Heys guys I just recently bought a gander mountain vortex rod, I was thinking about putting a Abu Garcia Cardinal on it. Do y'all have any other suggestions?

Cardinals are good reels. What brands of reels do you already own?

The reason I asked is at that price point there are a lot of options be it pflueger, shimano, daiwa or any other brand. It's a good place to get your feet wet and try other companies offerings and still recoop your investment if you aren't satisfied.

Cardinals come in different models, with each step up you get more refinements, I have about 7 or 8 of them.  My most used are my sorons which are the updated version of 800 series.  I've caught many fish on my cardinal 177 and 172, still perfect but I've upgraded them to sorons sxt.   My 40's have been great performers, in fairness my 20 has fallen out of favor with me.  I don't think the drag is up to the standards of the other reels in this series and I'd prefer bit more line capacity.  I've moved that reel from saltwater to freshwater, can't say I recommend it.

Hard to beat a Pfluegar President for the money. 

cardinals are a fine reel, mine has held up well. as for other reels in a similar price range, check out the pfleuger trions

Pfleuger, Shimano, Dawia, Lews, Okuma, Quantum,etc. Don't know what your price limit is but you can get some nice spinning reels for under $50. Even most cheaper reels can get the job done for awhile until you can afford a better reel.

I'd just save a few extra pennies and grab a Pflueger President