The new stradics dont look anywhere near as nice as my light blue model. At $239 or so , pretty good deals but I did think (maybe wrongly) the gearing(or something) was a softer metal that wouldnt stand up to slugfests over time. That said, my stradic has served me well but mainly on light fish like salmon, bonnies and rat kings etc and not with the drag screwed down.Im pretty careful with my reels and most dont get smashed around on the rocks with the exception of my poor torium. From what I have read , the japanese twinpowers are different to the versions we have here as well, with the o/s version preferred.