Product name: Shimano Metanium Mg7
Price: Depends on JPN yen, but around $400 USD.

This is a baitcasting reel made with magnesium alloy for the reel frame and comes with 11 lbs of drag. It is the Japanese version of the US Shimano Core 100Mg. It's very light and weighs in at 6 oz. This reels comes with 8 bearings with four of them in the handle knobs. The gear ratio for this is 7.0 but amazingly it has the power to crank medium divers decently although the handle only comes in at 80 mm. That is due to the larger gears it has of which we know in the US models as HEG. The drag star clicks, but the cast control knob does not. The level wind guide is taper to be larger on the side of the spool so this helps reduce backlash as well as increase casting smoothness. The level wind guide is also titanium nitride coated. The spool is a standard 100 size and is machined aircraft aluminum with crossed drilled holes. The nice thing about this reel is that the reel body is all smooth with no holes on the outside for screws that you see on most reels. It gives one a really nice reel palm feel. Performing reel maintenance is kind of tricky as you may need a fairly long #1 phillips to get at a screw. The main drive gear is made of aluminum instead of the normal brass you find in most other reels. Over the past year.

I've used this reel for cranks, spinners, buzzbaits, poppers, and some plastics. This reel can cast light weight of 1/4 oz with great distances. I've been getting roughly about 35 yards a 1/5 oz popper lure with 15# Fireline Braid on a 6' rod. (This is comparable to the same distance on my 6' rod with a Shimano 1000 spinning reel with 4# Fireline and same 1/5 oz. popper lure.)  There is almost no backlash because of the tapered levelwind line guide. The line lay on the spool is tight and very uniform. The magnesium alloy frame makes this reel feel kind of hollow and fragile while you crank. It's a great reel for finesse techniques but will perform as an utility reel just as well. The best thing about this reel is that I do not have to consciously think about my casting form, thus I can concentrate more on my lure presentation. It's almost like the reel is not part of the equation on the rod.

I like this reel but I would get a Abu Garcia Revo Premier or even the new Johny Morris reel from Bass pro Shops weighing in at roughly the same weight with the same features and 11 bearings. You can watch videos on these at my site if you like.

Yeah, that new 2010 Abu Revo Premiere has the specs that pretty much pars the Metanium Mg7 and more than $100 less. The Johny Morris, an even more value for the money reel. However, the smooth body construction of the Metanium is something unique that I haven't found in another reel.




SMOOOOTHHH!

A $400 reel with 8 ball bearings is fine. 4 of them in the handle? I love my Shimanos, but $400 for what amounts to a 4 bearing reel? Ok, magnesium is not cheap and hard to manufacture, but I would think that there are many reels in the $150-$200 range that are almost as good, are they worth twice the price? A $200 reel is more than about half the folks fishing can afford, I'd bet a $400 reel is a dream for 75% of us! Tom

Yeah, but Shimano's generally always have low count bearings. However they always have them placed where it's most critical and still achieve a smoothness that pars or even greater than other reels boasting twice the bearings count. I still think that Shimano's are overpriced and it's paying for the Shimano name. Even something that's so simple in design like the tapered levelwind guide, seems to come with a huge price tag that only the most costly of reels seem to come with. It's simply amazing at the increase in casting distance one can achieve when this reel is paired with the right rod. Simply put, casting distance is now simply up to the individual technique at hand rather than having to utilize the spinning rod set up for light lures.

I will admit that this reel provide a problem for me that I didn't expect.  I casted too far without the effort in it.  In many occasions feel I kind of stupid for hitting shoreline instead of my intended target while being on a boat.  Standing from shore and casting out to open water, it's great.  Yet still a very strangeness kind of like euphoric when you feel almost as if there's no reel on the rod.  Everytime I pick it up, I often think of an magnesium frame SLR camera.

FWIW the exchange rate had put this reel around $300 a few years ago.

Update with some photos:


Side view from handle side


Rear view.


Side view with escape hatch opened.


Removed handle parts and drag star.




Handle side of gears, removal of main drive gear, and removal of drag washer plate.

I've recently cleaned my spool bearings with acetone and applied only one or two drops of Xtreme Reel+ lubricant and went to give a short whirl. I was quite impressed with the smoother, longer, and ease of casting. Not sure why I just didn't do it from the very beginning, but am still learning how to obtain better performance from baitcasting reels.