Hey guys I'm looking for an inexpensive spinning reel and found a few that looked good at Walmart I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the significants of the number of bearing they have . I saw a realy expensive Pfluger and it had fewer bearings that a much less expensive walmart no name. any advice would be appreiated.

Don't worry about the number of ball bearings. Get a reel that has the line capacity and drag you need, and match it to a good rod. I've fished with a $30 Shimano Syncopate and a $600 Shimano Stella, and the fish couldn't tell the difference.

If you want a reel that says it has a bunch of bearings you could look in to the Lew's Speed Spin SGH model. Walmart has them with one spool for about 40. Then on ebay you can get the 2 spool model for 40 (regular price is 60) It says 10 bearings and they're pretty nice. I have braid on one spool and fluoro on the other.

My work horse reels for the last 15+ years have been the Shimano Fx reels (I think they're IX now) Those things are bulletproof. Some of them are 10 years old and all I've done for cleaning them is dip them in water when they start making noise. I don't even think they have bearings. I've probably caught most of my fish and some of my largest on those reels.

I learned from a seasoned fisherman that bearing count helps determine how good a reel is, obviously, the more the better!
I learned from a seasoned fisherman that bearing count helps determine how good a reel isn't, the numbers are deceiving.

Good grief...I still opt for the higher count, right or wrong. It's like getting it in your head that the only way to fish is from a boat. Once you think it, bank fishing blows.

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Bearings in a spinning reel are not that important I still have a couple Mitchell 300s and an Arex they work just as good as one with a bunch of bearings. Granted they sound like a coffee grinder when line is retrieved but if I wanted to use them they would function as good as a $500 reel.