it also depends on what you fish for. i use 3 Daiwa sealine sg17lc3b reels on one side of my boat and Okuma Coldwater reels on the other side. they are both good reels but i haven't used the coldwater reel much as i bought them to replace the old sg17lca reels i was using. the main reason i use different reels is to keep from putting the wrong rod and diver on the wrong side. before doing the reel thing it happened a few times causing some bad tangles with the less experienced fisher people. we would have a few rods in the boat and one would get switched.,

both the sg17lc3b and the coldwater 203 are great for walleye but not big enough for salmon. Okuma Convector size 20 is also great for eyes. and I guess from what I've heard the Shimano Tekota is the top of the line as far as I know but they cost over 200.00 each. Daiwa does have more expensive reels but I know nothing about them. if you are wanting a cheaper starter reel you might look at the Accudepth plus 17lc reels. they were very good to me and were working great when I sold them. so far I love my coldwater 203 reels they have a smooth drag and a very smooth cranking reel and they come with a power handle on them.