Cabela's Prestige Premier Reel

I'm wondering if anyone has the Cabela's Prestige Premier reel. I'd looked at it in the store and liked the drag button on it as opposed to the smaller one on the Prestige Plus. The encased spool mechanism seemed right for me since I tend to get sand and gravel in that area on my other reels. Now that I'm ready to buy it I'm stalling and wondering if it is as good as I remember from a month ago. Any comments would be appreciated. I'm looking at pairing it with the Three Forks 8' 5wt rod. The reel is the 5-6.
Thanks,

Haven't got that reel, but in general I prefer sealed drags to traditional click and pawl or friction drags. While some would say you don't need much drag for a 5 weight, I'd rather have it for the few times I need it than not at all. The Prestige is cast, however, which I'm not personally crazy about, but in the price you are looking at, I think they will all be cast aluminum. Unfortunately a machined reel will be probably around twice the price, or more...

I read a post from a metallurgist a few years ago about machined vs. cast reels. He felt that the difference was negligible for the large majority of uses- including the occasional bump (not crash) on a rock. For me, it mattereth little. YMMV, of course!

Chuck

I've had one for a while. No issues at all.

It is similar to this Sage 1600 series and I have 3 of them and have not had any problems and enjoy using them and they have a lifetime warranty.

http://www.ezflyfish.com/sa16flyre.html

Warren,
When you are finally the fastest gun in the neighborhood, you find that you are to old to play cowboys.:(

Thanks for the input All.

Ive got 3 of these, use on my 6wts, great drag, low weight, fully machined, email them and they may make you a deal....
http://www.allenflyfishing.com/produ...ut-series-reel

The problem I have with Cabelas' reels is that they keep changing their designs; so if you think you'll need an extra spool I'd buy it now. I now prefer Large Arbor reels. I'm
interested in something light and inexpensive. I'm thinking of getting an Okuma graphite reel.
Randy