I am a little confused about reels, both spinning and baitcasting.  As I was looking through the BPS catalog I noticed that the higher priced reels had more ball bearings.  Does this mean that the more bearings, the better the reel? Thanks.

More bearings = better ----> NO

More bearings = smoother operation ----> yes

More bearings = more expensive ----> yes, you are paying for those extra bearings.

Why more bearings does not equal better ? beacuse it depends on the quality of the bearings, 1 good bearing supporting the spool is better than 10 lousy bearings all over the reel.

The two most important bearings in any  baitcating reel are the ones supporting the spool, when you see a reel with 10 bearings better start counting down how many ones are in the reel and how many are in the handle. In a reel with 10 bearings 4 are supporting the KNOBS and 1 is supporting the handle so the remaining 5 are in the reel & spool mechanism.

Does this mean that the more bearings, the better the reel?  

The Shimano fans will say no.

 Does this mean that the more bearings, the better the reel?  

The Shimano fans will say no.

NO... and everything Raul said, bearings are often times used to disguise a bad reel like it has 10 bearings but bad components, such as gears etc. And definetely the higher quality bearing used the better the reel, quality is alot better than quantity.

Bearings can hide things

The number of bearings means nothing. The quality of the bearings means everything.  More bearings doesnt = smoother reel, quality gears and quality bearings do.  Companies put 10 bearings in a $59.99 reel to fool dumb fisherman into thinking they are getting a great reel for the money, while you'd be better off with a couple good Japanese bearings. Diawa uses a combination of high quality bearings and lesser quality bearings to get their count up, which seems like a good compromise.

Ardent is the only reel manufacturer ( that I am aware of ) that tells in their advertising what type of bearings they use. They are ABEC 5 bearings and probably explains the additional casting distance........................Al

 Does this mean that the more bearings, the better the reel?  

The Shimano fans will say no.

So why the Calais and Calcuta TE have more than 10 each ?

For a smoother operation and that 's it.

Let me give you an example, the old Citica had only 1 bearing ( if I remember correctly ), that bearing was supporting the spool, the next model was the old Curado with 4 bearings + 1 roller bearing, two of those bearings support the spool, casts better ( 1 more bearing for the spool ) and it 's a smoother retrieve than the Citica; gears are of the same quality in both reels.

Now to those bearings add let 's say bearings to the knobs, the reel will feel smoother ( less friction while the knob rotates ), now add a bearing to the handle support and so on, the more bearings you add the reel will gain smoother operation.

But many manufacturers build a reel with cheap components and add bearings to sell you the idea that you are purchasing a quality product because it "feels" nice. Like in everything, there are grades of quality in components, you can get cheap brass gears with cheap bearings, for a while it will feel fine but when submited to wear and tear they will break down.

What do you want, questionable durability for a small ammount of money or long lasting durability for more money ?

the worst reel i have ever felt had 10 bearing in it. i think it was some eagle claw reel or something but it felt like you were grinding coffee or something and people ate it up. they would look at the price and buy three at a time.

Shimano advertises the Stradic as having 4 bearings, so I would say more is not always better.  8-)

The type of bearing is important, but the number of bearings have very little if any bearing on what reel I would buy.

Quality and placement is more important than bearing count.  Raul has given you a good detailed explanation. 

 

I'll take a Shimano low bearing count reel every day over the cheap reels with 1000 bearings.

47 minutes ago, jimf said:

The type of bearing is important, but the number of bearings have very little if any bearing on what reel I would buy.

Wow, you brought back a post from 10 years ago.... OP hasn't even been active on the site for 6 years....

I hope he is ok.

8 minutes ago, NYBasser said:

Wow, you brought back a post from 10 years ago.... OP hasn't even been active on the site for 6 years....

I feel silly.  I didn't realize the OP was from 2007.  I helped the thread along after. 

@jimf in the upper right, beige banner is a "Sort By" drop down.  Be sure "Recently updated" is checked.  Sounds like you have them sorted oldest first.

Sorry.  Time flies I guess.  

LMAO, all good, sir!