Good info everybody.
I get paranoid about fogetting to hit the button on my spincasts. If you could watch me fish, you'd laugh. I'm always pushing the thing. I do it every time I nock an arrow, then when I get to where I think I'm going to see fish, then when I see a fish, then after I draw and let down because I didn't get a shot, and every couple of minutes during dead times just to make sure. It's funny.
Also, to check if I pushed it already, I'll pull about an inch of line out to prove the pins are retracted. Then occassionally, I'll turn the handle to reset it, and then push the button again and pull the line.
Keeps me busy on slow days.
If you have a spincast reel that starts to fail, make sure you tug on the line the way I suggested above. Once you start having trouble, the reel can sound like it retracted the pins, but there will still be some heavy drag/snagging to the line and it will mess up your shot. If it sticks, push the button again. If it STILL sticks, crank the handle and hit the button again. That usually does the trick.
Doing this, I've managed to keep a troublesome Synergy running for months, but it is relegated to backup status for anything but casual shooting on my own.