Do any of you guys own some of these and had good results?
Last week I was trying to get out of the heat on my lunch break and decided Academy was a good place to soak up some conditioned air. Bugged the guy behind the counter and played with a few bait casters.
I wish I remembered the model but it was an all black H2O reel 7:1 gear reel and it felt pretty nice. Around $100.
My last purchase was a Lews Mach Reel and so far it has been a good investment.

I have fished with the H2O Mettle reels for the past five of so years, but that is the only one I have used. They used to cost $50 and you could always find them on sale for $40. For $40-$50, they were a great reel. Now they are $60, a price I would not pay for one. They work as you would expect a cheap baitcast reel to work. They don't cast all that far, but they cast far enough. They are somewhat smooth when new, but as they age they get a bit clunky to retrieve and you can feel the gears struggling. At one time I believe I had six of them, but for the past two years I have been slowly replacing them with Lews reels (various models costing from $70-$100). While they both work, there is no comparison between the Lews reels and the Mettle; the Lews are superior in every way.

Another thing to think about is that if you get a name brand reel you can get it repaired by pretty much anyone who does reel repair, while if you get a store brand like a Mettle you may have an issue finding someone to work on it and finding replacement parts.

I have caught hundreds of bass using Mettle reels, which will work fine for about a year of semi-regular use before they start acting up. But knowing what I know now, I would not purchase them since you can spend a few dollars more and get a superior product.

Saw that one too.....something like a "40" or "forty".....had a carbon handle.

i have 3 or 4 of them last year right before christmas i found there year end close outs for 9.98$I bought 4 of them and give a couple of them to my grandsons to use and if they lose or destroy them I haven't lost to much.

I will amend my earlier comment. For $10 they are a steal and anyone who finds them for that price should jump all over them.

Have a couple of H20's, one Menace that is my main flippin rod. Worked great for 3 years now and 1 tournament season. The other is a Mettle, use it occasionally but not had any issues.
The big steal from Academy was when they had the Pinnical pls100/200 and pxs100's. I have 9 or 10 of those. Don't know honestly when I got the first one. But I have used them almost exclusively for 3 tournament seasons, a couple trips to Orange Beach (AL) for redfish and God knows how many fish I've caught. I've never had one mechanical issue. Even caught a 30lb flat head on a football jig.
Not all cheaper gear sucks. That being said, once these do start to deteriorate and tournaments have more at stake, I will probably go to Curados or equivalent.

I bought the TAC 40 just to see what it was all about. So far it has handled well. I own two Mettles and the TAC 40 is way smoother and casts better as well. Only time will tell how it holds up, but for my kind of fishing it is working well.

Lifetime warranty. Anything breaks bring it to the store and they'll replace it. Some academy's tend not to honor it though.

This has been my experience. One of my Mettles broke and I took it to two Academy stores, was told it was not in warranty any longer and finally just said screw it and bought a Lews to replace it. It wasn't worth spending $50 in gas driving around trying to find a store that would replace a $40 reel.