The worst mid-priced reels ever

[ledhead36]

I'm not a zeebass guy, I have a big family to feed. Some of the mid range reels are junk. I always see posts talking about the best, what are the worst reels you have ever used? My first nomination, the Penn 400-700 series spinning reels. Made in China, and don't hold up to sustained use. What are some others you feel you wasted your money on?

[gjb1969]

well for some guys there are lots of junk reels but i have found that if u do not abuse the tackle it can hold up i had some cheep stuff it did just fine did not push to hard so it was ok a lot of people i see do so many things wrong and then its the reel is bad or the rod sucks stop yanking stop keeping the drag closed dont lift fish that are to big stop puting line on that is too heavy for the rod and reel i still have a south bend reel its big graphite and cheep but that reel has pulled in bass blues tog seabass scup so evan the cheep stuff can get u fish i must say so many guys do things wrong its a shame then bash stuff that dose not break the bank i have one reel that cost me 110 bucks i have no rods over 100 bucks i dont have the wood plugs and i still get some big fish

[mick2360]

I had some great Mitchells back in the 70's and 80's, always had a softspot for the company. I've tried a few since. Junk. Pure junk. No other word for it.

[DarkSkies]

Someone said to me the other day: Now that you're running the site, you want to be careful not to knock products, because they might become your advertisers one day.

OK, point taken, but if I have to be beholden to an advertiser so I can't speak freely about the good and bad things about their product, then I guess they wouldn't want to advertise here.

I can't hide something if the product is crap, it's not in my nature.

So I gotta add the Penn 550 and 650 series to this list of poorly produced reels that don't hold up to repeated fishin.

I have tried to maintain my loyalty to Penn products. But I think my loyalty, and that of thousands of other anglers, comes from the quality stuff they produced 20 years ago, like Mick said. They just ain't producing that quality at this time, IMO.

There are those who will disagree. I know the OFFC (where are those guys anyway, are ya fishin yet, OFFC??? ) uses those reels all the time, they're happy. But they never dunk em, and clean them off every time they're done fishin.

If you take care of a reel like that, God Bless they'll last a few good years. I had the rotor cup go elliptical on me for the 2nd time on my 550, I'm done tryin to make excuses for it.

I'll get it replaced as a warranty replacement, but I won't buy another one until the quality improves greatly.

As Monty's pics show in another thread, there are some good Penns around, the OLDER ones.

But for they new ones? They ask you to pay between $60-120 for a reel that won't stand up to repeated fish or fighting fish in current? You're better off betting your $$ at the casino.

[mick2360]

Dark, As you know, I'm a Penn guy; my old 704 has been a steady friend and after twenty years is still going strong. I take care to wash it and lube from time to time but this reel has been a warhorse. I wouldn't have the same confidence in Penn products today and this is something it hurts to say. I'll be in the market for another reel soon and I'll likely look at another line. A penn reel for me is a short term investment. Somebody PLEASE say I'm wrong!

[fishjay]

HI dark;

We did survive the winter and will be fishing soon. Yardville got his house rebuilt and if we can talk him out of buying and rebuilding another house we will be fishing by the end of the month.

have to agree the new penn reels are not any bargain. have had problems with the chinese made slammers.

don't know what else to buy in this price range. any suggestions?