I have one heritage Laker that is about 5 years old and I love it. It has a plastic reel. I was in a local sporting goods store and noticed they had a decent deal going on Lakers and was going to buy some, however the reel is different than what my old Laker has. I was wondering if the new reel was more prone to breaking or not. I have never broke the "old" style real, matter of fact I am very happy with it