It doesn't matter a toss which brand or model of reel you care to mention. Someone, somewhere will have had a bad experience with them. The bigger the market share a brand has, the more likely it is that you'll find someone that has had a genuine bad experience. However, the general trend is undoubtedly leaning towards Daiwa reels at the moment. Look hard enough and you can find people griping about them too.
Personally, the odd lemon excepted, I can't quite get my head around what some coarse anglers do to reels. I've not managed to break a reel in use, of any brand, in over thirty years of fishing. I've got Stradics that are getting towards twenty five years old that are still going strong. I've got much more recent Malaysian made Twinpowers Ci4s, that see more use in a year than many would give them in ten, they are just fine. I still can't say for sure that the Twinpowers will be going strong in another twenty years. However, I am utterly convinced that they are far superior reels to the old Stradics. One thing that does strike me is that the original Stradics were around the £120 pound mark in the early nineties. Does anyone seriously expect a reel that costs about the same now to be of similar quality? Similar can be said of the Mitchells, they were anything but cheap reels in their heyday.
The new Aero Match reel first appeared only a while after I'd bought the last of my Twinpowers. I rather liked the look and feel of them but, though tempted, I couldn't justify buying one. I never did get my head wrapped round the reasoning for the double handled version being labelled as the match and the single being labelled as feeder.
Truth is, I've got enough reels to meet my needs for years to come. If I buy new it'll be just because I can. Nothing has been tempting enough in a while. However, the new
Super GT RD is tickling my fancy. It's not got all the latest whizz-bangs fitted, so it doesn't have the price tag. However, it's got enough to be tempting, including the odd feature that addresses longstanding Shimano weaknesses (rubbish plastic line clips). The large diameter spool, with optional reducers, is the main plus point for me. Others might appreciate that it hasn't got a double handle!