Quality Fly Reel on a Budget

I have a Magnitude, to be honest I bought it, put backing on it, and used it about 3 times.  This was about 2 years ago, I purchased it to fill in the gap until a replacement came for my other "broken" steelhead reel.  It did a perfectly fine job handling some steel.  As a matter of fact I still have the reel and I will certainly part with it for cheap if you are interested.  It is the 7/8 but, they are relatively small diameter reels and would be fine on a 5/6.    

I bought a okuma SLV for a spare last year when we went to alaska & my son broke his
rod the first day so he fished one of my spares rods with the SLV for 10 days & it was
great, no problem with the drag & it was not a heavy reel for a 8-9 weight & we caught salmon
steehead & large rainbows for the money I think it is a good reel

i have tons of Ukuma reels.  Sierra, Airframe, Magnitude and SLV.  i've landed steelhead on the airframe and SLV.  the SLV is my favorite of the ones that i have.  it's designed real tough, i've dropped it a number of times, not a scratch.  you can get an SLV on ebay relatively cheap.  check out 59gremlin on there.

I have an Okuma Airframe which is the first Okuma I bought.  It has caught many steelies and salmon.  I also have an Okuma Sierra, same thing and last year I bought an SLV and it performed flawlessly on Salmon River Kings and coho's.  I would recommend the SLV highly but I have not had a problem with any of them.  The SLV is on my dedicated salmon set up and the Sierra is on my steelhead rod.  I also have a dedicated steelie noodle rod set up with an Okuma spinning reel and a dedicated salmon set up with an Okuma spinning reel, and both of those also  perform without a hitch.  I would recommend Okuma highly.  Check E-bay....they have smokin deals sometimes....

Fly Logic FLP model 567 has a great drag system and is made in America, best drag I have ever used--can be found online for about 70 bucks--  2 colors, black and platinum--not a shiny platinum--sort of walnut creek bank gray
 
I have used the Okuma AirFrame 7/9 for salmon and had no problems with it at all.....my friend uses this reel as his main reel for salmon............it is cheap too

Battenkill Mid Arbor.  Period.  It is a great reel and you will NEVER need to upgrade. 
 
(swinger, looks like we agree on something......)

I have two Orvis Battenkills. The older one is an 8/9 weight made in England. I bought it 8-9 years ago for around $125. I have seen them go on E-bay for $50-$60. I picked up a Battenkill Mid-arbor from e-bay for $52 earlier this year. It is brand new, but was built in Korea. It seems very solid. I think that the Battenkill drags are the best. I also have two Okuma fly reels. My Integrity is an 8 wt. I picked it up from a catalog - "Jerry's Sports" for around $55. It works very well in the tribs. Spend a reasonable amount of money now and you will have an outfit that will last for a long time. Take care of them though, clean, lube, carried in padded cases, etc.

Can anyone compare & contrast for me the standard Battenkill, the BBS, and the rocky mtn?  I see the differences aesthetically, but in terms of what they each do for your fishing experience compared to the others?

if u want a great reel at a great price get a okuma

slv or intergity
FC

Dano, is the machined vs. cast really going to cause a noticeable difference in the "feel" of the reel?  Also, can you set up the orvis reels to eliminate the clicking while reeling in?  I know it shouldn't be a deal maker/breaker, but I really like that feature of many of the Okumas.  Finally, what kind of guarantee do you get on Orvis reels?  Just defects in workmanship?  1 year?  25?  Lifetime?  Anyone have any personal accounts of Orvis customer service with their reels?  I figure part of that price tag is paying for great customer support, so I'd like to know what my money might be getting me.

Cold, The reels are going to balance differently on your rod. That's about the only real (pun) difference.
They keep making fishing rods lighter so now reel weight is more of a factor than it used to be.
You can either run the click pawl engaged or disengaged. Disengaged gives no click in or out.
Not sure of the warranty but they do have a website.

All of the Orvis reels are disk drag so there's really no need for the clicker. But I kind of like that classic sound, especially once it's broken in.
I found the Orvis warranty page and it states all reels are lifetime against defects and does not cover normal wear or accidents. But, they do repair old reels and from what I've heard, they do good work and are reasonably priced.

Thanks guys.  That's pretty much what I got out of the Orvis guarantee as well.  Sometimes its tough to make hears or tails out of those guarantees with the way they're worded, because they're trying to sell you on them while they explain what it covers.

As far as the Teton, while it may well be a great reel, itsjust shy of double what I'm looking to spend. One good thing I've learned from my economics classes is that if a given option doesn't meet a basic criteria (in this case, cost), eliminate it from the set and dont look back.  Teasing myself with a $130 reel wont help me decide which $40-90 reel is best for me.

So I'm thinking a standard battenkill may be the way to go, for value, cost, customer service, and availability.  The bar stock is in consideration as is the Okuma SLV, for opposite reasons (BBS pros being better features for a slightly higher price tag, the SLV with slightly more modest support and features, for a slightly more modest price tag).  The Pflueger Summit was in there...but I don't want to buy online, plain and simple.  I'm a firm believer in seeing, touching, handling, and testing an item like this before you buy it, and while I'm sure the Summit is a great reel, because I cant find it to be had anywhere I've checked, it remains, to my suspicious wallet, a pig in a poke.

I was in Gander Mtn. and got to fiddle with a few of the mid-level Redington reels...I knew my reel wasn't top of the line, but ****...now that I know what I'm missing out on in terms of smoothness and feel, I'm really looking forward to upgrading in that department at some point.

Now if only the job would pay more to support my fishing addiction...

http://www.cortlandline.com/products/default.asp?id=275

cold, looks like they are about 70.00