You might want to also ask this in the Shimano forum so Bantam can see it.   I am sure Ian can tell you though.

too me, oiling the spool bearings is a bit of regular maintenance. while greased spool bearings will require less looking after, they will also provide much less in the way of performance. a tuned reel is somewhat like a sports car, it will go faster and perform much better, but it can also require a little more maintenance. the arbs are fine out of the box to fish with; BUT, i would flush the grease out of them and add a drop of oil to each. and if i am being honest, i don't have a single reel with stock spool bearings in it; and i find that it is not that often that i have to re-oil.....say every 5 or 6 trips.

the biggest reason that reel is out casting the others so handily is that the spool is much lighter. lighter spool = faster/easier start-up=longer/smoother casts..
also, flushing the bearings should give you a noticable performance upgrade. flush the 2 spool bearings in acetone or brake cleaner fluid, let them dry, and apply a drop of a light reel oil to each. i think reel manufacturers over-lube as a protective measure because they feel that most aren't going to properly maintain their reels. another point, if you'll notice for the high-end shimanos, one of their selling points is the 'greaseless' spool bearing.

Thanks again Ian.  If we can get past this 100°+ weather I'm going to get them to the water and see how they react to some baits.

i have tuned several of them already and i think they are  a nice step up from the b's and d's. very palmable, smooth, and they have a nice superlight spool. they should serve you very well!

If they work on the water as well as in the yard, a couple more may be in my future.  I sold 4 reels yesterday and replaced them with the 2 Cs.  Now I have 2 empty rods that may get lonesome.   However, they may be down the road since Red told me that she paid my CC bill yesterday for the HDS8 and LSS1.

 
have you seen the new curado 50's? i think they should be incredible! very compact and modeled after the core 50......

I picked up a couple today at BPS.  Normally the guys at the counter are very knowledgeable but not today.  So I need a little info:

I tried to research the a-rb bearings and couldn't find out much.  Do they need oiled or can they run dry like the Bocas?

In the pack there were 2 extra sets of brake weights.  My eyes can't tell any difference in the size of them.  What gives here?

Jig Man,
One of the sets of centrifugal brakes should be thicker (the green ones) which will apply more stopping resistance to the spool..the pink ones have always worked fine for me.