Been working on repairing a couple of spinning reels tonight. This got me thinking what makes a good spinning reel. There are some many out there and so many that are similar. I know for a lot of people its cost that drives the purchase. For others there is a little more to it.
What is it that you like in a spinning reel?
Shimano Spirex w/trigger bail and rear drag and the cost.
Gregory
i like lite weight and good drag. for the price the shimano’s i think have the best bang for your buck. get a sedonia or sahara for $50 or less
I like the smoothness of the 10 ballbearing Pflueger 6730 and 6735 President reels.Bail springs are crisp and very durable.For under $60 these are a bargain! 
Also use Spirex. I like the double paddle handle and quick-fire trigger. Very smooth reel for the price.
Shimano stradic is hard to beat.
I like a T handle. They are easy to find and grip. A smooth drag is a must. Require very little maintenance. Light weight is great but Im going to spend a little more time playing around with how difference weight reels balance on the rods Im using this year. Guess as Im getting older my wrists are telling me to do this.
Hi, Mike. Drag, lightweight, etc. are all important to me. I feel like there are a lot of reels that have that. I really like spinning reels that cast a long way, too. I’m going to try a Pflueger Arbor to see how they work. I have a couple of Stradic MgF’s that are awesome with fireline — they cast a mile. But the spools are really, really shallow. I’m hoping the arbor gives me the casting distance with a little more line capacity. In my mind it makes a big difference for the type of fishing we do.
Diawa Capricorns used to have a larger shallow spool that would cast a mile. This worked almost to good as I would miss fire them a lot more than any other reel I had. The larger spool was also supposed to help prevent line twist which I think it did.
You know casting those jigs way out there gives you less feel and control over them and ends up with more lost jigs. The farther out a jig is it seems the less likely I can get it un stuck to. Whats a guy to do when you know there must be a fish way out there. 
Balance,drag,an xtra spool,smoothness,and line management,ie cold weather performance of the reel and line memory are my main considerations.Finally, price and service are the final factors I consider.
So what do you recommend Dean for a decent mid priced and higher end pitching reel. I know you get to see and test out a lot more reels than most of us.
Mike, give the Pfluger President a try. Nice reel for the money!
-J.
Mike,the Arbor has been a flawless performer for myself this year.My first test was how did it balance on my rods.The second was casting 1/8th oz jigs with live-bait in the wind without flinging off the bait.Thirdly,the xtra spool amd mono memory in below freezing temps.And I finally got to put it to the test landing big eyes recently to give everyone a thumbs up on the drag system.
I have a few bass guys trying them with florocarbon line and getting great feedback on that application as well.
They are available for anyone to demo and price out at $79.
The high end Shimano Mgs are fantastic reels,but at the mid $100 mark,they are beyond alot of anglers budgets.
I look for durability. I think Spinning reels are an inherantly poor mechanical design. Most of them break really easy. That’s why I like Daiwa’s HardBodyz reels. They are built like a tank, very smooth, very tight and very affordable. I would put them up against any Shimano.
I absolutely hate it when the new reel doesn’t come with an extra spool.
What size Arbor reels are you using? Was just looking at them this morning. The only size Cabelas had looked a little big. Unique looking reels.
Does nobody care about an effective folding handle anymore? Since I got a boat with a nice rod locker, I’ve been frustrated that my Daiwa and Pflueger reels’ handles don’t lock in a folded position, thus causing an organizational hassle. Shimano does a better job with that.
All the Daiwa reels I have had develop play in the gears before too long. Again, Shimano does a much better job with that, and the Pfluegers have stayed tight.
I have some Bass Pro and Cabelas reels and don’t like any of those.
I have several Shimano Sahara reels now and haven’t had any complaints with those yet. So that’s what I keep buying until I find a reason not to.
John
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Does nobody care about an effective folding handle anymore?
I do….and I sure miss the old white Stradics with the push button folding handle.
Mike, the 7430 is the size I use,also have the 7440 in stock for you to demo if interested.
I’m stuck on Shimanos and not even willing to take a chance with anything else. I still have the first one I bought in 1988 and its not broken. I have never broke one. I know there’s other good reels out there but I’ll likely never own one of them.
Thanks Dean. Had someone take those Presidents out of my boat about three weeks ago.
I hate guiding with a mixed set of reels. No mater what rod my clients grab for pitching I want them the same. Rod, reel, line all the same. Rite now I have a couple of the Presidents left and a few Sahara’s. They actually match up pretty well.
The Saharas are the ones I was having problems with a seal breaking and binding up the reel. Maybe this is why they had a bunch on clearance a few years back to get ride of the bad ones.
I’ve had the same problem with that seal on other Shimanos. Looking it over I’m not sure what it’s sealing in the first place. I have just removed it and reels have been 100% since then.
Tend to look at how the drag feels first, then how it funtions at the store, then how it feels on the rod.
Balance, casting, how the bail opens and closes, etc.
All that works out, I’ll buy that model.
I tend to spend as much or more money on reels than rods, and have been happy with the shimamo lines, usually $100 or more range.
I have two Presidents and they seem to work well for me also.
But I tend to lean towards the Shimano’s when looking, same now with bait casters, used to like the 65-6600 series Garcia’s, but now have a couple Carda’s and I think they may be a better reel than the older Garcia’s.
After trying to get the best drag I can, it boils down to feel, if reel is easy to use and feels like all the controls are where they should be, I’ll take a chance and buy it, hopefully quaility is such that it lasts long enough to get my moneys worth out of it.
Al
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I’ve had the same problem with that seal on other Shimanos. Looking it over I’m not sure what it’s sealing in the first place. I have just removed it and reels have been 100% since then.
I replaced those seals with a o ring out of the kit in my plumbing van and they seem to be working well again. Im sure you could find the same thing at the local hardware store.
I have yet to try a Pfleugger because they’re heavy for their size and priced slightly higher than a similar Shimano. At least IMO.
All I use right now is Shimano and I have yet to have any trouble at all. I fish up to 150 days a year (200-250 before the daughter was born) and my Shimanos have yet to even be broken down and cleaned.
That’s my winter project. 
Mike,
I’ve had the exact same problem with that seal on a couple of my reels. It’s an easy fix, but a stupid design.
I ended up getting a Pflueger Trion for $40 or so a few weeks ago. I was in a hurry to get the reel, so my plan to buy an Arbor from Dean fell through. In any case, the reel seems solid but I absolutely hate that stupid little bean of a wooden handle. I can’t believe they think that thing is a good idea. Yuk. Otherwise, so far so good.
Seal problem or no seal problem, I like Shimanos. Saharas are solid reels at decent prices, and if you are going to buy a set of them for your boat/clients I bet you could get a deal on 6+.
In general:
Shimano’s have the largest of gears and largest of anti-reverse bearings.
Diawa’s have the smoothest of gears and shallow ABS spool design.
Quantum’s have the strongest of bail flip and quickest of bail close speed.
Pfleuger have the best value in features for price point.
I think my sahara might have started to bind up like you guys are talking about. I have had it for five years with no problems, but now the handle seems to get sticky sometimes. Can someone tell me where that seal is?
The rubber seal is inside of the rotor assembly, but on the reel frame.
Its hard to beat the Pflueger reels. Ive been using them on my charters for about nine years with no problems.
They even have combos for the ladies.
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