"Buy a fly reel with your heart, not your head."

Amen to that JC. When it comes to buying reels it seems buying with your heart is really the only way to buy with your head. I wasted a lot of time and money on cheap reels (most of them I would consider worthless since they haven't exactly survived to the present day) when I started out in this sport. Each time I bought one I'd spend a little more money on a little less junky reel than the last one and ended up spending more than I would have if I had just bought a decent reel in the first place.