Why do I spend $$ on “nice” reels??

[GRiver]

I’ve only bought a few “new” reels, most of my stuff is used, yard sales, EBay, or stuff like that. They are mid-range ones or higher then, I re-build them. It’s become another passion for me, fishing first of course. 
I’ve found most reels are made with very poor quality and unrated bearings. Replacing them with abec 5 or higher has turned a wore out reel in to a quality fishing rig. Don’t just change the spool bearings, dig a little deeper and do them all.

I was very impressed the first time I did it.

I believe most reels are designed right on paper… you know the blue prints make out for a decent reel. It’s assembly and poor quality parts and materials that make them cheap. 
 

[Mobasser]

Several years ago, I bought a 1000 size Okuma Avenger as a spare reel to take on a trout trip to south Mo. Cost was 24.95.                                         After that trip, I used it for the next eight years for panfish and stocked trout. I cleaned and lubed it every year. It finally gave out, and one of the plastic gears inside broke. Maybe I was lucky, IDK, but this was an impressive reel for the cost.            I always thought, buy the best one you can afford, take care of it, and you might be surprised at how long they'll run. I have some nicer reels now, but I'm not sure if they're really that much better.

[Catt]

1 hour ago, bulldog1935 said:

actually, this thread is simply more proof that philosophy and fishermen make strange boatfellows - a thinly-veiled boast, frugality, and anti-gear pile-on, on a forum page dedicated to gear. 

 

Shimano Metanium DC $499.99

 

Lew's Speed Spool LFS $99.99

 

Which one will catch more fish?

[NHBull]

Threads like this show up in all forums.

 

Simply, “life is a choice” and there are “needs” and “wants” and they often change as we get older and our situations change.  In my younger years, I chose cars, clothes, and expensive toys.

 

Decades later, a good cigar, bourbon and yes higher end reels take their place.

 

My reels don’t put more fish in the boat, but my experience is awesome.  
 

I hope some day my grandkids use my gear and enjoy them as much as I do.

 

Buy what you want and don’t judge others decisions/ choices

 

 

[bulldog1935]

@Catt

I don't own either, but I like my 4-year Super Duty G enough to go back for seconds. 

I'll still never understand why boasting about catching nice fish on cheap tackle is so important to so many here, or if I do understand the obvious source, it's not a pretty human emotion. 

If your question needs an answer, it's neither - and yes, this exactly answers your question.

[Maico1]

7 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Shimano Metanium DC $499.99

 

Lew's Speed Spool LFS $99.99

 

Which one will catch more fish?

Shipped from Digitaka is $334.26, always love how the numbers get misaligned.

[PhishLI]

5 hours ago, newapti5 said:

I see most replies here are talking about the "smoothness" or manufacturing tolerance or craftsmanship. IMO a reel's value is judged not only by how smooth it is,

But this is @AmmoGuy's main complaint with a percentage of his reels up to $250, so that's why it was addressed. Purchasing reels up to that price point has been hit or miss for him. Personally I haven't had that problem, so my advice was to go up and get happy, or go way down and forgive the sins and forget about it.

 

The new Zillion G is a slam dunk recommendation on the higher end.

 

44 minutes ago, GRiver said:

I’ve found most reels are made with very poor quality and unrated bearings. Replacing them with abec 5 or higher has turned a wore out reel in to a quality fishing rig.

I believe the OP has done this to one of his troublesome Coastals, maybe even the gear set too, and not much changed in that particular reel. Just bad luck I suppose. He can correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

19 minutes ago, NHBull said:

My reels don’t put more fish in the boat, but my experience is awesome.  

Bull,

 

It's just getting derailed into one of those threads yet again. The OP has had complaints about mechanical niggles in his reels up to $250. That's all this thread was supposed to be about.

[J Francho]

8 hours ago, Tatulatard said:

If I remember correctly the lews reel brand relaunch was ran buy the guy from bass pro that coordinated with doyo to order reels for bass pro.  He bought the lews brand from bass pro, that had acquired it from browning, and then began selling doyos as lews when bass pro had begun to move away from doyo to Banax and chinease oem reels for their reels.  This was a brilliant idea and doyo makes pretty good reels.  Yeah its not really a "lews" but most are either unaware or don't care.

Lew's is owned by Strike King these days.

17 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Purchasing reels up to that price point has been hit or miss for him. Personally I haven't had that problem, so my advice was to go up and get happy, or go way down and forgive the sins and forget about it.

Mic drop.

[Catt]

28 minutes ago, Maico1 said:

Shipped from Digitaka is $334.26, always love how the numbers get misaligned.

 

And that changes what?

 

Still ain't answered the question!

[J Francho]

This isn't about catching fish, so that point is moot. The price you posted wasn't correct anyway.

[Catt]

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

This isn't about catching fish, so that point is moot. The price you posted wasn't correct anyway.

 

If it ain't about catching fish then what's it about?

 

The price is as per Tacklewarehouse 

[J Francho]

Please stop straying off topic. This thread is about gear. It's clear you're not interested in helping. Any off topic posts will be removed here on out. 

As far as pricing goes, it would be to anyone's benefit to do some comparison shopping including JDM outlets. 

[Randy Price]

When I was younger I couldn't afford nice gear.  Now that I'm in my late 50's I can and I appreciate it.  No, I do not necessarily catch more fish but I like the lightness and sensitivity of my SC Legend X spinning rod and the smoothness of my Shimano Stradic.  I say buy what you can comfortably afford and enjoy it.  Life is too short!

[ironbjorn]

Johnny over at Fish The Moment on YouTube has a video on the Black Max and why he fishes them. The video has to be 2-3 years old by now. I was recently watching a newer video of his and he's still fishing them. He gives an honest review and it lines up with my experience. When purchasing new setups I'll still buy SLX XTs and Tournament Pros (my favorite reels), but if I need a replacement, something right now, or a scenario in which I just had (a few rods without reels), I'll keep buying and fishing the Black Max and not lose any sleep over it.

[Tatulatard]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Shimano Metanium DC $499.99

 

Lew's Speed Spool LFS $99.99

 

Which one will catch more fish?

Both catch less fish than a bobber with a nightcrawler cast by a spiderman zebco.  We like to pretend we are all no nonsense anglers that are just using the best tool for the job but if that was the case we wouldn't be throwing artificial baits on baitcast reels.  At some level we just enjoy fishing for bass with lures.  It's more enjoyable than sitting there with bobber and worm.  A metanum dc for many is more enjoyable than a lews lfs.  

 

[casts_by_fly]

7 hours ago, QED said:

 

I prefer great experiences, whether three Michelin star restaurants or travel to Italy, UK, France, Holland, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Canada, or wherever, relative to things.  That said, high end fishing gear improves the fishing experience enough (to me) that I can rationalize it.  YMMV.

 

I do a lot more casting than I do catching, so might as well make that part of the process nice.  I too like nicer things (we're doing some Michelin stars in London next week) , hence the other thread about a new baitcaster.  'Acceptable faults' in a reel are fine, until they aren't.  A reel that is a little geary is fine for a slow fishing bottom bouncer rod, less so for a spinnerbait rod.  Until all of your other reels are great and then you pick up that one geary one.  Suddenly it feels like a clunker and needs to be replaced.

 

5 hours ago, GreenPig said:

My 3 - $400+ reels are the only manly way I can bedazzle my jon boat.

 

Sure about that?

 

[Catt]

2 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

Sure about that?

 

 

Like that! ?

[AmmoGuy]

2 hours ago, NHBull said:

Threads like this show up in all forums.

 

Simply, “life is a choice” and there are “needs” and “wants” and they often change as we get older and our situations change.  In my younger years, I chose cars, clothes, and expensive toys.

 

Decades later, a good cigar, bourbon and yes higher end reels take their place.

 

My reels don’t put more fish in the boat, but my experience is awesome.  
 

I hope some day my grandkids use my gear and enjoy them as much as I do.

 

Buy what you want and don’t judge others decisions/ choices

 

 

 

I think you missed the (intended) point of the discussion entirely. 

[Yuddzy]

If you don't feel that these upper priced reels are improving your experience in any tangible way as compared to less expensive options, then you're right: you shouldn't buy them. 

 

Most reels we can buy today are more than capable of catching fish in my opinion. I can pick up an inexpensive reel to use knowing full well that the reel has nothing to do with my lack of catching fish so long as it carries out the tasks of a reel in the first place. 

 

We buy fancier reels because we enjoy the craftsmanship, looks, feel, long-term durability, warranties, etc. You should simply buy whichever reels are enjoyable to fish with. If you don't notice a difference between a $99 reel and a $200 reel, then buy that $99 reel and fish it with a smile on your face. 

 

Fishing gear is very subjective, buy what makes you want to fish more for the best price; whether that means you wind up with a Lews Speed Spool LFS or a Daiwa Zillion. 

[king fisher]

The only reason I would buy a high end reel, would be the result of drinking beer with the Bait Monkey

[AmmoGuy]

48 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Please stop straying off topic. This thread is about gear. It's clear you're not interested in helping. Any off topic posts will be removed here on out. 

As far as pricing goes, it would be to anyone's benefit to do some comparison shopping including JDM outlets. 

 

It was silly of me to think that this thread would produce anything meaningful. Although I did warn it was just a bit of a rant. 

 

This thread isn't intended to be about catching fish, anecdotal tales of high end gear and Zebco 33's, etc... It was loosely intended to be about the technical merits (or lack of) of spending a little more $$ on "mid-tier" reels over their less expensive counterparts. 

2 hours ago, PhishLI said:

But this is @AmmoGuy's main complaint with a percentage of his reels up to $250, so that's why it was addressed. Purchasing reels up to that price point has been hit or miss for him. Personally I haven't had that problem, so my advice was to go up and get happy, or go way down and forgive the sins and forget about it.

 

The new Zillion G is a slam dunk recommendation on the higher end.

 

I believe the OP has done this to one of his troublesome Coastals, maybe even the gear set too, and not much changed in that particular reel. Just bad luck I suppose. He can correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

Bull,

 

It's just getting derailed into one of those threads yet again. The OP has had complaints about mechanical niggles in his reels up to $250. That's all this thread was supposed to be about.

 

Phish gets it. 

[ironbjorn]

2 minutes ago, AmmoGuy said:

 

It was silly of me to think that this thread would produce anything meaningful. Although I did warn it was just a bit of a rant. 

 

This thread isn't intended to be about catching fish, anecdotal tales of high end gear and Zebco 33's, etc... It was loosely intended to be about the technical merits (or lack of) of spending a little more $$ on "mid-tier" reels over their less expensive counterparts. 

 

Phish gets it. 

I've never seen this topic go well or as intended on any forum or social media. Everyone is so different, with different expectations and experiences, and rarely do any two people (let alone huge groups) operate with the same level of comprehension. Add to that the natural communication gap of speaking to strangers online (a vast majority of human communication is wordless), and we end up here.

 

[casts_by_fly]

15 minutes ago, king fisher said:

The only reason I would buy a high end reel, would be the result of drinking beer with the Bait Monkey

 

that guy can really put them down though, can't he!

[AmmoGuy]

10 minutes ago, Yuddzy said:

If you don't feel that these upper priced reels are improving your experience in any tangible way as compared to less expensive options, then you're right: you shouldn't buy them. 

 

We buy fancier reels because we enjoy the craftsmanship, looks, feel, long-term durability, warranties, etc. You should simply buy whichever reels are enjoyable to fish with. If you don't notice a difference between a $99 reel and a $200 reel, then buy that $99 reel and fish it with a smile on your face. 

 

This is definitely the case. 

My question lately is at what point in the $$ scale do craftsmanship, feel, & durability become predictable and dependable. In my experience over the last few years, after buying a decent sampling of "mid-tier" reels... I've not been able to find the answer. 

[Yuddzy]

The only productive direction for this thread to go would be to produce a detailed list of features typically found in the upper end reels mentioned that are not found in the lower end reels so we can make some sort of objective analysis as to whether or not the price gap is warranted.