Lots of old school reels are no longer worth the money, but Lamson has reels to do about everything and all have the same sealed bearings and rarely fail. Ross has completely failed to keep up.
Have you had a chance to use the Ross Evolution R, Evolution R Salt, and Evolution LTX? All are wonderful sealed drag units with stacked carbon elements in them that perform wonderfully. Then there is some wonderful click pawl reels in the reintroduced Gunnison and award winning Colorado LT. Ross is ahead of the game right now, not behind. Their merger with Abel has certainly influenced their designs on current reels for the better. Abel/Ross has won more reel awards the last couple of years than anyone else.
Sorry, too many new Ross reels have been toasted around me and in my hands to accept anything they make now. Click and pawl reels of yore were well-made and solid, but lack serious bearings (and drags obviously) and were fine for light duty fishing. That would never include salmon and steelhead. I believe the Vexsis was the real laugher proving the point. The instant switch from RH to LH and vice versa often happened as soon as one put a little tension on the reel. It would then pop into free-spool and knot everything up in incredible fashion. It did not last long but is indicative of much of their current production. I was being encouraged for several years to use them and got a lot of hands-on time to develop my opinion.
Ross is struggling to see industry taillights, IMO&E.
