Ya I actually had that issue with a Lexa I bought on eBay, the spool wouldnt engage after turning the handle sometimes I'd say every 10 or so casts (enough to frustrate me). I even returned it and they sent me a new one and it still had that same issue so I decided I would pay the extra $50 and purchase one from Tackle Warehouse to see if it was just me or if I was just getting defected ones from this guy. Got the one from TW and havent had any problems, I was even lucky enough to get a fish on it the first time out with it and it is really a smooth reel. So I think it could be that there's a few bad batches out there.