Fair and excellent comment.
Whatever anyone chooses...just be aware that when you head to your summer or fishing haunt in a remote location, reliability and serviceability is has a lot of value.
When the drag or internal parts check out of the hotel though...just make sure that you can go on in the absence of parts.
Thanks F.M. And to be clear with no misunderstanding or misinterpretation, I'm not trying to be argumentative or confrontational rather I'm trying to counter some of your guys' positions.
That being said, what if said person doesn't fish remotely, off the beaten path? Any mechanical item can fail from the highest rated Islander reels, motors, radar, etc. the list can be endless. The reality is that anything can happen, including having every Islander (or, insert Amundson, Rapala, Okuma, etc reel here) on your boat fail and be rendered useless. I don't think it's fair to argue that a specific brand or type of reel will be bulletproof. Highly reliable, sure.
For me, (and I'm sure many others) having a reel go down won't end my day. For you, Wolf and others in those positions, you depend on the reliability for your paying customers. For me, I will only ever run two rods and I always have a spare rod and reel on my boat. I have a fourth a 5 minute trip away if need be.
I think my point is more simply like this. I'd argue that you have valid points to consider but they aren't absolute. You said you "base my feedback on facts and not anecdotal." I think that is partially true but have you attempted to use any other brand for hundreds of hours on the water or did you give up after a negative experience (most were anecdotal)? In other words, there is no hard comparison. Again, don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily completely disagree with you, I just think your throwing in a lot of emotion and personal bias on a very narrow view on what the O.P is asking for.
At the end of the day, I run a 14' aluminum boat (not a 21' Weldcraft) with a 20 HP 2 stroke Yammy (no kicker), an Elite 5 sounder (Not an HDS 10), I run Scotty 1106's (not 2106 HP's), a couple of Amundson Mooching Lieutenant rod and reel combos (not Islanders and G-Loomis). And you know what, none of that catches fish. I'm all in for under $10K and I catch a hell of a lot of fish. I know for a fact that I often catch a lot more fish than guys I cross paths with that are into their set-ups 3, 4, or 5 times + my investment and it pisses them off (especially a flat lander to boot). This isn't ego talking, maybe it's luck, maybe it's because I dare to do things differently, who knows! Maybe next summer will be different, luck of the draw.
Yes, kind of a rant I know, I just think your being slightly off base with your comparisons
(respectfully of course). Now, let's go for a beer, I'm buying! Lol
