All I ever used before the Shimano Calcutta was Abu, produts. Namely the 6500 and the 7000. The main problem with all abu's is there drag, trust me, do not get them even a little wet !! Saltheart fishes mostly the canal, there is no surf , its a different animal all together when a wave hits the abu you may as well toss it in the truck, they do not have a tight fit and finish and the drags get extemely "chalky" when wet this = lost fish !!
I never knew any better and had to tear down the reel nightly to clean it and lube the drags, after first cleaning them all with alcohol, it was a pain..Then they had to be lubed with braid drag lube, way to much maintainence...
The calcutta uses a wet drag system, I dont care how wet it gets its still as smooth as the day it came out of the box, a quik rinse with fresh water after a trip is all I need to do.
If you fish the canal, breachways etc.. or any other place without much chance of getting a direct shot of water on the reel then stay with the abu, but, if you wade and get wet.the shimano is the one to go with.
I fished the Island with "snake slinger" this year and he was telling me every single trip how he has to take the abu down and clean....ask him now that he has the calcutta how he feels
Dont get caught up in this "rocket this" rocket that" jet bearings super jacked up 6500 this and that stuff...It doesnt matter. what matters is fishability and if the thing wont hold up the night I dont care how many bearings it has..
The shimano calcutta is the van stall of surf casting conventional reels in my opinion. and casts and handles like a dream...............