I would guess that a company that has been making lower end and upper end stuff since 1980 has done some kind of r&d as any company would or should do.
I own many diff kinds or reels,daiwa,tica,Omoto alutechnos,shimano,ming-yang,a well as custom reels that are 3 of a kinds,Synchroglide and some others that actually have no name,made by brilliant machinists in their basement.
somewhere around 27 rigs and all work wonderfully and do the job perfectly.
TBH,I found it to be a great thing,I also am so glad I didn't go by what others said and found out for myself.
in all actuality,I went that direction 9 years ago.
Thanks for the replies M8.
Cheers
R-P