[Mr. Sandman]

I have to add my 3 cents to this thread. I own 3 of them 2 of which are exclusive for surf fishing (6000 and 8000)....the third is a 10000 for offshore spinning and a fall backup to the 8000 should I need it (never have) (the 10000 is a BIG reel)

I am lucky, I get to fish the surf a lot from May thru Nov (almost every day at times). All my gear gets is a FW rinse off. I have owned the 6000 for 3 seasons without any failures. I send them in each season for service. There has never been a charge. As I mentioned in the shimano service thread, they **replaced** the reel for me this year at no charge....show me ***any*** company that will do this. After 3 years of hard use they gave me a new reel, think about that. The reel worked fine. It was not as perfect as a new one but it still worked smoother then any penn I had. I got a note attached that said "this reel had some salt inside. Reels used this much require more frequent service". I plan on sending the heavily fished reels in now 2X per season now with their using their 48hour turnaround policy.

I surf fish and boat fish, I don't skish. My reels gets dunked and splashed each outing but I don't operate them submerged for very long. Yes they do get submerged from time to time but I don't keep them under for a long time. If I get sand in it I dunk it and rinse it off when I get home. The drag is as waterpoof as they come. And I could not be happier with the drag performance, esp with a heavy setting.

But if you fish with your reel underwater all the time this might not be the perfect reel for you. Personally I think most surf fisherman would be more then happy with this reel. I have not fished with a saltiga but this is the sweetest spinning reel I have ever held and it is a real pleasure to fight a big fish with this reel.

The handle has an amazing ergonomic feel to it that gives you a very positive feeling of mechanical advantage. The whole machine is so smooth and without slop or play of anykind. Also and the drag is outstanding. I am surprised how much you can crank down on this and still have it be sliky smooth...never jerky or stickly. The drag is made for offshore species and is more then adaqute for SB fishing.

There is no plastic. This reel has more exotic materials and state of the art bearings then you can imagine. These ball bearings have version numbers, when they go obsolete, they are replaced with the current technology.

IMO from a boat there simply is no better spinning reel. From the shore...well if you are underwater all the time I would say try reels that offer a waterpoof housing as a specific feature because the housing is not completely waterproof on the stellas. (but it is not a siv either) Maybe the saltiga or VS might suit your needs better. But IMO shimano has the best spinner going coupled with the finest customer oriented service...that is tough to beat and it meets my needs.

Also, any reel can break. On average the good ones do so far less often.
And **ALL** reels will need service.
Keep that in mind when you plunk down $500+ on a fishing reel.