Im in the process of replacing my baitcasters and I have narrowed it down to the Abu Garcia Orra. Im going to purchase the "winch" model first with a 5.4:1 gear ratio and use this as my cranking reel. I considered buying cheaper reels but so far from the research ive done it would be worth the extra money to buy this reel instead. Has anyone used this reel?

Yes they are complete crap bought two wen academy had them on sale something in te gears broke after the first couple of trips swimming a jig on it. The other one gave out about a month later throwing rattle baits. Do your self a favor and get a curado g they are on sale most places for 99.99

Usually you get what you pay for in reels so I would suggest buying that or even putting a little bit more into it.

I have the Revo Winch. And although I would not say that it is complete garbage I would go as far as saying I cannot stand it. Dialing it in to cast deep crank-baits is like a science experiment every time I change baits. Also the spool is waaaaaaaayyyyy deeper than it needs to be.

 

Once it is dialed in it cast pretty well but my gosh.

 

I am a lefty baitcaster so I do not have a lot to choose from in low speed reels. Otherwise I would go with the Shimano G.

All of the winch version are too large.

do yourself a favor and get the regular version.

there is nothing wrong with the orra, the other guy should have sent his in for warranty. failures like that are not common. I have 5 abu reels and love them.

I have no experience with the orra, but the reviews on the abu garcia site itself are not very good. Seems to be some issues with them in every thread I see about them.

I'd get a bps pro qualifier or curado. Can find curado for 99 right now and can get the pro qualifier for 75$ right now. 70$ if you trade old reel in at bass pro.

I'd have a hard time passing up pro qualifier myself.

Like others said your probably better off getting the curado for $99, or the pro qualifier for $65 or spend an extra $15 and get the Johnny Morris for $115 on the reel trade in. A buddy of mine has the orra and he dosnt like it. He actually prefers his silver max 2 over it.

All of the winch version are too large.

do yourself a favor and get the regular version.

there is nothing wrong with the orra, the other guy should have sent his in for warranty. failures like that are not common. I have 5 abu reels and love them.

Dicks was selling off there remaining stock of orras at the classic almost everyone they had was missing the tension adjustment knob from the factory. Some quality control huh?