Well I'm thinkin' bout gettin' one. The $99 one at Academy. Anybody have any experience w/these? Should I spend $129 for the tournament mg? I've always had abus and Pluegers so I don't know.....

I been looking at em too. Had a couple of the older speed spools back years ago...loved em. But I now know that academy gives LIFETIME REPLACEMT on their H20 reels.. I returned one w a buddy the other day that was 3yo and looked like it had been down 10mi of bad road. No probe, just left w a new reel. U can't beat that....even if your name is Mr shimano

I love mine. Zero problems super smooth and user friendly. I'm slowly switching to all lews reels.

I switched to all Lew's reels. All but 4 are the $99 speed spool. The only issue I've had with them is they won't hold up to locked drag and braid. That said, send them back to Lew's when the gears strip and they'll replace and upgrade the gears, no questions asked. Rick Collins is the customer service rep and is a fantastic guy to work with.

Well I appreciate y'alls input. I got the tournament MG and I love it. It's very smooth and I love the clicking adjustments. Can cast a mile!

The 99$ ones are great and the best in that price range but I would go with the Tournament MG I dont buy any less than the MG now from there they just get better

I've had experience with most of the Lew's reels. The Speed Spool series is a little smoother than the MG series. As you go up in price in the models the smoother you get. Trust me it will be the best $99 you ever spent on a reel. You couldn't imagine how many guys this year have switched their entire arsenal over to Lew's and we hear nothing but good things about them.

The tournament MG is a speed spool series. It is very smooth for me but not as smooth as my supertuned citica e's.

From what I have seen after cleaning a few the Lews are much better made than the new Shimanos.

I admit, I've been interested in them just unsure to which model. I need a place to hold and compare them. Besides Academy, what retailer in DFW area carries them? Why are they not in BPS?

For anyone still interested:

The 2 Academy locations I went to only carried the 7.1:1 right hand retrieve.

Cabela's in Fort Worth has them in 7.1:1 and 6.4:1 and they had at least one Lefty, not sure about the one in Allen, but I would guess they carry, too. Also had Tournament MG.

Gander Mountain in Sherman carries a full line of Lew's as well, Speed Spool, MG, etc. I don't recall if they had anything above Tournament, but I think they had up to BB1's. They also have the worst customer service of any place I have been to in the fishing department. Only one person has a key to the reel case and it's never the guy working the counter, he will be over in Firearms or wherever...

No one has a better "deal". They are all $99 for Speed Spool, $129 for MG, etc. Only difference is who carries the gearing you want and is closest to you.

Hope this info helps!

Bass pro shops quit selling the lews brand back when they quit making the original bb1 back in 1999. I am not sure why they don't sell them but I worked at academy in 1999 in tomball and I was sending customers to bass pro in katy mills mall cuz they still had some when we sold out.

Not the chronarch e series. The lews reels have an awful lot of plastic in there.

So does the curado 200b and u should know how long they last.....

I take it you haven't opened up a speed spool...