Nick - I hear you brother on the uphill battle, in fact having visited your shop last fall I have to say we need to keep you open, that is one of the most fully outfitted and well stocked shops I've seen.
Here's my tale...
When another company came out with an affordable sealed drag years back I got very excited about it as did many others on this site. I bought into the dream. A season or two later we all found out the gory truth - the reel could not take saltwater use.
Another reel came out with the same promise, and I got excited about it here as did many others. We all bought into it. A season or two later, we had more expensive and reels with corrosion and functional issues in the so-called sealed drag system.
This was the experience for thousands of saltwater hardcore anglers. I understand your perspective and respect it but you got to respect this too, we already paid the price. I am a consumer who has voted into these other companies with hundreds of dollars. As much as I might care about the shop owner, and I do, I have paid and paid already.
As far as the two you named, I've owned two Bauers and a Nautilus CCF although the Bauers are not the sealed Z's. I love them.
I hope to try the Bauer MZ out this season. By the way the cork / synthetic drags on even the older Bauers is pretty sweet.
Way off topic... what was the original question on this thread?
