I'm interested to know what reels you guys think are the best AND are easy on the wallet. I know "you get what you pay for" still stands but there are some great reels out there; spinning and bait casting. Soooo! If you walked into a place and needed to get the best spinning or bait casting reel which one's would you pick up? My current looks are:

Shimano Curado, Daiwa Procaster, Shimano SAR Series

Watch the TTF Classifieds and buy a pre-owned Chronarch

Curados 4 casting & Sedonas 4 spinning

Curados and Shimano Citica

Citica

+1

The best value is the H2O Mettle. $49.99 and they are good reels. Not as good as others mentioned above, but they are good.

the new ardent c400 is a very solid reel with a lower profile from Ardent.

Pfluger reels have been good to me and they have several to choose from to fit your budget.

I agree the run them on sale for $25 once or twice a year. Most of the mettle are shipped dry and need service.

I greased a pinical and a mettle back to back, they are made in the same plant after looking at the parts.

you can't beat the h2os for the price

definatly the pro qualifier,carbon light-bass pro shops.

if u have never used these go demo one

I've been fishing pretty hard most of my life. I have tried all of them, and there are some really good reels at a bargain, however it can come down to how you like that particular reel, functionality being equal. I happen to like the smoothness of the Curado/Chronarch reels for baitcasters and the Stradics for spinning. I have other brands besides Shimano like Penn, Abu Garcia, one Pfluger low gear ratio for cranking, a Fin Nor and a few others. The large majority of my gear however is Shimano. I trust the brand, I know how to rebuild them and I love how they feel. They can be a bit pricey and I am not above fishing with any of the other reels, but that's my preference.

Citica or Mettle for casting. Pflueger Trions, Presidents, and Supremes for spinning.

Whe normally has the best deals on the H2O Mettle?

Thanks