Symetre,president,orra??????

[eyedabassman]

I did have another post on here about a spinning reel for about $ 80.00. But I think I have it down to these 3 reels. I know that the Symetre is a bit more money but what the heck! What do you guys think of these 3 ??? The Abu-Garca Orra feels good and looks like a nice reel. And the Symetre and the President have a long track record. What one would you pick now?

[ww2farmer]

I am a cheap skate when it comes to spinning reels. President....had one, was fine, nothing special, I found it a tad heavy. I see they redid them, but other than a thicker bail wire and a rubber knob insted of wood, they look the same to me. Symetre?? LOL OUT of my price range. Orra?if your talking about the SX...I have never seen one in person, but Wal Mart has a buch of the S's and I like them, one might find it's way home soon. Too bad Daiwa raised the price on the Exceler, it was my favorite "cheap" reel.

[BassinSoldier]

Have owned the President and the Symetre. Both great reels and you can't go wrong with either one, just depends on what you wanna spend. If you can spare the cash, get the symmetre, for sure. It was definitely my favortie of the two. It's lighter and smoother to me.

[Canga]

imo, if your willing to go up to the price of a symetre, for the same price you could also look at the pflueger supreme mgx... magnesium frame and rotor, about an ounce (maybe a bit more) lighter in similar sizes compared to the symetre. very smooth and a nice drag as well.

also right at the $100 price tag is the orra sx, which is just that much nicer than a orra s. one great thing about abu garcia seems to be their customer service, i have two different friends that earlier this winter sent in cardinal 800 series reels (pretty much a soron without the braid-ready spool) for some factory tlc, in both cases they sent back brand new reels at no cost to the senders (not even shipping), in both cases the reels were well over 3 years old. i think one got the same size soron and one got the similar sized orra sx, very nice to see that from a company.

[Darren.]

I vote for the Symetre. I was in BPS the other day and played with the President and Symetre. Yeah, I'm a Shimano guy, but for a reason. I was seriously considering a Prez. Also played with the Orra, and other models.

Hands down the Symetre was smoother, had longer spin times. Though I wound up with a Sahara 500 (reel trade in) for a UL, it was only because there were no Symetre 500s or 1000s in stock. And I couldn't justify the extra cost to the CFO.

And yes, I did mess with models out of the box not just the floor models which can be messed up from so many hands touching.

My .02.

[J Francho]

Almost no difference between the Symetre and the Sahara. Sahara gets my vote. Heck, you could even go to the Sedona, and still have a great reel and more in the budget for a rod or baits.

[backcast88]

I drank the Shimano kool-aid several years ago and was not impressed. It was not smooth at all and there was a fair amount of play in the handle assembly. I took it back to Bass Pro and got a different reel and was much happier.

The president is nice. Very smooth and been around a while so it has a good track record. I do like the Orra S better then the president. Its hard to explain why, it just felt more solid and had a higher build quality.

If your looking to spend $100 you might want to look at the Daiwa Aird series. From my experience its smoother and feels better then any of the 3 you listed. Plus I have used Daiwa reels and beat the crap out of them and they kept of ticking without any hiccups.