Well now, from across the pond I can say that after 50+years of fly fishing I have yet to own a downlocker, all my rods are and always have been uplockers, I use Mitchell auto reels most of the time and have done for the best part of 40 years. Yes it does affect the swing weight, at 13 oz loaded, but for the better most of the time, in my case at least. I pay very little attention to overall weight as I tend to fish mostly for fish I know are there and resist flogging the water to foam, I rarely get tired from casting these days. In a days fishing I cast far less than other anglers I see but with little effect on either the number of fish I catch, I guess, nor my enjoyment of the sport. As far as auto reels are concerned many of my fishing days are interrupted by other anglers asking "what the h**l is that", they have never seen an auto reel before so far from "liking" semi auto's reels, they are in fact quite rare, good thing too as it means I can pick them up for very little money.