Which reel reviews do you trust?

[dulouz]

I am looking for a new spinning reel in the $100ish.  I have read up on shimano, daiwa, pflueger, and okuma.  When I examined similar reels from different companies I found that they all got 4 to 5 stars.  What I don't understand is that there are always several reviews that say the reels are junk, and then most people say that it is the by far the best reel in the price range.  It doesn't really matter which brand, all the reviews seem the same.  It makes it hard to decide which will be the best buy.

[B-Dozer]

Pretty honest group here, do a search for the reel you are considering, or just ask outright.

[Ima Bass Ninja]

Trial+Error=personal opinion....best way to say it, is you gotta try em for yourself and form an opinion on your own. It helps to actually go into a store and hold the different brands or use one if you have a friend that uses a certain brand. Usually what i do is start with how it feels in my hands then go from there. I have been through 5 manufacturers( Abu, Pinnacle, Daiwa, Quantum,and  BPS PQ) and have found the best for me is the PQ's so far. I also like the Daiwa's i have. Never owned a Shimano cause it just didn't feel good in my hands and if i don't like holding it in a store for 10 min, chances are i'm not gonna like holding it on the water for hours.JMHO

[bigbill]

I would only trust the reel reviews i read here or the tests i do on my own.

I been testing the okuma's with the 10 ball bearings and the Fin-Nor's and both seem to be that i can't wear them out yet. The Fin-Nors are a good quality reel too. They make the larger gold color reels for saltwater fishing and i use there spinning reels for fresh water fishing. One guy here in texas who repairs fishing reels said once here if everyone used fin-nor reels he'd be out of the repair business. I also been using the cheaper spinning reels with less ball bearings on my spinnerbait setups.(Quantums) There is less friction to crank them with less ball bearings. there holding up ok too.

Now if i had to pick just one spinning reel it would be the Fin-Nor. But the okuma is equal but a little higher in price. For me personally i'd rate these two tops. Don't sell the spinning reels with lesser ball bearings short too.  I also been hammering the viva brand, the Quantums and the other mid priced reels too just to test them.  So far nothing has broken do to wear. In my early years of bass fishing the $6 to $10 cheap spinning reels the bass actually wore out in half a season but i hammered them too. If there is a tight budget these will work but if we lube them often the'll last a little longer.

I think the lube matters when we grease the reel that counts about the life of the reel. I use a moly lube in all my fishing reels but make sure you don't get any moly in the drag clutches.

Moly;

Eliminates all wear

Reduces friction

Prevents galling

fights corrosion

stays were we put it.

www.ts-moly.com I use the ts70 moly. Just a little will do. It may seem tight at first but it will loosen up as you crank it.

I take care of my fishing reels by lubing them and i still have my older DAM Quick spinning reels from the 70's that still function today. I recently seen them in an antique shop too. DAM I got old so fast??

[northern basser]

I picked up a shimano saros on ebay for less than $100.  I haven't used a saros yet,  but I've used the stradic and symetre and they are both very nice reels.  The saros is right between them in the shimano lineup.

[bilgerat]

There are two types of reviews - those from people who have actually fished with the product and reviews that start with "I heard"....disregard the latter, usually nothing more than parrot squawk.

Learn to read between the lines and you can get quite a good bead on different reels right here.

I like Pfluegers and Abu's, some here wouldn't use either as a paperweight. In the end it's what YOU like.

[FD.]

There are two types of reviews - those from people who have actually fished with the product and reviews that start with "I heard"....disregard the latter, usually nothing more than parrot squawk.

Learn to read between the lines and you can get quite a good bead on different reels right here.

I like Pfluegers and Abu's, some here wouldn't use either as a paperweight. In the end it's what YOU like.

X2  - especially on the Pfluegers

[Mr SwimJig]

I like and trust TT and the majority of the members on here.  I really don't read to much into the reviews you read on BPS, Cabelas etc...

SJ

[BASSclary]

As for your spinning reel, I'll recommend the Daiwa Exceler Spinning reel. My dad has 2, they're fantastic, and a steal if your local Gander Mountain has them on sale for $50, like mine.

[flippin and pitchin]

I normally would say you get what you pay for but with spinning reels it's different. There are some tremendous products from the 60 to 100 dollar price range. I don't like to pay retail for anything and will shop my butt off once I get a feel of the brand and or model I want. If you get to the point you narrowed it down to a model or two, search the threads and or ask. The benefit of this group is you have opinions from OWNERS, USERS, SELLERS and FIXERS. It doesn't get better than that. I have spinning reels by Okuma, Lews, Abu, Pflueger, Diawa and Shimano. They all perform from well to excellent.

[northern basser]

There are two types of reviews - those from people who have actually fished with the product and reviews that start with "I heard"....disregard the latter, usually nothing more than parrot squawk.

Learn to read between the lines and you can get quite a good bead on different reels right here.

I like Pfluegers and Abu's, some here wouldn't use either as a paperweight. In the end it's what YOU like.

X2 - especially on the Pfluegers

I haven't used pflueger spinners yet,  but I just picked up 2 president xt's and really like the way they feel also.  Can't wait to try them out.

[Wammiee]

I try to find reels with majority being positive. Than just check the negative ratings and see what the issue is. Its mostly poor handling or misuse or the reel getting shipped broken. The main concern is it performing to your expectations, so going to the store to try it out is best if possible.

[A-Rob]

I just buy shimano now and never had a problem

[Stasher1]

I think any reviews that you read on retailers' sites can be immediately dismissed. BPS has been known to "filter" their reviews to skew a product's ratings. What's left are a bunch of reviews from people who haven't even used their new reel(s), but feel compelled to leave a positive review anyway.  :

[hookingem]

My review!  ;D

[Raul]

I think any reviews that you read on retailers' sites can be immediately dismissed. BPS has been known to "filter" their reviews to skew a product's ratings. What's left are a bunch of reviews from people who haven't even used their new reel(s), but feel compelled to leave a positive review anyway.  :

Let alone the filtering process, a big bunch of reviews are from people who just purchased the reel and haven´t tried it yet, you can´t make a great review on an out of the box reel, every new reel feels great out of the box, a few months later the story is different.

I can´t comment on certain brands like Pfleuger, I´ve never owned one and to tell the truth, I´ve never even seen one in the flesh, they are not sold in Mexico. I can only comment on Daiwa, Shimano, AbuGarcia & Quantum, those are the brands I´m familiar with and there are things I like and dislike about them, if the likes overweight the dislikes then I can purchase one.

[Stasher1]

The same can be said abou their rod reviews. I can't tell you how many reviews I've read just like this...

"I just got back from my picking this rod up at my local BPS and it's gotta be the best rod ever made. I haven't tried casting with it yet, but it feels great and looks fantastic with my reel on it. I can't wait until the snow and ice melt so I can try it out on the water. I give it five stars!"

It might break on their first trip out, but they still felt compelled to give it five stars.

[endless]

I prefer My pflueger President XT over my Supreme. Both size 35's. Now it might be different since I have them for different purposes.

The Gander Mountain tournament reels served me well too. I have that combo for over 3 years now I think. It was my first combo I bought when go into bass fishing. The rod and reel still is good. Which I need to get it back from my brother.

[Grey Wolf]

I am looking for a new spinning reel in the $100ish.  I have read up on shimano, daiwa, pflueger, and okuma.  When I examined similar reels from different companies I found that they all got 4 to 5 stars.  What I don't understand is that there are always several reviews that say the reels are junk, and then most people say that it is the by far the best reel in the price range.  It doesn't really matter which brand, all the reviews seem the same.  It makes it hard to decide which will be the best buy.

They all make pretty dependable reels in the 100.00 range and they all make lemons once in a while. The best is subjective.

[Pantera61]

In no particular order, a quality review requires these points:

Detail - If an individual is going to take the time to provide a review or respond to a request for information take the time to describe, in detail, what distinguishes this equipment in a COMPARABLE category.

Duration - There's nothing wrong a first impression of an item in the field. The longer a piece of equipment has been used by the reviewer, the more weight I will give to the review.

Performance - pros, cons, what would you change, what did you like or didn't like. I don't care if you used an Fenwick ultralight rod to beat a shark into submission, how did it perform under normal conditions.

Reputation - What is the manufacturer's reputation for quality components and customer service? What is the reputation of the reviewer? Does he continually praise a brand without mentioning negatives? Is there a constant knee jerk response or pat answer whenever a question is proposed?

[dulouz]

I had a feeling the reviews I was reading (BPS, Cabelas, Amazon, etc...) weren't the right ones. It sounds like most of the reels around $100 should be pretty good, so I am going to narrow it down by what features I am looking for in terms of line capacity and weight. Then I will go see how they feel in the store. Thank you everyone for your help.

[CWilliams]

The same can be said abou their rod reviews. I can't tell you how many reviews I've read just like this...

"I just got back from my picking this rod up at my local BPS and it's gotta be the best rod ever made. I haven't tried casting with it yet, but it feels great and looks fantastic with my reel on it. I can't wait until the snow and ice melt so I can try it out on the water. I give it five stars!"

It might break on their first trip out, but they still felt compelled to give it five stars.

The same thing happens on this site and all others that I have been to. "New rod/reel is amazing, so light and balanced. Much more sensitive then all my *insert previous favorite company here* rods. Best bang for your buck. Will purchase more. Cant wait to fish with it...."

Then you get "rod broke on first cast, cant believe it. I emailed the company 5 minutes ago and no response. I wont purchase ever again. I will purchase something that matches my reel next time."

Thats why I like this site. Even though posts like that still exist, there are enough people that participate on these forums to give you a good idea overall of just about anything.

[Dave T.]

I am looking for a new spinning reel in the $100ish. I have read up on shimano, daiwa, pflueger, and okuma. When I examined similar reels from different companies I found that they all got 4 to 5 stars. What I don't understand is that there are always several reviews that say the reels are junk, and then most people say that it is the by far the best reel in the price range. It doesn't really matter which brand, all the reviews seem the same. It makes it hard to decide which will be the best buy.

Take almost all "reviews" with a grain of salt. Everyone has their own take on what they like and dislike, and some "reviews" are biased in favor of a product (or product line) and some are quite the opposite... sometimes for obvious reasons.

When I look for a reel, I decide on how much I want to spend and what features I want. I like a lightweight, high speed retrieve (or high IPT) reel with a good drag. The lightweight/high speed retrieve requirements narrows down my list real fast.

Try doing the same. If your not that picky about specific features, you've got a wide choice of good reels in that range.

[BassThumb]

I picked up a shimano saros on ebay for less than $100.  I haven't used a saros yet,  but I've used the stradic and symetre and they are both very nice reels.  The saros is right between them in the shimano lineup.

That's what I would recommend, an eBay Saros for $100. I've always had good luck with Shimano reels.

I have to admit, I take most online reviews from retailers with a grain of salt, especially on sites like Bass Pro, Cabelas, Amazon where they give products a star rating. The editors at TackleTour seem to know their tackle and I trust their opinions for the most part, and there are a lot of members on Bass Resource that really know what their talking about and tell it like it is. But that only counts for so much. If everybody felt that same about tackle, then there wouldn't be so much lightly used tackle being sold online or boxes of unused stuff sitting in people's basements.

I like to get a product in my hands and fish with it for at least a few months before I can really form an opinion about it. Then if I don't like it, I'll try to sell it at a fair price on various online flea markets and chalk the loss up to experience. Gradually, after a few bad purchases, I figured out what brands I like and now I don't really deviate very often.

[Stasher1]

There are some on TT who seem to know what they're talking about, but there's a LOT of brand snobbery on there. Generally, if it's not Daiwa or Shimano it's considered inferior and/or substandard. I think a lot of this bias carries over into their product reviews, as well.