I was farting around looking at reels on eBay awhile back and happened to come across this listing:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271816397040?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=570651627642
Yeah, it's made in China but just about every major manufacturer makes their reels there anyway. But I was curious and figured $11.27 for the DK1000 model with free shipping wasn't too much to blow if it was a lemon. It has 11 bearings and it couldn't be worse than the low end reels they sell for around the same price here in North America (which are usually complete crap thanks to low-end materials). So I bought one.
It came today, so I took it apart to check out the construction and was pleasantly surprised. The spool is aluminum, the worm gear is brass, and the shaft and gears are metal (probably steel). While I haven't had a chance to test it out on a fish yet, the drag seems smooth. It doesn't have infinite anti-reverse (the rotor will slip back a couple of degrees if you reel backward with the anti-reverse engaged) and it's not quite as smooth as my more expensive reels.
But all things considered, it was a great buy for the price. If you're buying reels for a bunch of rods for spider rigging and you want a decent reel for a low price, you could definitely do a whole lot worse.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271816397040?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=570651627642
Yeah, it's made in China but just about every major manufacturer makes their reels there anyway. But I was curious and figured $11.27 for the DK1000 model with free shipping wasn't too much to blow if it was a lemon. It has 11 bearings and it couldn't be worse than the low end reels they sell for around the same price here in North America (which are usually complete crap thanks to low-end materials). So I bought one.
It came today, so I took it apart to check out the construction and was pleasantly surprised. The spool is aluminum, the worm gear is brass, and the shaft and gears are metal (probably steel). While I haven't had a chance to test it out on a fish yet, the drag seems smooth. It doesn't have infinite anti-reverse (the rotor will slip back a couple of degrees if you reel backward with the anti-reverse engaged) and it's not quite as smooth as my more expensive reels.
But all things considered, it was a great buy for the price. If you're buying reels for a bunch of rods for spider rigging and you want a decent reel for a low price, you could definitely do a whole lot worse.