abu garcia or shimano??????

[cast-a-way]

I use primarily revos now. I had shimano's in the past and they always performed very poorly when the temperature was cold (in the 20's). No problems with revos in the cold weather. I agree the early versions of the revo premier lacked an adequate drag system.

[artcarney_agr]

Another vote for Shimano. The Citica is a great value. I won one as a door prize, and after using it wouldn't mind having a few more.

I actually have 6 Quantum PT Tour Edition reels...got them on a mega deal, if it weren't for that deal, I probably would have gone with Shimano instead.

[MagikSmallie]

Do your research and read a ton of product reviews....I did before I started purchasing my new lineup of reels and went with Shimano Curado E5's and E7's and a 50E....Seems like a LOT of people were having problems with their Revos, and that's what made my mind up for me....If given the chance to go back and make the same choice, I would in a heartbeat...I have been nothing but pleased with my Shimanos....Another big gripe a lot of people had about the Revos was their lack of drag pressure....I've never used one but most everybody talked about the drag slipping wayyyy too much....In the end it's your decision and you would be best served to hold both and see what feels the best to you

The Revo's have a higher poundage drag than the Shimano's do! The lower geared revo's have a 24 pound drag while the higher speed revo's have 18 pound drags. The maximum pound drag that Shimano offers for the Curado line is 15 pounds. no trying to argue with you just stating facts. I've never heard of anyone complain about the Revo's drag...especially when compared to a curado.

[MagikSmallie]

I personally dont want to support the CHINA economy. So, I would buy an Ardent since all other reels are manufactured in China or Korea.

I'm pretty sure Abu Garcia's are still made in Svangsta, Sweden.

[ToolMan184]

I'm pretty sure Abu Garcia's are still made in Svangsta, Sweden.

Only 3 of the round models are made in Sweden. All others are made in CHINA.

[hairball]

Why does everything have to always be black or white? Ford or Chevy. Triton or Ranger. Maryann or Ginger. If 8 out of ten people tell you that brand A is better than brand B, but you've always liked brand B better, are you going to rush out and replace all your brand Bs with brand As? Buy what feels right to you - you're the one that will be using it. I have owned over 20 ABUs and 20 Shimanos along with a few other brands. If I went out today to buy a new reel, chances would be slim that it would be something other than ABU or Shimano, and I would be very confident with either one.

[Moveon]

I personally dont want to support the CHINA economy. So, I would buy an Ardent since all other reels are manufactured in China or Korea.

Good point. Wish more people would think like you. We should try to buy American made products if they are priced good and made well.

Every post in here is an opinion about what each one likes. But only a few guys in this thread actually talked specifics.

I have all the reels that I need for now and still have over 40 rods so I'm not in the market for a fishing reel. Beside the current generation of reels are way overpriced IMHO.

If I were in the market for a new reel I would be hard pressed to choose one.

How do you judge a reel? I mean there are many things that make one reel different from another.

1) Weight
2) # of ball bearings
3) Drag type
4) Anti backlash devices Magnatice or Centrifigal Brakes etc
5) Type of metal it's made from.
6) Smoothness of the reel
7) Manufacture's reputation and advertizing
8) Size of the reel and how it fits your hand
9) Ease of maintenance
10) Ability to repair if necessary
11) and Price of the Reel.

I'm sure there are other factors but that's enough for now to help with making a decision on buying a new reel.

Another factor is what type of fishing will the reel be used for.

1) Worm
2) Jigs
3) Crank Baits. Then add retrieve ratio to the list above
4) trolling Then add a line counter to the list above
5) Muskie or LM Bass
6) Saltwater or Freshwater


I'm guessing that most all of you guys are fishing for Largemouth Black Bass or some sort of bass.

I'm going to pull out my BPS catalog and check out some of the reels you all mentioned above

In the past my father bought all the rods and reels and he spent a lot of time reading about them. I still have most of his equipment but it's a little dated now. But Abu Garcia and Ambassator reels along with Pfluger Reels are some of the types he owned. I also have a few Shimano reels from the 1980's that I still use.

The biggest thing about a reel is keeping it clean and oiled up in the right places and greased up in the right places.

Do you guys maintain your own reels during the winter? I wish I had the patience to take the reels apart and the ability to put them back together again. All my reels that I use and keep in my boat need cleaning. They are full of dust now. I store them in a rack in the boat. So when I drive the boat trailer down a gravel road I get a lot of dust on the reels. All it takes is one time driving down a gravel road to get the reels all dirty. That dust can create havoc on the internal parts and stick in the gears and wear down the metal over time.

Dad use to use TriChloroethylene Solvent to clean the old oil and grease off his reel's gears and then after they were cleaned he would re oil and re grease them and put them back together. But that was before they got more complicated with the magnetic antibacklashing devices and centrifugal braking systems.

In the last few years I bought a couple of cheap new reels and they work ok for what little casting I do. I mainly use them for trolling for crappie now.

I don't have the energy anymore to cast a crank bait all day long.

["The Man"]

SHIMANO!!!!

[peter]

Shimano. I had one or two of their cheaper reals years ago and it was not that great, but they gave me a brand new one about 5 years after the purchase. Had some cheaper abu that were not great. Go mid to high range whatever. You pay for what you get!

[Moveon]

Shimano. I had one or two of their cheaper reals years ago and it was not that great, but they gave me a brand new one about 5 years after the purchase. Had some cheaper abu that were not great. Go mid to high range whatever. You pay for what you get!

I got the Bass Pro Shop Catalog out today and have been looking though it trying to figure out how they make the different reels.

I saw a picture of the drag system for the Abu Garcia Revo STX and it was skimpy looking. I think if they have a problem with the drag not holding it may be because of the carbon fiber drag disks. They should use teflon and stainless steel washers instead.

They call it the "Carbon Matrix Drag System" in the catalog on page 97 of the BPS Master Catalog of 2012.

But do you like the Brass Gears vs the Aluminum die cut gears? I would think that the Brass Gears would wear better than the aluminum gears.

[thejerk]

I tried for five years to find a reel manufacturer that could top a shimano. I bought every brand under the sun. This was simply to be different and not use shimano like everyone else I knew. Now guess what..... I had a hard time selling all my random brand reels so that I could change everything over to shimano. Now all but one of my reels are shimano. I also done the same thing with my rods. Now everything is shimano and loomis. At least now I know.

[SwampDonkey]

Shimano