Has anyone tried the Penn AF (Afinity) yet? Price wise it is around the Stradic range. Penn site reports a metal body. Looks like it would handle braid decently. Or is this just a cleaned up Captiva?

I would be very wary of any new Penn models. They have been living off their name for the last 10 years or so. The last 3 Penns (all SS models) I bought have all had problems within a year, and that is with much more care than I have given any of my other reels. They just don't make them well anymore in my opinion. I would wait until they have a track record of performing well before purchasing any reel, especially a Penn.

iv never had a problem with penn reels.... always work, and last forever

iv never had a problem with penn reels.... always work, and last forever

those were the old ones bennster :tooth: :tooth: :tooth: , the new ones arent made the same but are still nice in my opinion

iv got some newer models as well and never had a problem

the word that i have gotten, is that they are not made by Penn. but contracted out to Ryobi. the tool people

the word that i have gotten, is that they are not made by Penn. but contracted out to Ryobi. the tool people

That explains the problems I had with my compound miter saw.
Seriously, I'm not familiar with the AF's, but as I mentioned before, I've had bad luck with the SS models. You might want google the AF's for reviews. I ask guys who run charters for bass & blues when buying reels because they use ones that will be reliable and work well with minimal maintenance.