12 hours ago, DustyBill said:

You're right my bad. The SLX XT does.

 

You're right. The SLX does not. It has 3 +1 bearings. I ment the 4 +1 SLX's like the XT, MGL, and DC. For whatever reason, spellchecker, forgetfulness, or just being tired, the "XT" was missing. 

 

None of the reels in the SLX line up have X Ship. The additional bearing on the XT, MGL & DC is the drive shaft bearing. On the regular SLX there's a bushing in it's place.

So is the MGL deemed to be nice but lacking durability due to the gearing?

I'm a Shimano guy.    I've no experience with the SLX reels.  I do own a Curado 70 ( the 8-1) model.  Got it the first year they came out. 

I experienced a learning curve to this reel.   I was used to the Curado E model, which for me was pretty much a set it & forget it system.  2 brakes on and 4 brakes off and I never had an issue throwing whatever I wanted to that wasn't operator error.

The Curado 70 was a different thing.   With the interior brakes and the exterior dial I had trouble when I switched baits that were a significantly different weight ( like from a stick worm to a 7" power worm and I definitely had issues when I switched weights, even something as minor as going from. 3/16 to 1/4.  I got to the point where, after 4 beers I wouldn't pick it up, especially when I was practicing in the yard, trying to learn its idiosyncrasies.

 

Finally got comfortable with it and fished it more last year.  Finally found the right use for it.   These days I put 17 Abrazx on it and stuck it on the 10" worm rig.  Then I used alot of rod wrap to fit the handle to my hand and also if I decide to change reels on the worm rod now I'll have 2 sacrifice  a c couple of rod wraps.  I can throw whatever I want and I'm seeing now why guys like the extra fast speed, to bring in the bait when the cast is over.