Reels on a budget (<$400)

[NAGG]

Following on from another thread

What reels have people bought for under $400 that they are pleasantly surprised with ? Good value & have lasted

I've capped out at $400 (which is still a lot of money) to allow overheads into the equation .
I'm still skeptical on any reel under $200 rrp but I'm sure there are those that have had good experiences .

Also interested in hearing reels to avoid . .... disaster stories

Should be an interesting thread

Chris

[bluefin59]

This mob have some budget priced options with warranty in Sydney https://fishingrus.com.au/product-category/reels/

[Volvo]

I guess it would mostly depend on what type of Fishing one does and how well they look after their reels.
I wouldnt have a Reel that cost over $400 period and i have a lot of reels with most of them being overhead / baitcast etc Reels.
In the time of Reel ownership being spin or overhead i have only thrown out no more than three maybe four reels at the most either due to lack of broken parts or corrosion.
Abu 900 two Speed would have to be one of my Favourites and can tellya that didnt cost over $400 either though maybe in todays $$ value who knows??.
Not to mention two Daiwa 300 Lexas HD & TW..
Have aprox seven overhead for offshore deepdropping that apart from a few scratches are still as good as the day thry were bought and they have hauled their fair share of Fish off the bottom especially in the days of Fish to be found .
Baitcasters ??? Would have to do a count how many with only two that i class as rubbish which ate Abu lookalikes/Chinese copies that look the goods but are not in the class of an Abu.
But!! We all live n learn.
Look after your gear and it will mostly look after you and use it for its capabillities not beyond.
I doubt i would spend the $$ some uppermarket reels are being priced at unless MAYBE i had money to burn ??, would have to play around with one on good Fish for a definite!!.
Spin Reels ??, same goes as my baitcasters with the only ones that lack respect though still going are four or five Ryobies i purchased for somewheres around $30 each on specials here in Aus .
Mainly bought them for Grandkids to cut their teeth on prior to accessing better gear.
But , they still get the same attention as all the rest .
Coupla Days ago i purchased a Daiwa 100H Baitcaster along with an overhead Laguna 661MFB all for $100 Kind Thanks to BCF .
8lb Braid on the100H for deepdropping for Whiting n Blue Salmon.
Christened them both day before yesterday make sure the purchase was worth the $100 n what can i say !! Passed with flying colours from where i stand.
Ask me if they will last the distance ?? , Who knows or cares though im sure for what i or the Kids/Grandkids use them they will .
Cheers ey .

[gunna]

For the bread and butter bream, flathead, whiting estuary fishing the cheaper reels are fine. I have Siennas that are 15 yrs old and still ok. Likewise with a number of $99 Pfluegers. I hooked a big Barra in the Boyne one time while chasing flathead on 8lb gear on a Sienna. Took about 20 minutes to land it and destroyed the drag. Horses for courses.

[shortthenlong]

x 2 on the Siennas. When I first decided I would have a go at lure casting for Bream around SEQ I bought a Sienna 1000 as my entry ticket. I have since upgraded but that little Sienna is still used by more daughter and has been dropped in gutters on Fraser etc etc and still comes back for more.

Matt

[NAGG]

For the bread and butter bream, flathead, whiting estuary fishing the cheaper reels are fine. I have Siennas that are 15 yrs old and still ok. Likewise with a number of $99 Pfluegers. I hooked a big Barra in the Boyne one time while chasing flathead on 8lb gear on a Sienna. Took about 20 minutes to land it and destroyed the drag. Horses for courses.

That's one of the things about fishing - sometimes you just don't know what you are going to hook ....... I've had sessions up at Hinchinbrook fishing for grunter & ended up playing out some quite decent threadys & barra . . Anytime you fish with a livie who knows . On another Hinchinbrook (houseboat) trip we were out near Garden Island ..... we hooked all manners of unstoppable on live garfish ..... from Spanish Mackerel to big sharks - We pretty well only had outfits for casting for barra & jacks . There were a couple of reels destroyed .

What I've found is that most of the cheaper reels are not designed to handle fast running fish under any kind of drag pressure - the use of a lot of plastics which cannot dissipate heat & will melt or at least distort .

Chris

[NAGG]

Oh & even expensive reels can fail . ...... baitcasters meant for large mouth bass often have to be rebuilt when they are used for barra & cod

One of my favorite baitcasters is the Daiwa Zillion HLC (Hyper Long Cast) Just a nice light baitcaster based on the Legendary zillion ........ except that super tuning comes at a price . Gears & shafts. Both of mine have been rebuilt & both need rebuilding again ...... the last one destroyed trying to stop a blue bastard at Weipa ..... those buggers go a ship load harder than any barra - That reel sounds like a coffee grinder

Chris

[Red October]

Having had a lot of reels over the last 40 years including Daiwa Saltiga, which i rate highly, i have been more than pleasantly surprised by my two Shimano Thunnus spinning reels. I have them in 8000 and 12000 sizes and use for most bottom bashing and float lining. Even use them for mackerel at times. They are silky smooth, have powerful drags and have lasted well. They are my go to reel 90% of the time and get a good workout as i fish 40-50 days per year.

[NAGG]

Having had a lot of reels over the last 40 years including Daiwa Saltiga, which i rate highly, i have been more than pleasantly surprised by my two Shimano Thunnus spinning reels. I have them in 8000 and 12000 sizes and use for most bottom bashing and float lining. Even use them for mackerel at times. They are silky smooth, have powerful drags and have lasted well. They are my go to reel 90% of the time and get a good workout as i fish 40-50 days per year.

Absolutely love my Thunnus'sssss ...... I have 4 of them 4000 , 2 x 6000 & 8000 . With the exception of my placcy outfit which uses a 4000HD certate all of my snapper gear is based on those Thunnus . They are well made & look amazing ....... on top of having a great baitrunner feature. Caught some cracker fish on them too - big kings , cobes , snapper , spanish , coral trout . floatlining & live baiting ..... is there anything better ?. My little 4000 still is going well ( I did break the rotor by accident) but it's still going well after close to 8 years . ......... Yep highly recommended

Chris

[chris69]

There's better baitcaster's under $400 than spinners under $400 that's for sure ,anything with cast gears just don't buy is wont last long ,and the best way to test cheaper reels i to throw slugs at mack tuna and longtial's and see how long it holds up for.

[Billy C]

Shimano stradics are great value reels for about $300. I’m also a big fan of the thunnus range. Have a 12000 and 8000. Was very disappointed in the Shimano bio master. The handle on a 10000 crapped out after one trip and a replacement cost me $120.

[Dignity]

As with Volvo, my limit is $400.
For a spinner under $400 the Penn Slammer IV is definitely worth it, the 5500 has 18kg drag is ipx6, I have no desire to be using it under water any way, and it is a real workhorse. I have the Slammer III 5500 and that medium sized reel has been hit hard by wahoo, spaniards etc and never missed a beat. I used to have bigger reels but found that their weight etc wasn't for me and I found the smaller reel size actually didn't have an affect on my usability. I don't go spinning for surface fish or hard jigging where the bigger ones would be better so they are fine for me.

My reel mechanic was very disappointed in the Stella's he's been servicing lately - all new ones, not impressed with the drags and some parts have gone plastic and overall build seems inferior, his humble opinion.

In the smaller reels I do like those Siennas, they have handled everything I've thrown at them and have yet to destroy or replace one. Cheap as chips when on special.

[stevej]

Shimano stradics are great value reels for about $300. I’m also a big fan of the thunnus range. Have a 12000 and 8000. Was very disappointed in the Shimano bio master. The handle on a 10000 crapped out after one trip and a replacement cost me $120.

agree with this i had a 4000 stradic with 30 pound braid that would have caught 100 dolphin fish up to 90cm
saragosas for 279 on special
saltists as well
even a chinese $99 spinfisher would be better then no name shit off alibaba

[tunaticer]

I have no complaints with any of my Stradics....i don't have any of the Ci4 models though....they are not as good.
Have two Revo Beasts and they are an honest reel for the dollars....good drags and handle the tough stuff.

[Billy C]

I have no complaints with any of my Stradics....i don't have any of the Ci4 models though....they are not as good.
Have two Revo Beasts and they are an honest reel for the dollars....good drags and handle the tough stuff.

The CI4 stradics feel plastic to me. I much rather the standard stradic and I honestly don’t notice the extra 60-80 odd grams they weigh