Brand loyalty (reels)

[Western-Mass-Bass]

Are any of you anglers out there brand loyal to your reels? As far as baitcasters anyway. I currently have 4 revo models that I use and was curious if Im missing out on some other cool stuff out there like diawa, shimano etc.   The competition and technology must be close so these brands can remain in the top of there market....... Right?

[Dan_the_fisher]

I own a variety of different grades of Shimano, I have always been brand loyal until recently. I know own Shimano and lews, and now I'm looking into diawa/quantum reels. I prefer my reels to feel/throw the same so I don't change up to often 

[Western-Mass-Bass]

6 minutes ago, Dan_the_fisher said:

I own a variety of different grades of Shimano, I have always been brand loyal until recently. I know own Shimano and lews, and now I'm looking into diawa/quantum reels. I prefer my reels to feel/throw the same so I don't change up to often 

Same here. I like the way I can palm the revos. But as far as braking systems, drags and so forth is what I was referring to.   The hole Ford vs Chevy thing. 

[Wingman87]

Lews lews lews. I've owned several other brands but keep coming back to lews, I eventually sold all my other reels and now exclusively own and fish lews reels.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Ill buy what I take a liking to at the moment or find a great deal on. No brand pays me to use their product so no loyalties to any of them. I have a preference for Japan made reels though due to never having an issue quality wise with one. I have had numerous non-Japan made reels that have let me down with durability issues.

[iabass8]

7 minutes ago, QUAKEnSHAKE said:

Ill buy what I take a liking to at the moment or find a great deal on. No brand pays me to use their product so no loyalties to any of them. I have a preference for Japan made reels though due to never having an issue quality wise with one. I have had numerous non-Japan made reels that have let me down with durability issues.

Your reels would work better if you stopped spilling beef-a-roo chicken sammies on them. 

[IndianaFinesse]

Nope, whatever I like and find on sale.  No brand pays me to use there stuff, so why should I be loyal to them?  That being said, my favorite brand is pfluegar, but I own several Abu Garcia's and Diawas.

[S Hovanec]

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a Shimano geek, both spinning and casting.  I have 2 reels of that aren't Shimano and they never get used.  Might as well sell them and buy more Shimano!

[JGBassinAL]

You don't have to be paid by Shimano, Daiwa, Lews, etc. to be brand loyal. I'm not paid by Shimano but I am brand loyal to them when it comes to reels. I have never been let down by Shimano and have never found another reel that I like as much as a Shimano at respective price points.

[Robert Riley]

I'm not biased in my reel selection, I just happen to have half a dozen or so Lew's.

[SMITTY0045]

I am a Revo fan too. I just like my reels to feel the same no matter what rod I pick up, and the Revo lineup is what I prefer

[MRG]

I've been loyal to Shimano for about 30 years now. I've bought some other brands over the years, mostly Daiwa and ABU, but the bulk of my purchases have been Shimano.  Overall, I have to say that I've been most satisfied with my Shimano reels over the years. IMO, they have been doing a lot of things right for a long time.

[EllisJuan]

Shimano fanboy checking it.

[Chance_Taker4]

Anything that's not a Shimano or Daiwa. Partial to Revos

[bigturtle]

Daiwa Zillion and Steev SV reels does everything i ever need to do on a freshwater baitcaster

[EvanT123]

I'm a shimano guy. That new alphas is really calling my name though. At the same time I would like to try the new braking system on the shimano bait casters and at the prices they can be had, I will probably get one over the sv. 

I had some pflugeur spinning reels and they were nice but almost lost my shirt trying to sell them. I don't buy reels to try and then sell the next week but I like knowing if I had to sell, I can get a decent return on the money I laid out. 

[lmbfisherman]

Most of my reels are Shimano.  I love my 50 sizes the best.  I do own two Daiwas and three BPS PQs.

[shackman]

Been fishing Shimano for 30+ yrs so yes I'm loyal! They just work! Ive never even had a worm gear pawl go bad! Currently been using these for yrs (except the new Curado200I) 4-cu100D's 2-ci200e's 2-cu200e's 1-ch100a 1-cu200i 1-2500sedona 

[0119]

I recently tried swapping out my 40 year old Ambassadeurs for several new Shimano Chronarch CI4's.  I found them to have too much braking, be over complicated in design and adjustment and the huge gaping hole surrounding the brake control dial let so much water in it was a disaster.  I'm now happily back to my old, everybody laughs at me reels.

[Hogsticker]

Not so much a loyalty thing as it is a preference thing. I just prefer Daiwas braking system and the SV technology is the icing on the cake for me. Don't have to open any side plates, maybe drop one in the drink, just adjust with your thumb. The Zillion, Alphas, Tdz and T3 platforms fit my hand so well. Countless spool options for all these platforms too. I don't care much for Shimanos new braking system. When it was old vbs I had both, but now it's all Daiwa. I don't think anyone can deny these two giants are at the top. Everything else is pretty much a Doyo reel with different dressing. 

[crypt]

abu's for baitcasting penn for spinning    fresh or salt     the ssg series  can't be beat

[tholmes]

My baitcasters are all ABU round reels. I've owned Shimano, Daiwa, Quantum, etc. but have settled on the round Swedes. Shiimano and Daiwa make some great reels, but the round ABUs are what I'm most comfortable with. They fit my old hands, they're rugged and reliable, easy to service, and parts (even for the 30 year old models) are readily available. 

Like 0119, I catch some flak for using "old school reels" but they get the job done every time.

Oh, I'm also a Shimano fan boy when it comes to spinning reels.

Tom

[clh121787]

I havnt veered from shimano for the last 6 years. I'd like to try diawas some day. But for now I'd say I'm shimano loyal for sure. They're the best in my opinion.  A MART doesn't have a reel sponser. A few years ago he switched from diawa to shimano. 

[smalljaw67]

I have reels from all the manufactures except Shimano, a bad experience a long time ago got me to not spend my money there but it doesn't mean they make a bad product. The reels I like now are lightweight casting reels, after buying my 2nd generation Revo Premier and then the Quantum Smoke 150, and a Lews TP I can say that reels that weight over 7oz have ended up on my back burner. The last reel I got was a Pflueger Supreme XT 7.1:1 casting reel, it is my second one of the exact same model, that reel right now is my favorite reel. I have a few Daiwas, I really liked Daiwa but after they introduced the Steez it was like all the other reels under $300 were after thoughts, they just couldn't compete with other companies offerings. Abu Garcia came out with the Revos and improved on them for the 2nd generation but then they started getting to far up for me, I set my limit at $250 but even that is hard to do when I get a reel like the Pflueger Supreme XT, for $150 the reel performs incredibly well, great casting distance, it is easy to adjust and just works and is light, Daiwa right now can't seem to make reel under $270 that weighs less than 7oz but every other brand can, I don't know why that is but at least they are making reels that have better performance now under the $300. Sorry for the rant there but I have no brand loyalty, I have reels that are good from each manufacturer including Quantum, my Smoke 150 continues to perform even after being used hard every year but right now my favorites are the Pfluegers and if my second XT is as good as my first, I may end up with a bunch of those and even a Patriarch or 2 because they over a high level of performance with a solid build at a price that I can live with.

[Deleted account]

Nope, I own Shimanos, Daiwas, Pinnacles, Pfluegers,  and Round Abus. If it works, it works. I'm the same with rods and lures too.