TackleTour

I was hot on a number of older reels until I tried a Met. 13 and then the Met. MGL and then the Steez SV which now led to a Bantam MGL all left handed and all 8.1+ gear ratio there's no turning back! I still have my older reels but I find they don't come of of their boxes much anymore.

Kurt

I have bought over a dozen reels in the past month. The newest model was a sv103.

They feel a little better, perform awesome, look better, I feel good when I look at them and feel great when I fish with them. A couple of Steez, three or 4 TD-Zs,
four or five Zillions, 4 or 5 Sols, and a couple of Feugos with a splash of Pixies for color...what else could you want? Ok an Ito, TDZ R, R+ and a few others, and damn yes that stupid Abu Garcia Skeet Reese Revo in great shape that I regret trading! I need that back!

Just purchased another Conquest 50 from Japan. I love them reels. That will make 2 users, and 1 BNIB in the display case.

I couldn't afford them when I was younger, But I still buy the new stuff too.

They looked better. Now, all we get is the generic black, gray, silver. They all look like mass produced reels, not 'special' like the pixies etc were.

Biggest Mistake I made was not purchasing more SV 103's.

For me I can’t get enough of the older Alphas/Zonda, the body type is perfect for my hands. Made in Japan and build to last!

staten island angler wrote:For me I can’t get enough of the older Alphas/Zonda, the body type is perfect for my hands. Made in Japan and build to last!

x2, the Alphas platform fits my hands like it was made just for me. I can control the rod and reel without even thinking. It's like it disapppears when I palm it. Nothing made before or since works better for the way I fish.

Very nice, Staten Island. Somewhat partial to the Alphas platform myself. I'm pretty sure my collection is limited to six...2 Sols, 2 Purple Alphas, 1 Alphas F, 1 ito Ai, and 1 Alphas SV105. Oops...7.

i still have two 09 aldebaran mgs that i sent to Ian some time ago and a stock Core 51E with a longer handle. No plans on selling them along side some newer JDM reels. was easier to let go of the 51 and 201 green curados. the chronarch 51mg not so much.

i almost bought another 09 alde on ebay the other day. still have a set of 7.7:1 brass gears laying around...
http://japantackle.com/tuning-parts/bra ... inder.html

new2BC4bass wrote:Very nice, Staten Island. Somewhat partial to the Alphas platform myself. I'm pretty sure my collection is limited to six...2 Sols, 2 Purple Alphas, 1 Alphas F, 1 ito Ai, and 1 Alphas SV105. Oops...7.

Thank you! I just purchased the Alphas 103, was able to get it mint without a mark on it, for cheap!

I am a Shimano warranty repair tech, and now Daiwa. We just signed the papers during ICAST for Daiwa. We also do warranty repairs for other brands, but like my ID says here I am indeed a shimano fan.

I have been working on reels since I was a kid back in the 1970's. And I'm still doing it, but the point is I get to see the insides of just about every reel made that comes through our shop.

And based on that experience I choose Shimano all the way- with the exception of one Daiwa spinning reel I do love.

I have used the Shimano Curado reels since they came out and I still use a CU-201B38 to this day because it is a 3.8:1 retrieve you can't find today. Mine is now closer to 25 years old and still just as smooth now as it ever was. It is an awesome reel.

But the point to this comment is that I know the insides of how a lot of reels are built and I prefer the Shimano way... and I generally stay in the mid line range. I have had the top end reels and honestly I don't get much more performance from them over the mid line because I tweak my mid line reels and get the most out of them which is enough for me.

I prefer to use Stradic spinning reels vintage FG's and FH's and even FI. But I don't go much newer than that. So I actively search out these older stradics mainly because I need them for parts and because I want to keep on using them for years and decades to come even though technology is improving, quite often materials used is not.

Honestly for quite a few brands and reels they are getting cheaper and cheaper in how they are made. Brands rely very heavily on cheaper plastic parts and more and more of them. Gears are going from expensive brass to aluminum. What's next? Plastic gears? Who knows.

So the bottom line here, I choose older shimano because of how they are built. I stay away from others because of how they are built. Just a personal choice...

I have Conquests (50 mainly), Pixzillas (2003) and DC7 Calais mostly. I've been watching for something that might motivate a change but nothing has moved me in a long time. Maybe if someone would make a new orange reel....

staten island angler wrote:For me I can’t get enough of the older Alphas/Zonda, the body type is perfect for my hands. Made in Japan and build to last!

Oh man, that is a nice pile of reels. I also love the Alphas reels, they are so so comfortable. I have yet to spring for a Zonda, but I know one of these days I am going to pick one up.