Quote Originally Posted by gunwhatgun View Post
It's funny you mention the Sahara. I have that one in 500, and it is one of my favorite reels. Is the only difference in the one from Japan the spool depth? I have actually been trying to work up the nerve to pull the trigger on ordering a reel out of Japan. I have noticed that if you shop on Feebay, you can find all kinds of reel that are "from" Japan, but when you look at the pics, they are either marked "Made in Malaysia" or "Vietnam". When I try the JDM websites, they get a little confusing, and most of them seem to be having stock issues. If anyone has a trusted site, I would love to learn about it.
JDM does not mean made in Japan. It just means that the reel is sold in the Japanese market. The Sahara is just like the one you get in the states just with a shallow spool. Made in Japan reels are becoming fewer as each year goes by. Digitaka and Plat are trusted websites...as are many others. I have used both of them...and several others for over 10 years. I only buy from sites that use PayPal. The only issue I ever had was I got the wrong reel one time. Digitaka offered to pay return shipping and send me the correct reel....or they told me I could keep what they sent me. I kept the reel as it was a better reel that I had ordered and cost more money...LOL. Years later I found out my reel went to a guy in Norway and I had gotten what he had ordered...he had tracked me down from a post on the net about my mishap. Digitaka sent him a new reel.

Regards