Why are Accurate and Avet suddenly introducing star drag reels? Certainly, I'd rather cast plugs and jigs with a star drag, but there are some very fine stars available now from Penn, Siegler, Daiwa and others. What niche is it that Accurate and Avet hope to fill? I must be missing something.

Is it just the call of new horizons?

Avet had their designs for over a decade, never produced the piece and it was a bit of a phantom intro with production planned (if interest sufficient) for 2019. Accurate will have theirs far sooner. As to why, well in my thinking it just rounds out both manufacturers lines. I believe the bulk of sales will remain with leverdrags at $200 plus.

Hmmm, could be because Okuma tapped a market with their Tesoro and are finding success where others have languished (like Penn did with the Torque). It's a narrow market for upper end star drags. With enough players, few will find great success. I really did like what Seigler did, look over the ICAST review in this section of the site. There's a reason for owning a star drag or two. They take to over-fishing better and if well designed they're great casters, too. Okay, so leverdrags can be great casters.... Well, stars can be buttoned down harder on the drag without degrading reel performance or bearing. Hmmm, again not a great motivation, but heck they're different (from what folks may have in their arsenal).

GS<
MS

I believe the Accurate Star Drag Tern has drag washers on both sides of the main gear, not both sides of the spool. This is similar but not quite the same as the old Newell drag system. It also explains why the right side plate on the Tern is so big.

Yep, information improved post ICAST and thanks AK for being kind and not hammering me for not having facts straight. The Tern is not a Twin Drag reel like their Dauntless or BX series but rather a Twin Star Drag (Pat. Pending) with a drag stack on either side of the main gear. So, on both sides of the main gear you have a carbon fiber washer and then a stainless steel pressure plate followed by another carbon fiber washer and friction plate. That stack is on both sides of the main gear. Accurate also boasts CVX technology, looked all over the Internet for an explanation of what that was... didn't find anything to explain, so I followed up with some other folk smarter than I (not hard to find). CVX just stands for convex, and that describes how they are milling out material from the bar stock. Result, less weight and equal strength.