# Shimano Sahara Reel



## Utahgreenhead (Apr 28, 2009)

Does anybody have one of these? I was thinking about picking one up. My old Abu Garcia bit the dust.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

The Sahara is a pretty decent little reel - 3 ball bearings will be fairly smooth and Shimano service is the best you can get. 

What kind of fishing do you do? 

If you can spare an additional $20, I would suggest going up to the Symetre. I use that as my go-to reel. It is my favorite. It's 5 bearings (4+1) and an absolute joy to use. Fish practically thank me when they come out of the water for catching them with it. I've been very satisfied with it and I've used it for downriggers, casting, and trolling in fresh and salt water. I've even gotten beach sand in it and it still keeps plugging along smooth as always.


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## Utahgreenhead (Apr 28, 2009)

Dodger, thanks for the feedback. My fishing is all freshwater, and usually I pretty much cover it all from dunking a worm, to throwing spinners and other tackle later in the summer. My usual approach is to put it on my fly rod, and carry a fly reel, that way i can cover all my bases if you know what I mean. Plus the longer rods usually mean longer casts. But thanks for the heads up, I'll look into the Symetre.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

You'll like both the Sahara and the Symetre for your type of fishing. The Symetre is the best reel in that class and you won't be disappointed, especially if you catch something with size. 

The Stradic is the step up from the Symetre but it is around $50 more than the Symetre - only worth it for salt water, I think. 

The extra ball bearing in the Symetre makes it noticeably smoother. Check them out and see which you like, but you'll like the Symetre.


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## fishnate (Sep 11, 2007)

I own several Shimano reels including the Sahara and never had a problem/complaint with any of them. Smooth and reliable reels.


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## wshiwsfshn (May 9, 2008)

Another vote for the Symetre, I was never really brand loyal until I got this one. I will probably stick with Shimano's from here on out just because of this reel.


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## Leaky (Sep 11, 2007)

I festered about posting this from the beginning. This is a divergent opinion, so judge for yourself. Just trying to help, I hope. I've owned 3 Symetres and finally gave up on them. Why, -------, 2 reasons. They can't tolerate getting water in the gear area and no matter how you baby them, and I do mean baby, the brass(?) worm gear will wear out in about 1 1/2 years if you fish a couple of times a week during warm water fishing. It will start showing signs of reel cranking roughness/stiffness after about a year and eventually not crank at all. When I disassembled them the worm gear was worn out. I even tried rebuilding and greasing to no avail. After reading several posts on the subject (check for yourself) over the last several years, I decided to switch to Phlueger President and it was a bit better but still couldn't tolerate an accidental dunking and seemed to have somewhat better worm gear. It however seemed to survive my use and dunking much better if I shot in some light weight oil into the gear area every few months. Finally, I bought an Okuma Expixor and have had zero problems with it after 1 1/2 years, especially after dunking and have no hints of smoothness of reeling (worm gear wear) like the others. Better worm gears? I'm still using the Okuma and use the President as back up. Needless to say, I am not a fan of the Symetres even though everyone else is. I stll shot some lightweight oil in the gear area just as a precaution. This is just my own personal first hand experience.    Sorry if I went against the grain and ruffled any feathers.


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## BROWN BAGGER (Sep 13, 2007)

I'm with you leaky, I have wanted to, and stopped my self from posting on this thread. I bought my wife a sahara and it didn't last worth a beans. I owned the symmetry also and stopped buying shimanos for myself. I just recently bought my wife a sedona and saved 20 bucks over the sahara. it still has the fluid drive, so we'll see how it goes with it. I have been buying pfluegers and have been happy with them. I still feel you have to spend a good chunk of change to get a good reel.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

That's interesting guys. I know the Shimano bearings are really sensitive to rusting which is exacerbated if they get wet. Most of the time when a Shimano goes under water, you have to take it apart and dry it out immediately. If you guys are in tubes, I agree, a Shimano reel may not be the best for that application.

But if you are on shore or in a boat, life is good. 

I've had my Symmetre since 2005 and fished it in fresh and salt water since then. I've even dropped it in the sand on the beach. I haven't fished it hard but I have fished it a lot in 6 years. It's just as smooth today as it ever was.


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## Utahgreenhead (Apr 28, 2009)

Dang, I wish you guys would have said something earlier. I already had bought the reel, put line on it and fished with it by the time you posted something. But so far so good. I'll keep the Okuma in mind if something happens with this one. I really like their fly reels.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

Utahgreenhead said:


> Dang, I wish you guys would have said something earlier. I already had bought the reel, put line on it and fished with it by the time you posted something. But so far so good. I'll keep the Okuma in mind if something happens with this one. I really like their fly reels.


Are you fishing in a tube?

If you keep it dry, you'll be able to enjoy using a great reel for a long time. I've never had a single problem with mine, even after dropping it in beach sand.

Have you enjoyed it so far?


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

I have a Sahara.... used to fish it really hard but I agree with Leaky. Once you get it wet, it'll keep fishing "ok" for a little while and eventually bind up until it dries and you can oil it up again. I've never had mine bind up so bad you just couldn't reel with it, but it was definitely sticky until it dried. I love it though and thought about going to the Symetre if or when I get a new reel. I can't justify the money for the Stradic, although I look at those high end reels and drool. I wonder if they're not more touchy than the cheapos.... Anyway, thanks for the info from the naysayers, definitely gives me other options to consider. I did have a buddy that had a Okuma reel... was heavy but smooth and if he ever wanted to keep fish, he could just drop his reel on their head to kill em. :shock: :lol:


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## flydaddy834 (Sep 11, 2007)

i broke down and bought the presidente i have had shimanos and one locked up after a year and have bought a few since but last year i purhcased the phlueger and really pleased. I have landed some nice ones and was really happy to find one as good if not maybe better than the shimanos. good topic though cant wait till spring all of you hard deck people posting reports wish i ice fished after seeing all the fish but i will continue to wait for months to come.


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## Utahgreenhead (Apr 28, 2009)

So far, I've really enjoyed the reel, and haven't had any problems with it. But I haven't dunked it yet either, so that might make a difference. I don't do a whole lot of float tubing, and if I do, I use my fly rod and reel more than the spinning reel. So maybe I'll be lucky and have it work for me. All I know is that my abu garcia kind of sucked in a really bad way and it only lasted like 5 years. I think I payed like $60 for it, so it was a fairly decent reel, or so I though.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

Did you get the Sahara or the Symetre? 

If you have problems with it, let me know. I can fix most reels.


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## Leaky (Sep 11, 2007)

Ok, I'm going to risk being repetitive. I still think the the Okuma XPI/OR is by far the better with the "president" coming in second. I don't know whether their worm gear design is superior or what since I've not had to disassemble it to look but the reel just has more durability under reasonable conditions than the others. If someone has some technical comments to help, I would love to hear them Yes, I'm hung up with worm gear wear, worm gear material/ design, and water as a contributing factor.
Also, for me, it has been a very significant help to all my reels to shoot some light weight oil int the crank area every 3 to 5 trips, for whatever that's worth. My Okuma and my president, to a lesser degree) are still going strong after 2 years now. I have to be more careful with the President and immediately try to get rid of any water and add oil when I get home. Hopefully, this will register om some others with more experience or tech knowledge of design, etc.
That's just my own experience and am open to any and all comments.


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