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I was interested in buying my first president reel. While browsing on the internet I was disappointed. Many of you have given this reel high praise. The reviews say that the newer Presidents now use plastic gears and fail pretty quickly. Anybody have similar experience?
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I like mine really well. First time I've heard of plastic gears. Time will tell. I've had one of mine close to eight years and no problems yet.
I have a Pressp20x (the current model), which is the smallest in the series. It's around the size of a 500 or 750 in other brands. Here is a photo of the internals. I'm not going to say that the gears are made out of unobtainium (feels like pot metal), but not plastic. It also has a 6 pound max drag, so it's an ultralight reel and isn't meant to pull in huge cats on 30 pound mono :). Here's a link to a video of a guy cleaning what appears to be the pressp series reel as well (not me). YouTubeQuote:
Originally Posted by silverside
Attachment 378230
Definately not plastic. I think that I will get one for jigging. I usually use Okuma, Lews, or shimano but wanted to give this one a try also.
Thanks fellas as I now feel like it would be worth the money.
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I have 2 of the 20s. Both are for pans/crappie and have performed perfectly. I think they are a good value for the money. The gears don't look plastic to me.
Bob
I use the President Underspin reel for myself and my clients when fishing for bluegill or jigging or slip-floating for crappie and LOVE them. So do my clients. The ease of use makes fishing fun for folks from 8 to 80. I own 14 of the reels, including 5 new ones and as far as I can tell, no one of the gears are plastic. I never have problems with them.
I designed gears for Smith Corona years ago.( 68-70) One of our breakthrough designs was to change from metal (steel) to Delrin, a new high strength plastic on the market.Quote:
Originally Posted by silverside
Not only was it quieter and self lubricating it outlasted our current metal one by a good bit in life tests. The tolerances on the delrin were tighter too.
We had our own model shop in the engineering dept so we did all the testing yourselves, so we were comfortable with results.
Just a bit of experience I thought I'd share from my distant past.
SeaRay gave a great answer. So many times we fault "plastic", yet the reality of the matter is usually a challenge to our "old school" way of looking at things. Fact is the SR 71 spy plane was covered with a composite skin.....many would call it "plastic" !!!
And I might add that I own 6 Pfluger Presidents and have nothing but high praise for them....including the pink one ;-)
I forgot to add I have several Presidents from the 20 to 35 and love them. Never had an issue .
Heck, I know plastic is tough. I don't know about you guys, but I about need power tools to get into some of this blister packaging that everything seems to be wrapped with nowadays.
While I certainly admire the toughness of these types of plastics... even as a type of store security measure... I still find this type of plastic packaging exceedingly aggravating to open.
Also, just look around you at all the things (pretty neat things) that are being made using 3DPrinters... even by kids these days.
I completely agree with the quality of the Pflueger President. I also fully expect to see a CDC member making "high tech" plastic lures with one of these printers sometime soon.
I just read a meme that asked why eggs come in flimsy Styrofoam cartons and batteries come sealed in plastic it takes a chain saw to open. :RoflQuote:
Originally Posted by Special K
Some of the less expensive Pflueger reels are junk ,but that is so with pretty much all of the less expensive reels .
the higher end Pflueger i have is sweet as is the Shimano ....of the 2 though a cheap Shimano will out last a cheap Pflueger from what i see on the use it daily program .
my 2 cents
What Ketchn said!
I have to agree. I used ultralight reels for over 30 years fishing for rainbow trout in streams and have tried most every brand out there. Of the base models I used, only Shimano and Daiwa held up to the constant casting. Never cared for the Pfluegers, but never owned a President. Bail springs were the first things to go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ketchn
I have some Pflueger President underpins. Bestest underpin I have. Dual pick up matters.
Competition in the fishing reel business is fierce to say the least. Sub-standard reels with quality issues and down time just don't survive. The Presidents are survivors due to their endurance and performance (and low cost). I don't see the new ones having any issues, but only one of the 6 I currently have is of the "new breed". Will let you know if I change my mind. :)
I bought my buddy a new Pflueger President for the rod he won and It almost completely locked up. He sent it for repair work and still had a hard time cranking it some. There was a catching point each turn of the handle. Sent it back again and although slightly still there it's much better but wasn't like it should be. He is using it now but it's just not what I expect and have with mine. I love mine and have no problems at all with them.
I had bought a Pflueger President XT on clearance a while back and it had the same slight catch in each turn but I returned it for refund instead of having to mess with repair. We are thinking there might be some current quality issues maybe??? :dono
I bought a new “20” size in the spring and happy that I didn’t have any quality issues. Both mine are ones that come in a box and not the blister pack.
Bob
When I fished 5 days a week.....365 a year......I tried every model of Pflueger UL spinning reel on the market at the time....to include a couple of Patriarch reels. None of them held up. It takes a very good reel to hold up to 10 hour days on the water making several thousand casts a day....for 5 days straight...then start over after the weekend. The Pfluegers wore out real quick. It was the same with the Shimano's until I hit the Stradic line. It took that kind of beating for 3 years. The only other US markt reel I used that could take that kind of use was the Daiwa SS 700....wound up giving it to my son as I really did not like the fact it was not instant anti-reverse. It is still going strong today. If you are a cast and retrieve fisherman....fishing only a couple of times a week the lower end reels will last a long time. But when you are hitting it everyday for the whole day the problems will show up. I used the Stradic until 2012 when I started buying Japanese made reels. While I never had an issue with the Stradic in full disclosure Shimano made sure I never had an issue...LOL. I would send the reel to Shimano USA for servicing. More often than not they would send me back a brand new Stradic at no cost to me...they tend to do this for a lot of folks.
Regards
I like my Pfluegers but as Randy says, a step up in quality costs $. I’m saving up my nickels and dimes to step up in a higher quality reel.
Bob
Have several of the President reels and one XT and have had good luck with them. Seem to be a good reel for a reasonable price.
I used one of the President underspins with kyfishman recently and was pleasantly surprised by the ease of use. Performed flawlessly. Thinking of one for a new jigging rod. Have no clue as to the gears being metal or plastic. It was a smooth operating reel.
Awhile back I bought a Pfueger combo that consisted of a president 20 reel and a 4' 8" rod. So far it's worked flawlessly.
I have 4. 2-20’s and 2-25’s. I think their fairly priced for what they are in their respected price bracket. Not fair to compare a $50 reel vs $150 reel. I had to scrap 1 of the 25’s. Any product can have a lemon from time to time. Will continue to use other 3 but will probably step up to a better reel in future. On 1–10 scale, 7.5-8. But that will catch you a lot of Crappie!!
Since I only catch small fish, and not many of them, my Presidents have preformed well. In fact I have each one named, but realize now that I am probably going to have to change their names to something more acceptable in view of the current atmosphere ;-)
Just a FYI to check the official Pflueger website occasionally. I found the Lady Presidents 35 on closeout for $15. They are perfect for inshore and pier fishing up at Southport and they are a good Striper reel too. Heck of a deal I got 3 of them pink color don't bother me a bit. Looks more like coral anyway.
I have, I think, seven presidents up to 30 series. So get the only issue I had was one of the reels drag washers compressed and had to have an extra stainless washer added to keep it from self tightening. I don’t use them as much as Alphahawk does, but I don’t baby my stuff either. They’re taken Care of and not abused but are likely to get bounced around on the way to and from the water. Comparing apples to apples, good reel for the money. If I was to hold one rod and one reel in my hand, day after day I would move up to a better quality reel. Traveling with 6 or more rods on the deck to reach down and change presentation, they’re just fine.
Ok guys I need more input. I can not find a President 20 in stock anywhere. I hoped to test balance it before buying. So here's where I need input from users. I want to mount it to a 9 ft Southern Crappie for vertical jigging. Will the weight of the 20 be too light?
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