What reel to buy

[Michael Evans]

Both are capable of the job, but in my experience there appears to be a quantum difference in service (speed of repair, parts, warranty) in Australia from the manufacturers. I have reels from both...but would buy a shimano any day.

[Ben Kempton]

by KD i assume you mean kamodo dragon? i as in tackle warehouse looking at one not so long ago, nice bit of gear. i will definately feel guilty if i go with the daiwa as all my other reels are shimano, extremly happy with them and they have put up with alot. my mat who is coming with me on our kirimati trip is looking at the 18000. so im sure we will be doing alot of comparing of whos is bigger haha.

[Sachin Chaudhry]

Got 5 Stellas.
Some over 5 years old.
Fish almost every weekend.
Zero problems.
Never owned a Daiwa
Very happy

[Rob Langridge]

I think it's funny that 99% of the reels in the videos down the side of the page from the link in your signature feature Stella...guess they would disagree with that statement.

Its all good Luke i know your a shimano man and a stella kinda guy. But i am a Daiwa fan from head to toe i got my first daiwa reel back in 1975 and still have it and its still in top nick. I guess its like ford and holden fans shimano and daiwa.

[David East]

just my two cents,Stellas are THE reel.I sold thirty plus old reels I had laying around in boxes collecting dust and bought several stellas.They are a pleasure to fish.

[Doug Lindsay]

The top end Daiwas and Shimanos are beautiful reels, though not indestructable. Do a bit of digging into the backup/spare parts situation, and you will put your $$$ on the Stella. Enjoy

[Jason Chiu]

Ben, here are links to some detailed reviews of the Saltiga, Stella and 2010 saltiga by Alan Hawk... great information and worth a read before making a decision

http://www.stripersonline.com/forum/thread/381495/saltiga-z-6000-the-review
http://www.stripersonline.com/forum/thread/768370/daiwa-saltiga-2010-the-review
http://www.stripersonline.com/forum/thread/647666/shimano-stella-sw-the-review

these were how i tended towards stella in the beginning =]. that and i found them cheaper than saltiga on the internets, but maybe i wasn't looking hard enough for cheaper saltigas

[Robin Loi]

thanks patrick for the links.. great insight and review of each reel! i must admit i am a hardcore daiwa fan but now, i'm slowly leaning towards the stellas/twinpowers cause i've witnessed how capable these reels can be too.. i must be a biased arse before cause i was very much against shimano when the reel i was using back then (many eons ago, an old generation Aernos 5000) gave up on me when i was fighting a 2kg+ snapper.. but with further education, i am now better equipped with more intimate knowledge of both set of reels..

[luke peters]

I have a dogfight and a 18000sw and used to lean towards the dogfight because of the size of the 18000 but then i started using a 10000sw for popping and now i use the dogfight as a backup.

My beach/rock spinning reels are stalla sw 5000's and they have yet to let me done and they have copped a hammering

But also consider after sales care in my opinion shimano is at the top of the list . Every time i have had to send the dogfight away its been at least 3 weeks wait and that was when they weren't busy