Lmao I'm prob more of a die hard Shimano fan than LMG.

There's like 5 reels I feel I must own. Kinda broke now with christmas here but next year definitely want to experiment.

Zillion

Revo Premier

Core

Ghost

Lews Super speed or speed spool whatever.

I don't alienate brands unless I've had utterly horendous experiences with them. Such as GM, Best Buy, Microsoft lol etc lol lol

I have Shimanos, Lews, Abu, Bass Pro, and Pfluegar. All of my reels are the mid-range, workhorse reels (Curado, speed spool, Revo S, Pro Qualifier, and Supreme). In my experience if you buy a quality reel and you take good care of it and get it serviced regularly they all work fine.

Thats wierd, a Patriarch and Revo are a very similar reel, almost identical i believe. Im no expert, but from my understanding everything is the same except for finish.

You're right, same basic reels. But it depends on the model. He could be comparing a Revo S, for example, to the Patriarch. The Patriarch is equivalent to the STX. Or was, at least. Not sure if the Pflueger's got the same Gen3 updates as their kissing cousins did.

Here we go again. Can't we all just get along ?

Abus similiar reels have twice as many bearings and bells and whistles. Would be interesting to see how they compete. Also guys who do shootouts usually go way more in detail then the average angler.

The Abus add four bearings in the knobs, a third spool bearing and a pinion stabilizing bearing. These have no net effect on casting distance, and are a simple means to add smoothness, but they add weight. Shimano takes a slightly different route by placing just what bearings are needed and save weight, but add frame material to maintain alignment. The net effect is the same - Ford vs. Chevy.

Each of the big 4 (Daiwa/Shimano/ABU/Quantum) have positive design features of their own. At the end of the day only you can decide what you like best.

You may also want to look into Pinnacle's tournament class reels. I've heard very good reviews about them, especially the optimus XLT.

I have one of their lower end baitcasters (matrix) and don't have anything bad to say about it. It's smooth casting and I don't have any problems with lighter baits but it doesn't have the power of my Abu C3 4600.

Just some food for thought...

I have a Pinnacle combination and love it!

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing_lures/pinnacle-optimus-xlt-dhc-review.html