Has anyone had experience with Browning baitcasters?  I'm thinking about getting the Superlite model in the low gear ratio model for finesse cranking.  Or possibly the new Carbonlite if I can get over the new white color.  $85 during Spring sale.

My clubs president loves hers, I believe it was a Medallion. I've seen good and bad reviews on them though, but its entirely possible it was operator error on the bad ones.

I use several Browning reels myself. I inherited one from my father that I spent a lot of money on to restore and love it. I also have purchased some newer Browning Midas reels that are super smooth, cast and retrieve as well as any other.

 

Bass Pro now owns Browning and when you get inside these reels what you will find is that Bass Pro and Browning are made in the same factory in Korea and share much of the same tooling and you will find a lot of the parts are interchangeable and Bass Pro does support the Browning reels, even those made before Bass Pro purchased Browning in 2005.

 

I actually purchased the very last drive gear and one of the very last 4 pinion gears they had in stock from when Bass Pro bought out Browning and it was amazing they actually had the gears in stock that I was able to use to repair my father's old 1990's Browning reel with- that came out of another Browning reel.

 

A lot of people tend to overlook the Browning reels, but they are a good value for the price. I buy mine used on ebay and I actually prefer to buy them broken listed as parts reels because I can fix them and I do very well doing it this way.

 

The last two Browning reels I purchased on ebay for under $40.00 and one was only $25.00, each came with 4 ball bearings in the handle, ball bearing on the line guide, ball bearing on the drive shaft, three on the spool, heck they have more ball bearings than some of my Shimano curado's. I think the bearing count for these Browning reels is 10 ball bearings in one reel.

 

The Midas reels have two braking systems, both magnetic brakes and centrifugal. I just bought replacement brake shoes and they were like $1.05 for a pack of six! Cheap! Same thing with the Bass Pro reels. Cheap parts. And the reels are 7.1:1 speed and really smooth to use and have drilled out lightweight wiffle type of spools. Super low profile and fit in the hand and palm well.

 

Bottom line, Browning is a decent reel for a very good price.

 

One thing I would be concerned about though, is that when you push down on the cast release button, it has a piece of plastic that trips the clutch. If I lived in sub-freezing parts of the country I'd be concerned about breaking cold plastic pieces, but you could have this problem with any reel made these days. Here in Florida I don't have to worry about this, but as I overhauled and rebuilt the reels that was really the only thing I did not like about them. My curado and chronarch reels have a metal bar that trips the clutch. But other than that, I'd recommend the Browning and Bass Pro reels- the better ones.

Thanks for the info.  I do have a few BPS reels and have become an expert fixing any issues.  You are correct, parts a dirt cheap and abundant on these reels.  The Superlite & the BPS Carbonlite are about the same reel besides the duralumin gear drive & shaft.