bargain $500 spinning reels possible ??

[spears]

With so much talk about these stella’s and saltiga’s spinning reels upto $1000 price range.

I was wondering What can be bought for less $$$ that can give you a good run for your money.

We know that with these top dollar reels have some quality gear in side of them but surely we should be able to buy some thing out there at around half price.

Dragging $500 out of your pocket for a fishing reel can be a weeks wages for some people so making a decision on what to buy and last would be my concern..

[TonyM]

Around the $500 mark I think it's pretty hard to go past the Certate. Same gears as the Saltiga, strong smooth drag, and a pleasure to use.

[bayfisher]

How about the Diawa Catalina or Ryobi Metaroyal.

[BR65]

certate for sure

[reggy]

I have been a lover of overhead reels for a long time. Probably because the spin reels I have are older models and I do realise the advances in newer models are
amazing.
Hindsite is a very convenient thing , and I can say that if I could only have one or two reels to do everything, they would probably be a couple of $500.00 spin reels. Their versatility cannot be ignored.
But fortunately, I have been able to collect a few overheads, and would never give them up now., especially for those high sided boats.

Reggy

[spears]

Are the diawa's and shimano's the only choice.
Can we broaden our choice to other brands ??

Or the other price range would to get lower in price maybe even $300-$400

The best place to find this out would be here where people have tried doing this,so we will see what the out come is in this exercise.
Or is it just wish full thinking.

[Archer]

Diawa Luvias bit less than the certate and possibly almost as good??
Hope so anyway just waiting on a 2500 to arrive...

[Leighton]

A lot of the price depends on what size reel you are chasing. Purpose, line capacity you want etc.

[spears]

A lot of the price depends on what size reel you are chasing. Purpose, line capacity you want etc.

Line strength around 20 Lb..

[bayfisher]

There are plenty of good reels way under $500 if you only plan to only use 20lb string. I'm running 20lb on a little 3000 Diawa SOL and it has never missed a beat. Saltigas Stellas etc etc would no doubt be good If your looking to at running 12kg+ drag on 50lb to 80lb braid but for light stuff your choice for good quality well priced gear is endless.

Cheers Chris

[Tetsuo]

A certate 2500 would be a great place to start, the advantage being, you can customise most of the parts in the future to suit your needs. As archer said though the daiwa luvias is a great reel for the price. It is also customizable and is made out of a new light weight salt resistant alloy. It also uses newer tech then the certate and the weight is close to the exist ($929 bream reel) it does have fewer bearings though.

[NAGG]

The Certates would have to be the best $500 ish reel on the market ..... & the match of any reel produced by Shimano (IMHO). They are a very rugged reel with an awesome smooth yet powerful drag ..... virtually bullet proof
I certainly rate my Certates above my Stella

As for a Luvias being close to the Certate I think not ( nice mid priced finesse reel though)

Nagg

[GPB]

Missing the 'Topic' completely guys, talking about Diawa Exsist=$900+, Sol 3000, Certate 2500, 20lb line, 'hey; a Stella 2500 is -$700 and is not the $1000 Stella 20000 [actually $850-950] and Saltiga 6500 this topic was about, reels that fish 80, 100, 130lb line using 12-16kg of drag for chasing GT's, Ambo's, Kingies, Sampson and Billfish.
Spears , you changed the goalposts in posts 6 and 9, you either have a topic about top medium reels like Sol, Certate and Twinpower etc or try and find that elusive $500 reel to match the big guns, good luck if you can .

Horses for courses and priced accordingly

[bayfisher]

Missing the 'Topic' completely guys, talking about Diawa Exsist=$900+, Sol 3000, Certate 2500, 20lb line, 'hey; a Stella 2500 is -$700 and is not the $1000 Stella 20000 [actually $850-950] and Saltiga 6500 this topic was about, reels that fish 80, 100, 130lb line using 12-16kg of drag for chasing GT's, Ambo's, Kingies, Sampson and Billfish.
Spears , you changed the goalposts in posts 6 and 9, you either have a topic about top medium reels like Sol, Certate and Twinpower etc or try and find that elusive $500 reel to match the big guns, good luck if you can .

Horses for courses and priced accordingly

Th only 3 spinning reels around the $500 mark made for this sort of stuff that i can think of are the ryobi metaroyal, daiwa catalina and Shimano Saragosa. There are cheaper options again like spheros or the penn 9500.

Now if you want to look at overheads your options start to opening up.

Cheers Chris

[Roo]

The Certates would have to be the best $500 ish reel on the market ..... & the match of any reel produced by Shimano (IMHO). They are a very rugged reel with an awesome smooth yet powerful drag ..... virtually bullet proof
I certainly rate my Certates above my Stella

As for a Luvias being close to the Certate I think not ( nice mid priced finesse reel though)

Nagg

Luvius has a couple less bearings with a lighter & stiffer carbon fibre resin composite material for the body. the same spools, gears, handles...... If i ever need to replace my certate, i'll look to the luvius first myself as you get practically the same engineering for a lot less. I would say very close to the certate but with a mid price reel ticket.