I use to use all penns when i lived in NY but swithced to shimano when i moved here. I feel shimano has better gears and bearings and a smoother drag system. There a smoother reel. they are also lighter for the same class size. this is important when you use light graphite rods and casting all day.I own stradics , baitrunners, tld's,castaics,toriums 30 and 50's. I still use my penn ss's . if you are not the type to wash down your gear after every use , the penns tend to hold up better.(at least the s.s does.) draw back for shimano, they charge you $25 bucks just to open it if it ever breaks down.
Penn over shimano and Okuma over all!
I grew up with heavy duty bait fishing here off the NE surf. 8-10 oz sinkers, big bunker head/chunks,8/0 circles snelled with 80-125# leaders,50# shock lines. The 525 mag can throw this type of setup 100 yards when geared with the proper rod. More than enough for our stripers. But when the big rays/sharks are around i'll take the daiwa SHV 30 for the extra line.
All of my inshore setups are Shimano, up to a 5000 Stradic. From there up I am all Penn.
