Looking at picking one up for 50$ anybody using these? 

They suck.  Please send me the info.  I'll spare you the heartache.

I owned a couple of the first ones and didn't care for them. They look really slick but that's where my likes end. Handles had a lot of play in them and the drag was blah at best. 

13 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

They suck.  Please send me the info.  I'll spare you the heartache.

Gotcha. Thanks for the info. I'll give it a pass ???

Seriously, the answer to your thread title, is 'Yes. Smoke is a decent reel.'

 

However, your question alone means little.  Spinning or casting?  Model?  Age?  New or used?  Condition?

 

I have four Smoke casting reels.  Love them.  But, I have never paid MSRP for one.  I have one Smoke spinning reel.  Bought it used.  Bail won't close with handle...however, I manually flip the bails (most of the time) and everything else about the reel is incredible.  $50 for a brand new Smoke 200 RH casting reel would sound like a great deal...unless you fish LH....$50 for a broken 6 year old Smoke reel that has never been maintained might not be such a great deal.

I'll try to post some pictures.  It looks to be in good shape. And I never close the bail with the handle. Always manually.  Thanks for the reply and information.  

Says he has a 2500 and 3000 

I’d buy every Smoke reel I could get for $50. For me, they are far above decent. These days, they are the only spinning reels I buy. I use them hard and they’ve never given me one minute of trouble. If it’s in good shape, buy it. If you don’t like it, I’ll give you $75 for it.