Torque 2-speed lever drags

[BrianBM]

The LD40 came up in a discussion of tilefish reels.  I did my first tilefish trip with a 349, and cranking 3 lbs. of lead up and down inn 850' of water left my right arm in need of serious care for a couple of days.  There has to be a better way.  The next trip will be done with a 113MTL, but if that leaves me wrecked as well, I'll invest in an optimal tool.

I don't own and haven't read much about the Torque LD reels.  For those here who have used one, or been inside one, how well do you like them?  I believe they're "pull" designs, rather than "push" designs, so I could apply a lot of drag early to keep the tilefish from getting back under a rock without crushing a pinion bearing. Cranking the initial 50 feet to get the fish off the bottom would be OK with low gear, though the high gear is probably a bit more than optimal for going the rest of the way.

Deepwater anglers who pull grouper out of holes have similar needs. If you're doing that, what reels do you like for doing it?

The single speed Avet HX also came up in discussion, as did a Maxel 10 or 11; I will check those out in the appropriate forums. 

No rush on this, I haven't scheduled another trip yet.

[johndtuttle]

This is the write up on the Torques:

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=9685.0

[broschro]

if im fishing any deeper than 200ft im getting electric for sure.