Comparing this reel (15 SD) to the squall 15 SDCS (casting special), the CS has somewhat better spool bearings and a wider spool. Free spool time is about the same but the CS is noticably smoother . A bearing upgrade to the 15SD should bring it up to the refinement level of the CS or maybe even too fast (haven't tried). My big peeve with all these reels is the undersized reel clamp and foot . I can deal with this on the squall 15SD but on the 15SDCS with a high line capacity and meant to work with big powerful surf rods .... SMH ... someone at Penn needs to be fired . My second peeve is that the line capacity is misleading . I added a pic with 300 yards of 20 lb braid wound on tight and it's pretty much at the 100 % line . The theoretical line capacity is 510 yards of 20 lb braid so the discrepancy is not MINOR. I had intended to add 100+ yards of mono top shot over the braid but will have to re-evaluate now. The magnet does seem to affect the reel as predicted and that's one of the main reasons to own this or the CS reel. I'll update my review after testing the reel out if needed. The Squalls are often described as Fathoms with graphite bodies .On inspecting the internals , I discovered that the squalls don't have a safety anti reverse (dogleg).. while the Fathoms do. Another piece of cost engineering / product handicapping by the marketing / beancounting departments . Overall, the issues I pointed out with these reels might not affect everyone but they are real issues and folks need to know about them (did I mention something about someone at Penn needing to be fired ?). Apart from