Agree or disagree?

I was cleaning my 103SH earlier today, and it's such a great reel to work on. Super easy, barely any parts, and everything is made out of metal. Reel looks awesome (not outdated at all for being TWENTY GOD DAYUM YEARS OLD), supports THE spool platform, and palms great. What else do you need?

Top 5 best reels made to date in my opinion.

Tried two of them. One of the few reels I had to return. Both were rough, like the gears were grinding. I returned the first one to BPS in Louisville. It never even made it to the water. BPS either worked on it there or sent it back to Daiwa but it was still bad after repair so they exchanged it for another one. The replacement developed the same thing but it also had inconsistent casting. I returned it, went to a local shop and bought a Shimano Core. It unfortunately fell off the back of the boat a few years ago but I got lucky and found another one on ebay. Still fishing it today. My all time favorite reel.

I will say all of the other Steez reels I have owned except one have been pretty good. I have had to put more parts in them than any other reels though but I fish them hard. So not really upset or discouraged.

I will also add that years later I worked on a few Steez reels and at that time I was pretty green at the whole thing and I remember them being the most difficult reels to work on. To put in car terms for that era....

The Steez was a Ferrari, a Curado was a Chevy Nova, and the flagship Shimano Calais was a Rolls-Royce. The Curado was the easiest to work on.

1 hour ago, FishTank said:

Tried two of them. One of the few reels I had to return. Both were rough, like the gears were grinding. I returned the first one to BPS in Louisville. It never even made it to the water. BPS either worked on it there or sent it back to Daiwa but it was still bad after repair so they exchanged it for another one. The replacement developed the same thing but it also had inconsistent casting. I returned it, went to a local shop and bought a Shimano Core. It unfortunately fell off the back of the boat a few years ago but I got lucky and found another one on ebay. Still fishing it today. My all time favorite reel.

I will say all of the other Steez reels I have owned except one have been pretty good. I have had to put more parts in them than any other reels though but I fish them hard. So not really upset or discouraged.

That's crazy, i've never even heard anybody else stating that a Steez is rough. I've had over half a dozen of the og steez reels, and none of them were like that. If purchased in used condition, then it sure can have some wear on the gears, and sometimes the bearings, but that is to be expected with used stuff.

How were the og steez hard to work on? There's barely any parts inside, just like the og alphas, pixy, tdz, etc.

12 minutes ago, Micro Module Police said:

That's crazy, i've never even heard anybody else stating that a Steez is rough. I've had over half a dozen of the og steez reels, and none of them were like that. If purchased in used condition, then it sure can have some wear on the gears, and sometimes the bearings, but that is to be expected with used stuff.

How were the og steez hard to work on? There's barely any parts inside, just like the og alphas, pixy, tdz, etc.

I know several people that have owned the OG Steez and none of them have them any more but the OG Zillion is a different story. That platform seemed to be a winner. Also, I still see several Curado B's and BSF's reels that still operate like new. My fishing buddy has 6 of the B's. I gave him a new Curado K after a tournament win and he hates it. So to each their own.

As far as working on the OG Steez, it was just probably my inexperience at the time. The new ones are far worse to work on but are pleasure to fish most of the time. They just require more patience and skill on the repair end of things.

The first reels I was taught to repair were Curado B's. I can put one together in my sleep. To me, it is simplistic by design and that's why it lasts. I would say the same for the Core. If OG Steez lasted for you, it probably because it was well maintained.

6 minutes ago, FishTank said:

I know several people that have owned the OG Steez and none of them have them any more but the OG Zillion is a different story. That platform seemed to be a winner. Also, I still see several Curado B's and BSF's reels that still operate like new. My fishing buddy has 6 of the B's. I gave him a new Curado K after a tournament win and he hates it. So to each their own.

As far as working on the OG Steez, it was just probably my inexperience at the time. The new ones are far worse to work on but are pleasure to fish most of the time. They just require more patience and skill on the repair end of things.

The first reels I was taught to repair were Curado B's. I can put one together in my sleep. To me, it is simplistic by design and that's why it lasts. I would say the same for the Core. If OG Steez lasted for you, it probably because it was well maintained.

The gear set in the OG steez isn't that great. It's smooth when new, but i wouldn't say that it lasts that long before going "Shimano'ish". Thing is, what i do with my og Steez reels is install the original pinion gear, but replace the main gear from the one that is on the og zillion, which is a tank, and significantly smoother under load than the original steez gear. This makes the og steez as smooth and silent as the new steez reels, and the upgrade isn't even expensive.

There is no BPS in Louisville. There’s one in Clarksville, Indiana.

12 minutes ago, Micro Module Police said:

The gear set in the OG steez isn't that great. It's smooth when new, but i wouldn't say that it lasts that long before going "Shimano'ish". Thing is, what i do with my og Steez reels is install the original pinion gear, but replace the main gear from the one that is on the og zillion, which is a tank, and significantly smoother under load than the original steez gear. This makes the og steez as smooth and silent as the new steez reels, and the upgrade isn't even expensive.

Very cool idea. But to my point about adding parts, you shouldn't have to but as the years go by, I can see that it is a really good investment.

For me I wished they had worked out. Outside the two Loomis GLX rods I had, the OG Steez was my biggest fishing gear investment at that time.

17 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

There is no BPS in Louisville. There’s one in Clarksville, Indiana.

Clarksville is Louisville if you live in Indiana. 😁

I miss the restaurant and the Nascar experience. The arcade hunting range was fun too.

29 minutes ago, FishTank said:

Very cool idea. But to my point about adding parts, you shouldn't have to but as the years go by, I can see that it is a really good investment.

For me I wished they had worked out. Outside the two Loomis GLX rods I had, the OG Steez was my biggest fishing gear investment at that time.

Clarksville is Louisville if you live in Indiana. 😁

I miss the restaurant and the Nascar experience. The arcade hunting range was fun too.

Clarksville is not Louisville, it’s Clarksville & I do live in Indiana. 12 miles away from BPS in Clarksville, Indiana. 🙂 Now if you want to compare Jeffersonville to Louisville, that’s a much much closer comparison..

21 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

Clarksville is not Louisville, it’s Clarksville & I do live in Indiana. 12 miles away from BPS in Clarksville, Indiana. 🙂 Now if you want to compare Jeffersonville to Louisville, that’s a much much closer comparison..

Yes Jeffersonville is closer but.... In a strange manner, I use manage a store across the street at Green River in the 90s. It was brief, like only a few months and I traveled from Indy. We referred to it as our Louisville location. It has been stuck in my head ever since. I also have family that lived there. They think of it as Louisville because that is where they worked. Weird, I know.