I've come to appreciate many different snare strainers over the years. Can't pick a favourite but I quite like the pull up type strainers rather than the side levers, like the Ludwig. The movement seems more natural to me.

I like the P-83, but I also like the similar style one on my Slingerland Festival. Smooth, gets the job done.

My post will not be very popular. So to be clear, I will first state a disclaimer. The strainer I speak of is not my favorite - as with favorite drummers (people always ask me that!) I do not have one. Same with strainers - do not have a favorite. However, one immediately comes to mind to discuss.

When I was young, with my first drums, I had some junk snares whose strainers never worked - because all the levers were broken. So, a hatred for those strainers grew in me.

Fast forward 20 years, and for the first time ever, I buy a snare with that strainer (see pic). This time, I have gained a whole new appreciation for it, as it seems to work just fine. In addition, in my growing appreciation for MIJ drums in recent years, I now have fond feelings for this strainer. Appreciation by association (I love MIJs)!

I'm on board with the previous post. I have many MIJ/MIT's with that strainer and they are excellent. Just don't overtighten it.

Rogers Swivomatic.

The ones that work and don't give me any problems,

John, that's very interesting. I too started out on a MIJ set, well, a MIJ bass drum and rack tom with a Ludwig concert tom on a snare stand. I later got an Olympic 16" x 16" floor tom with no bottom hoop or head on there. The snare drum was the first drum I ever owned. It was called Striker and was made in Germany. It was a piece of junk, but I was glad of it when I was a kid starting out. I didn't even get cymbals until about a year later when I bought Sabian B8 Hi Hats and some Bronze coloured Paiste.

The snare strainer on the Striker snare was a very generic strainer - a knob and a lever, but it got the job done. In those days I used to crank the snare up so high that the heads would sometimes break and I would tape a big pad of cotton wool on the batter head and also tape the snare wires against the reso head. It sounded like hitting a box.

The MIJ drums I owned were called Morris. Have you ever heard of Morris MIJ drums? I regret selling it to this day.

Getting back to snare strainers. I find the strainers I like the most are often the most simple strainers in the style of a P-83 - A knob and a lever. I look at the Super Sensitive strainers and they seem way too over the top and don't make too much of a difference to the sound in my opinion. There are some crazy looking contraptions and doohickeys out there, but for me the simple strainers are often the most practical.

My least favorite strainer is the one on the wrong drum with the extra holes.

In use I'm fond of the P-83. It's strong enough, adjustable enough, light enough, and simple enough. Ludwig always excelled at hitting that sweet spot of hardware that was made to stand up to normal use, but before you start getting too heavy/complicated/expensive. I still say their later rail, captive eyebolt mounts, and telescoping arc spurs are all that I need drum hardware to be.

I actually had a Fibes snare for many years. Absolutely the best strainer I ever had. It secured the snares to the strainer by screws, not string or plastic strips. It NEVER failed.