizes. The Penn Defiance 40 appears to have more bells & whistles on it...but I haven't been able to figure out if those are worth the $20-30 increase in price over the 209M or 309M. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...

K

I would also like to hear some other opinions on these reels

I have been using the penn 209 and 309's until just recently when I used a Penn 320 GTI. I could cast so much further with the 320 than the 209 or 309. I got on Ebay and bought 4 of the penn 320 gti's to replace the 209/309's. I couldn't be happier with the change.

Both the 209 and 309 are great reels Try and get one that is made in the U.S.A. The new ones are made in China As for the defiance VERY WEAK DRAG and tends to blow up easily with about 12lbs of pressure. Would not recommend them at all My all time favorite Penns are the 140 Squidder and the 500 Jig master Can't go wrong with either one great for surf and pier
Charlie

I actually scored deals on the Penn Defiance 40s (Rod n Reel) for $79.99 at Walmart (mispriced from $149.99).

They work great for entry Penn's

Looks like Walmart raised the prices to $99 for the combo
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Penn-Defiance-40LW-6-6-Combo/16652825

Still cheaper than what they should be.

Pretty sure the Defiance is going for roughly $89 depending on where you shop...you can get the 209M or 309M for $59 each.

For Rod and Reel combo? Thats cool then, I picked mine up back in May they were advertising combos for the 149 range so I jumped when I saw the combo for 79.99 (and they had the reels sitting next to them for 89 lol)

Nope...just for the reels. I'm planning to team these up with a pair of 10' Pro Angler rods.

Ah ok. Well here are the specs from Penn it reads Line Cap (Defiance lists Braid vs the others only Mono) I rigged mine with 65lb braid , Max Drag, Gear Ratio, Line Retrieve, Weight.

209M 320/20 Bushing 10 lbs 3.2:1 19(in) 19(oz)
309M 475/30 Bushing 15 lbs 2.8:1 20(in) 23(oz)
DFN40LW 500/20 � 340/30 � 285/40 800/40 � 700/50 � 580/65 4 15 lbs 3.6:1 26(in) 21.6(oz)

As said their your entry line in order there, I've seen people smoke the 209/309s, haven't had a problem with the Defiance 40 yet brought in a 6'5ft Sand bar on it no problem. But I guess it all really depends on what hooks up, I'm not aiming for jaws or anything but have been happy with them thus far.