I had to laugh at this one today. After Years of fishing Shimano Spinning reels I have never had one bind....until today. One of my Symetre 1000FJ's got the binds. We were on a stream trout fishing in a down pour. The reel got tight and by the time I got home was pretty much locked up. Now this reel is well used and regularly cleaned. But it locked up today. Best guess is that water got into the pinion through the drag. It was full of water.Anyway. A good cleaning and back to normal. The funny part is a friend that was with me had the exact same reel. Dunked it today....again. Never had a problem. Just had to laugh.

Ern

Had the same thing with an old symetre...not sure the model but it was purchased around 2005...anyways cleaned it and it was fine...almost same thing. Eventually though it did have to have a gear and pinion replaced and of course Shimano's excellent customer service fixed it for free...a side note that reel doesn't have a sealed drag like the Saros, Stradic, and any models that cost more than these two.

Don't dunk that reel if it can be avoided...it's only asking for trouble.

I dont think the sealed drag is offered on the Saros, its not listed as a feature on Shimanos site. Wasnt the binding from water intrusion coming from the rotors gap where it meets the anti reverse? Thats the whole idea of Daiwa/NASA's concept of the mag oil seal. To prevent that binding. All spinning reels get it except the Van Staal and ZeeBee that are sealed under the rotor.