Okuma Cedros Spinning Reel

[Capt. ahab]

I'm looking to get into high speed vertical jigging and I'm looking at the options for high-end spinning reels.
Okuma's entry in the market, the Cedros, is considerably cheaper than the Accurate, Penn, Daiwa, and Shimano spinning reels.  I'm guessing there is a reason it's so cheap?  I thought Okuma had really stepped up their engineering after the merger with Tiburon?  Can anyone experienced with vertical jigging make a good reel recommendation?

[JGB]

The Cedros  Spin (I have the 80A) is a great value with lots of drag. It is even better when upgraded to Carbon fiber drags.
The Cedros has a composite rotor while the more expensive VS reel has a Aluminum rotor. The ratio is very high making it great for things like surface iron or spoons. For fishing deep iron I found it a little difficult to crank heavy iron at max speed from deep. This due to the gear ratio and makes for a very difficult reel  to land 60#+ YF. I tried to land a 60+ and  the fish won as I did not have any spinning technique. Bench testing showed the max usable drag at around 20# as the rotor will flex allowing spool contact at drags greater than 20#. I have upgraded to the VS 80 and it has a lower gear ratio and a very rigid rotor. The flexing rotor thing is not unique to the Cedros as the Stellas will flex at high drag settings and allow spool contact.

I would recommend a good high speed star drag or lever drag  for deep iron and reserve the spinners for poppers, surface spoons/iron or to get small baits out further. If the budget is high enough  the Andros has great gear ratios for vertical jigging. A 2 speed with a 6.2:1 42" retrieve rate that fishes up 50# class ( I rate it for 40# class). One of the few 2 speeds with a high speed retrieve  with jigging in mind.

If you want to play with the Cedros 80A at disposable prices. I have 2 with upgraded drags for $85 each.

Jim N.