Line creep is an annoyance, and the TFO will do it, but truth be told.. as long as newbies aren't going to be on the boat, the shimano reels get left behind. I liken my anodized reels to a fine sportscar. if your going to get yourself into a street race (playing a decent fish) I'd rather have the porsche than the civic (shimano) , but they leak a little oil when parked in the garage (line creep in the rod holder) and thats an annoyance, not a serious issue.
Back on track... the TFO has a pretty small arbor, line take up is kinda slow and the knobs are small, I prefer the freespool lever on the TFO to the trophy (doesn't get tripped as easily). The Trophy QR has a larger arbor, faster retrieve, but the freespool knob tends to get tripped by clumsy fisherman (accidentally when placing in rod holders), the drag on the trophy's is kind of finicky.. easily fixed by replacing drag spring with one from an MR3. Fished the amundsen, liked it.. but wouldn't buy one because of the ventilated backplate... heavy rain and salt spray threatens to wash lubricants out of bearings and gears, exposes the internals to too much salt and other contaminants in my humble opinion. The "Mooching Soldier" from Admunsen ($200) I would avoid as well... seen a couple blow up on the line spooler already; monofilament and die cast spools are not meant to be together.
Had a chance to check out the new "Coast" reel last week... looks nice and I love the sound. Whether or not it delivers at a cost $50 more than an MR3 remains to be seen.
