Just got my President 25 XT today, I spooled it with 4# mono, sweet and smooth, has a bearing and washer on the shaft, hey Shimano doesn't  do that on their lower end reels for sure my CI-4 reel doesn't have it.  I got a perfect match on a ultra light Major Craft rod, going fishing this evening to catch some crappie and brim! 

17 minutes ago, Bigassbass said:

Just got my President 25 XT today, I spooled it with 4# mono, sweet and smooth, has a bearing and washer on the shaft, hey Shimano doesn't  do that on their lower end reels for sure my CI-4 reel doesn't have it.  I got a perfect match on a ultra light Major Craft rod, going fishing this evening to catch some crappie and brim! 

Ya - the XT-25 is an excellent panfish reel...would also make a great finesse rig with braid/FC leader...that's what my President-25 is doing. My XT-30 is on my Fury 703SF as my main wacky/shakey/weightless-worms reel.

 

I have 2 of the 30 size.  Great reel, great drag, great everything really for the price point.  Only problem I've ever had with them, is that the reel clicker tends to break and cause the reel to go silent.

 

Still works great just can't hear the drag engage.

Hey Dink, can you send it to Pflueger and get them to fix it?

I had 2 president xt's 30 for 2 years, it was a good real, no complaints. I sold them to upgrade to a Stradic FL, but the president xt was a solid real. 

I'll take a president for pan fishing any day over a Stradic, I have 3 Shimano reels and I think my Pflueger is just as good a reel as my CI-4.  If the FL was lighter I'd buy one, those are super nice reels! 

2 hours ago, Bigassbass said:

I'll take a president for pan fishing any day over a Stradic, I have 3 Shimano reels and I think my Pflueger is just as good a reel as my CI-4.  If the FL was lighter I'd buy one, those are super nice reels! 

I believe that the weight of the two reels is very close, but the stradic feeling much more robust and smoother, but not an apples to apples comparison. The president xt is an excellent reel from my experience and hard to beat for the price. 

i like my president xt 30 better than my pflueger supreme 30 because the xt has a better feeling cork type knob and the supreme is rubber knob.