I was at Cabelas yesterday and the sales associate talked me out of buying this new reel. I have 5 of the older curado 301's and love them all. Does anyone use the new 201g6 or the like? Give me your reviews please!!

Just curious as to what he told you. I own many Curados but none of the G series.

The new Chronarch E's are more or less the old E series Curados. The Curado G series does not have such a good rep from what I hear.

I've not heard any concrete negatives about the actual performance of the Curado G's.

I feel like the negatives associated with the G series are in the comparison to the old series. Had the E series Curado's not been held in such high esteem, I bet that the G series would be taken as a good mid level baitcaster. The fact that the Chronarch is sitting there at 40 bucks more when it used to be the old 179.99 curado rubs people the wrong way.

Furthermore, there are many more companies competing at that price point who are getting good reviews like the Lew's, Abu and now the daiwa lexa.....

And the Chronarch E series has a few subtle upgrades from the older Curado E's. The price difference of them is negligible IMO, the Chronarch E can be had for as little as $188 new if you know where to look.

No one likes the G's because Shimano down graded the curado completely less quality parts, bearings, and they just don't feel like a reel at that price should. The 200e's are a beast.. Plus the G's are made in china where as the E's are manufactured in Japan. Big difference there

I have a G and like it just fine. Probably not as good as the E's that I have but not bad overall. A lot of people just go off of what they have heard not actual experience. The G's are actually manufactured in Maylasia I think.

Correct, the Cu200G's are assembled in Malaysia which is their factory with their quality controls. It's not like they outsourced it to another company. Also, if you're a fan of Abu Garcia Revo's or any of Pure Fishing's products then you can't really complain about the G's being assembled in Malaysia because almost all of Pure Fishing's products are made in China or Korea. It's just the world we live in now.

The G's are not a bad reel for freshwater. For saltwater there is an issue with the anodized aluminum drive shaft corroding. I have been in contact with Dan at Shimano and he said from my recommendations they will make a few changes in assembly that should fix that problem.

Nonetheless, the new G is not the same quality as the E. They did make a few design improvements to the G to prevent corrosion but that isn't an issues for you freshwater guys. The materials they used are the same, the bearings they use are the same, but the reel still feels bulky and a little cheap when held.

I've always been a huge Shimano fan, still am for the most part, and never really liked Abu's but for the past 8 or so months I've been recommending the Revos.

As for the comment about people being bitter that the Curado 200E being renamed as a Chronarch and priced $20 higher... yes I agree. I was and still am a little bitter about that but I'll get over it eventually. When Pure Fishing bought Abu Garcia they did the same thing with the Revo's. The design for the Revo's had been used in the BPS branded reels for years. When they came out with the Revo with the same design and a price tag that was $40-50 higher I was bitter and felt like they were taking advantage of the consumers lack of knowledge. It took me 4 years but I got over it.

I will still take an old Chronarch 100SF, Curado 200BSF, Curado 100DSV over any Revo but as for the new reels on the market... there are better ones for the money than the G series Curado.

Just my $.02