After all these years, I am seeing the knock-offs on my old Wynona reels from the early days. I still have 3-4 of them in the cabinet. One is stainless steel with a friction brake. One even has a piece of really thick leather that you used to thumb the spool. I still love to use them for mooching. I think one of these would make a great training reel before someone made the plunge for big bucks. You can get them for cheap on ebay or one of the tackle collectors sites. Mine are very smooth and about as fool proof a reel as you can get. I will see if I can post some pictures if anyone has an interest.