At one point I had around ten, just a couple of them now. They are great reels, I had about a dozen E series before the I series. Some people don't like the reel due to the noise, but don't want/know to maintain the reel. Oil the brake drum and add handle bearings. These are a little more difficult to get dialed in than the E series, but once they are, they perform flawlessly.

As lip jerk stated upraged the bushings in the handle knobs to bearings and also the bushing on the worm gear to a bearing and they get a little smoother. I was not aware of the brake drum issue. I've serviced a few but have not personally used one. Seem to be well built reels for the most part though.

Oil the brake drum every third or fourth trip, upgrade bearings,,,,and that is a great reel? No thanks, no more for me. My Lews reels perform better out of the box with no upgrades and nothing else done to them.

I will keep the I series reels I have but I would not get another one.

I have 3 Curado I reels and one Scorpion Japanese version of the same reel. One of the Curados has to be oiled much more frequently than the other two, not sure why. There seems to be fairly common issues with the pinion gear and bearing from reel repair experts-but I am not personally aware of this from fellow fisherman-so take that with a grain of salt. May not be as trouble free as older models-time will tell.

Bottom line-good value for the money so far.

A drop or two of some oil will fix that. It's usually the bearing. They squeak cuz they aren't packed tight with grease like company's people do, you get better performance in a bearing when it's oiled and not greased. Regular maintenance is a good thing to do on your reels.