I'm a firm believer in buying good stuff and having it for a lifetime. I've got a Penn International 965. I love it. It was my first levelwind reel, it took me a while to figure out how to cast it, not sure if it was me, or trying to get the internal anti-backlash weights figured out, but it took a while. No problems now, though.

I've used it in the salt, too, trolling, its drag handles big fish just fine.

The only complaints I could ever have with that reel is first, its weight... it's a little on the heavy side, and second, that it's bright gold... maybe I'm just paranoid, but I wish it was a subdued color, no need to spook fish with a bright gold thing reflecting the sun.

I've asked here a couple of times what other people think of the 965, but it seems like not many have ever used one. I'd like to get another reel, but I'm not sure I want to spend the $175 that a 965 costs.

I recently used a Calcutta (don't remember which model, it was gold colored) while on a guided river trip. I didn't like how narrow the spool on the Calcutta was, it took a little while to get used to how much more force it took to cast that reel. Other than that, it seemed fine.

-N.