[eelman]

They are Nothing new , Abu made them for awhile long ago, Abu has brought them back..Anyway I have an orginal I baught way back, never liked it...I feel the syncro thing is useless, all it basically is, is a lever drag built into the handle and when I used it I found that accidently I would engage it without wanting to, star drag is much better, less parts to worry about and much more bullet proof.After using Abu for a long time, I can say for me anyway, Shimano blows the doors off Abu in any catagory you chose, The calcutta 400 is just about as close to the perfect Conventional reel you can own, Right out of the box they are ready to go, no drag washer changes, no bearing problems, nada... I use a 7000 and 9000 for livelining out of the boat , other than that the 400 gets used for everything else.