My brother and I each have a 230 and like it. Ours are mounted on medium rods with 10 pound braid for bass etc. The 230's will handle 2 pound mono and 6 pound braid at the low side, but we have no intention of using them for crappie etc as we want the casting distance for fishing bigger stuff from shore. And, they definitely cast further given the same setup (line, rod, and lure), but not fantastically so depending on the lure (some lures just don't cast far).