just picked up a gloomis float rod a couple days ago. it came with a shimano sadona 2500 which im not a huge fan of. blew the drags out of a couple very quickly.

if you were on a tight budget of $100 or less. what would be the best spinning reel?
ive owned sadonas, saharas, and symetry. also presidents and trions

...i kinda wanna stay away from the older model shimanos. i might look at the 09 sahara or symetry...which is about as much as i wanna spend.

i do not fish spinning setups to often, so i dont want to spend alot of money. as it will take me a good month to save up the $100 to get a new reel anyway.

thanks

I like the 3000 Sahara I picked up in the summer. No heavier than the 2500 models and better line capacity with more line pick up per revolution (good for setting the hook when float fishing).

The drag seems a bit more quality than the Sedona drag, too.

im leaning towards the sahara. just been going over all the new reels out. and for under $100 there is alot of good reels, all of which seem pretty even in performance. which makes it hard to decide

I would get the Shimano Saros!! It is around $120 but I think you can get them online for $100. It is a very smooth reel with a lot of the features of the high end Shimanos (sealed drag, more bearings, light). I have the Japanese twinpower reels and they are very hard to beat but comparing the saros with them, the saros is very similar and a third of the price!! Check them out.

my jetty reel is a sahara 4000. I didn't want to spend the money on a stradic for the salt water and a 1-2 month fishery where I am only getting 6-10 days per year out there, so I got the sahara and really like it! it fishes very similarly to the stradic and I would recommend it!

i am looking to get saros, very nice and worth the extra couple bucks

get a penn sargus 3000, smooth drag, saltwater resistant bearings... tho it only comes with one spool... mike shoot me a call there's some good ones on my favorite place to buy

Another vote for the Sargus... Tough as nails spinning reel that is reliable.

I'm personally a fan of the Pflueger President series... 6730 or 6740 are excellent choices, and well within your range.

cabelas prodigy...it's a diawa tierra sans "waterproof drag". they go on sale for around 70 bucks all the time.

I have both the Sahara, Sedona, and Symetre. They are all decent reels, the Sahara and Symetre are very nice and the new Sedonas are a lot better then the ones from a year or two ago.

I used to be hard core Shimano, but know not so sure. Don't like the big paddle handle on some models and Really don't like that some don't come with a spare spool. Even the new Stradic CI4 don't have one and thats a 200.00 spinner. BS

The stella does not come with a space spool either. The spool and its design is a lot of the cost of the reel so in the upper end models you don't get one. In the cheap ones you get the extra spool because its cheap! Another reason I vote for the Saros, it does have an extra spool, sealed too.

Shimano Spirex, double handle.....used both the front and rear drag for many years, fishing summer run........and they worked fine.

Just looked on EBAY......many of them with FREE SHIPPING, also many of them under $60.00.

Hey drifter101 i have those 2 spools from that pfluger president if you get another...

dont plan on getting another president. ive had way to many over the years and wanna try something different.

you might be able to sell them to dj...he has that size president lol.

I like the Symetre for just at $100. No extra spool. I own 2 and the drag is fine; the reel is nice for the price. A definite step up from the Sahara.

Haven't seen the Saros for that price (less than $129) but it is probably a bit better than the Symetre.

When I am serious about a reel I buy a Stradic, and it comes with the extra spoool.

I am not a Shimano expert but so far it seems that the quality parallels the price as far as I can tell. I have 7 of them: 2 Stradics, 2 Symetre, 1 Sedona, 1 MLZ 50 (don't bother Google-ing it), and 1 Curado 201.

Honestly, I think there are so many good reels and good brands that it is a good time to find a nice reel at a good price. I am just familiar with Shimano so keep going back. Very predictable.

I have a couple Symetre 2500, used for 3 seasons and they still work flawlessly. Used Pflueger President as well, nice reels also. I personally would buy Symetre's again from my own personal success with them.

+1 more for the Symetre. For the money they work.

I really believe the saros is in the same ball park as the stradic as far as feel and how it fishes. You might be able to find them on ebay for $100. All of the new shimanos even the cheaper ones are really nice now too, they have brought some of their upper end options down the line.