After reading alan hawk's review, it seems that there are some features of the saltiga which are a little dubious in a reel of that calibre. If its supposed to be the pinnacle of spinning reels why would it be made with 2nd rate bearings for example? maybe it makes no difference to performance but it says something about the objectives of the person who designed and made it, if they set out to make it the best it could be, it would not have used anything but the best components available. And theres the adoption of some of the things shimano use such as one piece bail, tapered spool lip, but the failure to pick up on other things like the below spool/ twin drag. shimano may not have invented these ideas, but they do seem like good ones.