A new Garcia won't be half the reel an older one from the 70's was. Bearings may have improved, but plastic gears will never be as dependable as metal. Think I've lost count of the Ambassadors I've had blow on dime bright salmon, kinda sucks when your reel goes tits up on a 50# chrome king salmon, or a #15 buck silver as has been the case more than a couple times.
Shimano Calcutta is the answer, spendy yes, ox strong hell yes. If you have to go Garcia at least pay for the Big Game series, they're somewhat stouter if not a Calcutta. Or shop an old red reel on EBay that has been or could be rebuilt with metal innards. Penn's level wind series isn't bad, certainly trumps the Abu lineup, but IMO aren't worth the $$ they sell for.
For bassing or other relatively light duty fishing, the old diawa PMF series is a great reel. I source them from EBay and outfit my ice rods with them, don't have a super fast retrieve speed but they are sturdy and smooth units. Same same for the old Shimano Bantam series. These two can be had for small $$ online and beat newer WalMart offerings all to pieces.
this is interesting , Most of my fiing for these reels will be bass, maybe some catfish and some sport for carp . what year or model did they start plastic gears ??
