Shimano Saraha or Pflueger President Spinning Reel 2024

mainebasser reply :

I am debating between the two. I have a Shimano Saraha and I have been happy with it, but I have been being pushed towards Pflugers by some other guys in the club. The reel I choose will be going on a 6' M BPS Extreme. What do you think?

shimanogloomis man reply :

id say stick with shimano my friend had a pfluger dosnt last as long as a shimano reel, after a few year the pflugers dont seem to hold up this is what iv seen

justfishin reply :

Want to be really happy? Put a Shimano Stradic on that rod. It may be a few more bucks but, it will last a long time and they are just a fantastic reel for the money.

ww2farmer reply :

I have one Pflueger Pres. that is 3 years old and has held up just fine. Just my .02. I like Pflueger products alot, very reliable, smooth, not too expensive. They keep cost's low by not beeing a very "inovative" company, but they do build solid reliable stuff.

eulerentinc reply :

my opinion is spend 20 extra dollars, thats not too bad, right, and get the symetre reel. You can stick with shimano but still upgrade a little!

HomersTomaco reply :

the sahara is a way better reel.

Big T reply :

I have both the Shimano Sahara and the Symtre. Both are excellent reels. I have some Pfluegers, I am not as impressed with them as the Shimano's, my wife loves them though.

Papa_Tom reply :

Can't comment about the Pflueger spinning reel, have never even held one. I have several Sahara's and am very happy with them. I would be tempted to stay with something I know I am happy with. Good luck with your decision.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

I've owned over a dozen presidents. No issues to speak of.

I've owned 2 symetre's , 1 sahara and 2 spirex's. No issues.

RiskKid. reply :

Quote
I've owned over a dozen presidents. No issues to speak of.
I've owned 2 symetre's , 1 sahara and 2 spirex's. No issues.

This is an opinion I would put alot of faith in......my interpretation is that it comes down to persoal preference and budget. All these choices will more than likely serve you well. My personal choice would be a Shimano but thats just my preference.

mainebasser reply :

Thanks Fellas for all the input. I decided on the Shimano Symetre Reel.... and the Pfluger President Reel. That's the way I settle indecision... It's a good reason to buy another pole.

krisjack69 reply :

If you ever have a problem with Shimano products Shimano support is pretty good.There replacing a part that I lost in the line guide.Should get it next week.I was amazed I didn't even need to give them a receipt.I don't know about Pfluger I never had there products before.

Fish Man reply :

io have the sahara and i love it..smoothest reel ive ever fished an the price is extremely fair

Hot n Tot reply :

Good choice with the Symetre. I think that is Shimano's best value in a spinning reel, from my experience.

volpster31 reply :

you will love the symetre....once you feel it in your hand it will be your favorite spinning reel ....good choice

TrickyVT1887 reply :

I'd stay away from pflueger i work at gander mtn and have seen alot of them come back defective in fact i had someone return a baitcaster last night because it was knocking really bad he had just bought it the week before. they're a smooth reel but they're not well made for the price you cant beat how smooth they are but theyre components are lacking theyre made by shakespeare.

dodgeguy reply :

i would have bought a pflueger medalist with the aluminum frame.i own a bunch of pflueger reels and have no problems with them.shimano is a great reel but they have issues also.there are many guys who have had stradics bind when wet me being one of them.i know many guys who have older curados that don't lay line evenly.they have fixed this by replacing the levelwind and gear.i feel that the pflueger line is just as good for less money.

JT Bagwell reply :

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I'd stay away from pflueger i work at gander mtn and have seen alot of them come back defective in fact i had someone return a baitcaster last night because it was knocking really bad he had just bought it the week before. they're a smooth reel but they're not well made for the price you cant beat how smooth they are but theyre components are lacking theyre made by shakespeare.

I have owned dozens of Pflueger reels over the years and I have only had one problem. That was

with a Trion baitcaster the first year they came out. I was fishing frogs in heavy pads and I busted

a gear or something inside. This was after several hard core pad fishing trips.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Pflueger. The fact that Pflueger is a subsidiary of Shakespeare (K2 Corp) has nothing to do with production. Brunswick owns Triton and Mercury but I highly doubt the bowling ball and air hockey divisions are making the Optimax Motors and TR20X bass boats.

JT Bagwell

guest reply :

I go toGander Mountain I can assure you all working there does not make you an expert ;D

JT Bagwell reply :

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I go toGander Mountain I can assure you all working there does not make you an expert ;D

Oooooooooooooh My Goodness. LMAO

I couldn't help but laugh on that one.

JT Bagwell

dodgeguy reply :

Quote

Quote
I'd stay away from pflueger i work at gander mtn and have seen alot of them come back defective in fact i had someone return a baitcaster last night because it was knocking really bad he had just bought it the week before. they're a smooth reel but they're not well made for the price you cant beat how smooth they are but theyre components are lacking theyre made by shakespeare.

I have owned dozens of Pflueger reels over the years and I have only had one problem. That was

with a Trion baitcaster the first year they came out. I was fishing frogs in heavy pads and I busted

a gear or something inside. This was after several hard core pad fishing trips.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Pflueger. The fact that Pflueger is a subsidiary of Shakespeare (K2 Corp) has nothing to do with production. Brunswick owns Triton and Mercury but I highly doubt the bowling ball and air hockey divisions are making the Optimax Motors and TR20X bass boats.

JT Bagwell

you tell them jt!!!

guest reply :

I have fished Pflueger Spinning reels hard and sucessfully Trions,Preidents and the Medalist While the Medalist is top of those 3 price wise my favorite is the President i switched over to baicasting and i kept one Spinning outfit #35 President on a 6'6" St Croix Premier med/fast Rod You cant beat the Preisdents for the buck I never had a problem with them

I cant say anything about Shimano except that a lot of my friends use them with the same satisfaction i got from the Pfluegers Its a matter of choice I will only answer based on experience and my experience with Pflueger Products has been more than satisfactory.

TrickyVT1887 reply :

The fact i work at gander mtn was just in order for me to establish the fact that i have seen more defective pflueger reels come back defective than the other brands, i have seen trion after trion come back with stripped gears, the fact that i work at gander mtn doesnt make me an expert but when you see the same brand of reel come back broken time after time you start to question the quality of the reel, sorry my observation offended some people and the comment of K2 corp and the statement of triton being owned by brunswick is completely illogical considering shakespeare and pfluegar both make fishing tackle so logically i would think they shared technology and due to similarities seen in some of the reels that they were produced by the same company, but i agree with you i doubt that bowling balls and boats are made in the same factory but there is a little thing called logic that plays to that aspect. And with working at Gander Mountain and selling reels daily kind of implies that i would know something about them well atleast a little more than the typical angler, but then again i could be so ignorant as to not know the difference between Shimano and Pflueger.

Triton21 reply :

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you will love the symetre....once you feel it in your hand it will be your favorite spinning reel ....good choice

I agree totally. I have one and love it. I have fished it hard ofr a few years with no problems.

Kelley

guest reply :

Hey Bassin 1887 I refuse to belive that Trion after Trion came back with stripped gears. I would really like to see solid proff of that I am 56 years old and have beem fishing around the North for a long time and while they are not the Caddilac I can tell you without hesitation that Pflueger,Shimano,Daiwa,and ABU reels are all dependable reels. I get tired of people bashing good products without justification. So a little thing called experience comes over a long period of time with years of experience of using products I have been using some of the products as have my friends for more years than you are old, and I have to tell you my experience with any of the for named companies is not what you desribe about any of them TRIONS INCLUDED>

TrickyVT1887 reply :

Honestly it might have been a bad batch or something or maybe people just don't know how to use a baitcaster that are buying them but i have seen alot of trions returned, this is also true with the lower $50-60 plueger reels. I threw my cousins once and this was the second time out after he had bought it and i noticed that when you would reel the reel quickly then stop the reel would make a loud clicking sound and the spool would keep moving some i have seen this happen in several trions returned which seemed to me to make it a comon problem now he's throwing the quantum Accurist AC500 CX and hasn't had any problems with it, their spinning reels however are great i have never really seen any problems with them our guide series reels which are made by shakespeare, the only problem with the guide series is sometimes you will get one with bad components mainly in the anti reverse but a reel for 30 dollars with 10 bearings is hard to beat, not critisizing just making a statement on what ive observed

FishTank reply :

I have to go with the Saraha. I own Saraha 750 my son and my wife use it more than me but this little reel is a monster. I fished a friend's President and it is a fine reel. Both reels are smooth and well built. I think the Saraha felt better when I hooked on to a fish. The President felt sluggish and the drag was not as good but this is just a personal observation. Both are fine reels and a good value.

guest reply :

Thank you Bass The Trion comes in at 100 bucks. The eschleons are the low end Pfluegers and I have no experience with them at all. I just got my first Accurist Baitcaster I plan to use it at the Fork Ill let all know IT IS SILKY SMOOTH THOUGH

Big T reply :

Mercedes Benz owns the Crysler Corp, but that does mean that a Dodge Neon is the same ball park as a Merceded Slk Coupe either, therefore it is not a logical conclusion to say that a Shakepeare reel gets the same parts as say a Pflueger or a Penn reel that is owned by the K2 corp. But that just my .02 cents worth. ;D

TrickyVT1887 reply :

my .02 to that is that chrysler is also up for sale by mercedes benz no relevance to fishing sorry and i never said a penn was like a pfluegar but there are many similarities between the pfuegar and the shakespeare just as quantnum is a division of zebco and so on and so forth and the fact of the matter is G loomis is owned by shimano so long story short i was stating a fact that was blown out of proportion that shakespeare made pflueger

Maxximus Redneckus reply :

I think it has more to do with care of your reels then manufacturer,I seen a guy take a 60,000 h2 into a creek and blow it up tryin to get back out IF he knew what he was doin it would have not blown up,same goes for rods i have seen ppl break 300 dollar rods with little effort and no common sense,all boils down to who is buying this stuff if you ask me now days there are a lot of ppl with a lot of money and a lot of ignorance...

dodgeguy reply :

Quote
my .02 to that is that chrysler is also up for sale by mercedes benz no relevance to fishing sorry and i never said a penn was like a pfluegar but there are many similarities between the pfuegar and the shakespeare just as quantnum is a division of zebco and so on and so forth and the fact of the matter is G loomis is owned by shimano so long story short i was stating a fact that was blown out of proportion that shakespeare made pflueger

being a chrysler master tech for 14 years i will say i can't wait until mercedes sells us.mercedes has done nothing good for us and every part of theirs we use breaks anyways.

Steve_IA reply :

bassin1887... I assume Gander Mountain is not going to continue selling those defective Trions, right.

TrickyVT1887 reply :

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bassin1887... I assume Gander Mountain is not going to continue selling those defective Trions, right.

actually since we have received the new ones with the new braking system i haven't seen any come back so i'm assuming that they're better now and i cant remember whether it was the reels with the plastic or metal frames so that too could have been a factor i'll post if i see any more returned or any reels in that matter that we get many defectives of

fish-fighting-illini reply :

Man seems the guy stated a fact, never claimed he wa an expert and got ripped for it. He works at a tackle store that sells reels so he sees more reels than any of us probably. The facts are he saw a bunch of Pfluegers come back and not other brands period fact end of story. I happen to like Pfluegers but Bass has a point and I will be keeping my eye out for problems.

No offense and not my place but cut the guy a break the working there thing crack seemed uncalled for and not in the spirit of the forum.

As far as Abu's they probably do seem to make some good stuff in the C3's or C4's etc but they've also made some real "Zebcoish" junk in the Cardinal series and some others for quite a few years. Nearly all manufacturers make some low end stuff to go with the high end stuff so to imply that Diawa, Abu and Shimano only make quality stuff is definately not factual.

guest reply :

Mr Illlini Here Are the facts once again to prove working in a tackle store does not make one an expert h he just stated I AM NO SURE IF THEY RETURNED THE PLASTIC REEELS NOT THE METAL REELS Correct?

Then a few posts back he stated I HAVE SEEN TRION AFTER TRION COME BACK TO THE STORE

And we were talking about baitcasters Because he states so in his first post and also says that later on he wasnt sure about the spinning reels

are you guys ready for the proff of the pudding TRIONS ARE ONLY MADE OF ALUMINUM the Eschelons and Summits are the graphite NOT PLASTIC but GRAPHITE bodied Pfluegers.

CASE CLOSED ***************

If someone explains that their experince of working in a tackle store is why they are making a statement based on observation than they are using that as a credential to prove thier point.

fish-fighting-illini reply :

Muddy good point about the details they were a little sloppy. Apparently the guy did personaly see more Pfluegers of some type come back vs any other brand, on the days that he worked. That seems to be a fact. Exactly what model reels etc seemed sketchy.

The guy is also fairly new to the forums. The responses just didn't seem the right way to go. Just MO thats all.

guest reply :

10-4 This is not a mean spirited convesation People can disagree without being disagreeable

fish-fighting-illini reply :

Now that we have successfuly hi-jacked the guys thread I'll try to get it back on track. lol

Bass - On spinning reels, the Sahara sells for around the same price as the Pflueger President. I don't own a Sahara so I can't comment about it but I have not read a lot of comments on this site pro or con on it. The President has had many supporters and some cons. For the $20 I'd step up to the Symetre or the Medalist reels as insurance. Both of those have been written about with a lot of high praise and very few neg's. I own both the Symetre and the President but haven't had enough time on the water to judge. If you are the type that gets reels serviced often or are concerned about getting one repaired the Pfluegers seem to be a bit more challenging to get that done. I for one would probably buy a brand new reel for $60 before spending $25 repair and $15 to ship but thats just me.

Finaly I think the great Pflueger - Shimano spinning reel debate is as about as passionate an argument as the 85 Bears 79 Dolhins or Steelers 49er greatest ever etc

and not likely to go away anytime soon!

Bass Mekanik reply :

I have used a Pfluger President reel for a couple years now and only had one malfunction. Even though this reel is not intended for salt water use i brought it beach snooking with me and it didn't like that to say the least. Salt and sand in gears and anti-reverse broke. Got it replaced for free and have caught hundreds of bass since. I have used an old Symtre zero and a newer 2500 and I prefer the 2500 Symtre over my President. I like how they come with Anti-rsut bearings also. To sum it all up IMHO Symtre>President.

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