The Difference In Baitcasting Reels/spinning So Far,cheap Vs More Expensive

[bigbill]

Right now I'm in the process of lubing all my fishing reels. Now the only difference I notice between the cheaper bait casting reels from the older $12 reels to the $70 reels is the cheaper ones have straight cut gears while the more expensive ones have helical cut gears. The helical cut gears allow more engagement of the teeth over the one tooth engagement of the straight cut gears. The helical cut gears allow almost two teeth to be engaged as it turns. It makes the reel much stronger with less wear. I also notice the level line guide is driven by a plastic gear but as we go up in cost I'm sure it becomes a metal gear too. Most of the driver gears I have seen so far in the baitcaster reels look to be brass. There all metal brass gears on your crank handle to the spool. But remember these can be straight cut gears or helical cut gears when it comes to the price tag. In most of the reels today that have ball bearings are shielded or sealed. How many bearings we have is considered in the price tag too.

Now with the cheaper spinning reels these seem to have straight cut aluminum gears. As they go up in price it changes to helical cut brass gears too. But in some reels inbetween we could see straight cut brass gears too. The ball bearings in the cheaper spinning reels are open bearings, we can see the balls in the races there are no shields or seals. These are prone to dirt and water getting in them. The more expensive reel will have sealed or shielded ball bearings.

The Chinese baitcaster reel I purchased is far better than the Chinese spinning reel I purchased quality wise. I wouldn't say there close to a spinning reel from Japan or my okumas or finors but give them time. I do not know how long one of these imported Chinese spinning reels will last. From what I seen inside the Chinese baitcasting reel the quality is far better than the lower priced reels I have looked inside. Mechanically most of these baitcasters look the same inside operation wise except for the helical cut or straight cut brass gears. Again I'm not sure of the quality of the metal gears nor the quality of the ball bearings. I purchased both just to hammer them. I lubed them now thell go fishing.

Who am I to judge? I been a lead engineering tech in one of the top ten R&D engineering test labs in the country for over 20years. We life tested New products and designs. We would investigate into why things broke. Before this I built cnc lathes and 155mm howitzers for the US Army. I see from both sides of the fence the end product user and the engineering aspect too. I wanted to say this before anyone asks it.

Now what reel would I purchase?

You can go with a Chinese spinning reel not knowing how long will it last? But I would lube it often if you do. Or go with a better reel from our sponcers or look at Wal-Mart for a sale or a quality spinning reel from Japan. Again with any reel longevity is keeping it lubed that's up to you.

With the Chinese bait caster it appears to be a good reel but maybe a knockoff from someone else's. It seems to be equal to any lower priced reel quality wise, I'm not sure how long it will last over the others yet but everything seems to have ball bearings that are shielded or sealed. It seems to work ok so far. Buy my lower priced Shakespeare's, BPS, Mitchell, and Quantum reels work good too I just push living any reel so it will last. I would lube the cheaper reel even more.

Again I would shop around for the better buy first and keep it lubed.

One more factor on how good a reel is the bass can actually tells us by beating it up. I have had the bass wreck cheaper trout reels in the past. They wore out spool housing bearings, inside straight cut alumimum gears. Even the fight of the 3lbers can tear up junk reels I know this. Thanks, bigbill

[baluga]

Cheap VS Expensive...  They both do the work just fine but the expensive/quality reels are a joy to use.  You can't tell the difference until you use the expensive/quality reel for years.  The maintenance cost for both cheap and expensive reels are practically the same so it's not worth keeping the cheapy ones for a long time.  Plus it holds it's value.  A lot of folks are willing to pay for the second hand expensive/quality reels without paying the list/original price.   It's just like cars, guys who never had any long driving experience with an expensive car like let say beemer will never understand the difference until they have driven the beemer for years.

 

Some folks may say that there's no practical reason for it but to each his own.

[bigbill]

I'm seeing the difference in materials that are used, the difference in machining between the lower cost and the little better quality wise reels I'm still under $100 in looking at them. I can see the difference in just paying a few dollars more in quality. Your right as I go higher in price they will get better quality wise with less plastic parts I'm sure. The difference in the gears caught my attention.

[gravestone]

Owning both sustains and stradics I can't see any difference between the 2 when I tear them down for maintenance

[bigbill]

It could be the quality of the ball bearings? Are the ball bearings shielded or sealed in both reels? Does one have more bearings than the other?