Reality Check

[MuskieBait]

It depends...

A 1980 car can get you from point A to point B...but the same car also requires more time in the repair shop. It requires an emission test every 2 years. It has much poorer gas mileage.

A new car requires less care and much better gas mileage. There may be new safety features like ABS and passenger air bags. There may be luxury items like heated seats and digital device plug-in.

If you are capable to upgrade, would you?

Is it necessary? Maybe, it depends on what is important to you.

No one is saying you should go out and get the latest Ferrari (Shimano Stella)...but if you have a 1980 Ford that is breaking apart, or a little Civic that is incapable of doing some 4x4...then maybe it is time to get the right vehicle for your needs.

It's still getting from point A to point B...but some roads depend more car than others. A Civic is not fit for 4x4...even if you try it, it may last one trip and the car is done.

May I refer to this disaster that luckily was detected and avoided early.

http://ontarioshorefishing.com/forum/Thr...17#pid4617

If you are me and partake on saltwater fishing here and there...maybe once or twice a year...and you are looking at a $130 Cardiff (at the time) or a $170 Saltist, which one is the better choice? Is the $40 "savings" a short-sighted decision? To be absolutely honest, at the time I purchased the Cardiff, I had also had the Saltist at the top of my list...but I thought I would save some money, plus select a lighter reel, and chose the Cardiff. At the end, I ended up spending more than I would had I chose the Saltist from the get-go. I end up having to make two separate purchases!

I regularly (once or twice a year) fish saltwater. Saltwater intrusion and sand is a big issue for me. The better the components, the less repair I need to make, and the less potential failure there is.

I weight the pros and cons this way. I spend a few hundred dollars (or more) to get fishing somewhere exotic (Florida, California, Hawaii...etc). It's an opportunity that may not come often (or ever again). Now I'm fishing and a piece of my gear failed (rod snapped, reel broke down, line was old and snap easy...) because I was 1) too thrifty to pay the little extra for better gear 2) too lazy to put on new line 3) too lazy to care for my gear. And voila...there is an opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime (tarpon right under the beach, shark on the chew, bluefish busting everywhere)...and I have no gear to use because I was too cheap or lazy and my gear broke on my trip.

Sure, I can go and get new gear for replacement...but on a trip, time is limited...time is golden...time is opportunity...and time is also money. So getting new gear means losing half a day or a day of fishing and it means missing opportunities. So I spent so much money to get there for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...but I decide to cheap out a few tens of dollar difference and put myself out of the game...because I chose a $130 reel that is not saltwater capable vs. spending the extra $40 for a saltwater capable reel...$500-$1000 spent on a trip...missing an opportunity because of a $40 savings...The cost-benefit economics just does not work out...

If I get good gear to start, then it will last me years of service. No time lost, no need to replace the gear for the next 10-20 years.

OT, funny you brought this up. How much were your Squidders when you bought them at the time? How do their prices compare to reels today adjusting for inflation? A lot of older guys say they fish with these older gear that were dirt cheap and they are just as dependable...but they forget that 20 years ago, $30 buys a lot...gas was $0.49 when I moved to Canada 20 years ago. They also didn't mention that at the time, these Squidders, Jigmasters and Spinfisher are some of the top gear of the time. Yeah, these gear are not are advance when compared to modern reels...but at the time of purchase, they were top gear.

A Penn 6/0 (Penn Special Senator 114H2) is not cheap either...they are selling for $170 now. I wouldn't call that exactly "cheap". It is on the mid-low end for a conventional 6/0 though. It is dependable...it is no-frills...but it is not exuberant...yet not cheap.

A $170 Shimano Baitrunner or Penn Spinfisher V is really on the low end of saltwater spinning gear...they get the job done and are dependable...but certainly not considered expensive for their performance or their durability. Buy once, last 20 years.

Just my $0.02.

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I'll tell you what's overpriced...

The same old model of reel that comes with a "new" upgrade when they add one more bearings to the reel...and a new "material" when they shaved 0.2oz of weight off the rod or reel...

They sucker people into getting new gear when the new models are marginally slightly better in things that does not matter that much.

Now...a spinning reel with a water tight gasket for the gear box (main body)? Tell me how many spinning reel has any kind of waterproof construction?