I've used the Patterson and Beseler plastic reels, and while I admit they are easier to learn to load than SS, it only took me one jammed roll, which crinkled my film, to convince me to give them away.(posted 8476 days ago)Another thing, once my film is developed and reaches the washing stage, I don't want to wait a minute before taking a peek at how the negatives look. I use PMK and other staining developers, which require 20+ minutes wash time. In recent years I've been testing developer formulations, and I don't like washing film for so long only to find it a waste of time. I found with plastic reels I could not peel off a few frames to give them a quick examination without a major struggle to get them wound back onto the spool. With SS I can unspool and re-spool the film at will.
For years I have been using Nikor, and more recently, Kindermann reels. Both are adequate and each has its advantages. Only last year, after examining a Hewes reel at B&H, I was so impressed by how sturdily it was made, I decided to buy one and try it.
My god, what a difference! First of all, these reels are incredibly solidly built and polished to a superbly smooth finish. Morever, there is a guide and pins which hold and align the film perfectly so that spooling these reels is nearly as foolproof and easy to learn as plastic reels. Most newcomers to SS get the film started wrong-- cockeyed--and fight to overcome that initial misalignment. The Hewes reels eliminate that problem. In addition, the metal is so smooth, the film practically loads itself. After 30 years of loading SS reels, I was amazed at how much better these reels were than my Nikors and Kindermanns (which are good reels, not to be confused with the cheap Chinese reels).
Therefore, to anyone experiencing trouble with plastic tanks and reels, I highly recommend the Hewes reels. Couple them with Kindermann tanks, which have plastic tops that allow much faster filling than Nikors, and you'll have an easy to load system that will last a lifetime.