Penn spinners....
 

So I’ve always used penn reels. I’ve always loved penn reels. I have a bunch of old USA conventionals that operate as intended. I took an old senator apart, cleaned, relubed and put a power handle on. It can pull your house off it’s foundation! I have a few penn spinners as well. A couple old USA and some newer Chinese. THESE REELS ARE SH!T!!!! I just returned a conflict II for warranty. It hasn’t been used 5 months. Some of the others are acting up and I’ll be dammed if I’m gonna dump $50-$75 bucks into a Chinese piece of crap.
What are you guys using? I have a spinfisher ss V 7500 that’s never seen water. It seems like a beast, but who knows if it’s gonna crap out on me after a year or two. I’m not looking to spend 3,4 or 5 beans on a reel.
Shimano? Daiwa? What?

Penn spinning reels have been my go-to bottom fishing rigs ever since I got into bottom fishing. I started with (and still use) a Penn Slammer 560. I pulled a ~100 lb tiger shark straight up off the bottom in 100ft of water with it on 80lb braid! Later I bought two Spinfisher V matched with Ugly Stick Tiger Lite 6' jigging rods. I'm pretty sure they could pull a VW Bug off the bottom and never had any issues with them.

Yeah, those spinfisher Vs, and now the VIs seem like well built reels. I bought the 7500 new like 3 years back, so while it’s still brand new in the box, the warranty is long gone. I’m gonna be pretty pissed if it turns to sh!t like the rest of the Chinese crap. Meanwhile, I’ll be down south next July and I’ll be abusing my old USA senator like it robbed my house. Can’t stop that dam reel!!

they are all made in china or the Philippines. read Florida fishing Reels( buddy of mine has them as a sponsor) statement about how they tried to make their product somewhere else, its a bit enlighten. I think ABU Garcia is one of the few that isn't. i have a few of the old ssg 4300 Penns that were great, except i cant get any parts for them( I need a drag knob). I have a nice Finn Nor that is missing a couple parts, its not that old, but the factory was destroyed by that tsunami a few years back in Malaysia , so no parts for it. I fish Penn Battle 2s mostly, they seem OK, haven't had any issue out of them, but now they have the battle 3, so I might not have any parts for them before long. I have a couple older Shimanos that are ok, I work on the Shimano Factory offshore boat(Shimano N America is headquartered in Ladson SC now) and have been trying to get a couple Stradics for some handmade trout rods I have with no luck, they aren't getting any inventory right now. I'm not spending $250-$300 for a trout reel. I've got 4 brand new Diawa BG series reels that are the smoothest thing I've ever handled, just haven't had a chance to get them wet yet(had them for 2 years now). I see Diawa has changed up their reels from when mine were made, they don't seem as smooth. I dont have an answer other than they are all overpriced and under built. BTW, anyone have any old Penn 2/0's, I'm looking for some Spanish reels

Spare, if u have a part number for the 4300 drag knob, i can check a local reel shop. They have a lot of out of stock penn stuff.

052714

Shimano,get shimano ,I never had any issues with them , penn used to be the reel but that's when they were made in the USA and they are very heavy reels to me, I also have Abu Garcia bait reels made in Sweden and are very good reels too.

Hey Spare. is that the drag knob that has the quick release button ?

the 4300SS

Step, shimano is probably the way to go, and if I had your money.... I’d use mine for toilet paper. Too rich for my blood.

nope, just spins on, tri style