Reels

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by 260SEAVEE

Go with Daiwa have had issues with Shimano anti reverse at times

I've had issues with the anti reverse on my Shimano Stradic CI4 Plus as well and so have others I know. They eliminated the anti reverse switch on the Stradic (not sure about the Sphereos) and there is no way to turn it on/off. From what I've observed and read, a lot of times it fails in cold weather.. The anti reverse mechanism has several small bearings in it and if there is any oil or grease on them, when it gets cold and the oil or grease thickens, it restricts the movement of the bearing causing the reel to slip out of gear..

Last spring I sent mine back to Shimano since it was less then a year old and under warranty. It had some other "self inflicted damage" that I would have had to pay for, so they offered to send me a new one at basically their cost... It looks to be redesigned so hoping I no longer have the issues but won't be able to tell until I fish it this winter when it's cold...

Hard to beat the Daiwa BGs for the money and you'd be hard pressed to find a better reel in that $100 or so price range. If I intended to fish it a lot in the salt, I might consider spending another $100 and moving up the the Ballistic since they are sealed an less prone to damage from salt water.