[BigAppa]

Bought an MXJ last month based on all the recommendations on this site. I've only had a chance to pull on some rockfish with it, but out of all my reels (a couple of penn fathoms, a couple of Daiwa Saltists, Torium 16, and an Abu Garcia C4) this one beats them all. The others are great reels too, but there's just something different about an Avet. Really impressed with it so far. I plan on getting a couple more in the very near future.

But I was doing some research on the basic maintenance of Avets today, and I stumbled upon thread after thread at various sites discussing whether or not to grease the drag washers of Avets. I had never seen such a heated discussion about reel maintenance before.

It seems pretty split down the middle. Even Avet chimed in with a drag test and reaffirmed that the drag should not be greased bc dry washers will lead to more consistent drag pressure. But there are many others who say that grease will lead to a smoother drag and better protection, and that Avet's test didn't replicate real life situations. I believe that the manufacturers of my other reels all recommend grease for the washers (could be wrong about this though. I've been doing it anyway without any problems). Plus, one of the criticisms I read about Avets is that the drag can be jerky when dry, which is another reason to grease them.

So I was just wondering, what have been your experiences with dry vs greased Avet drag washers?