Sahara Rear Drag

I live on a lake, retired, and fish at least 4 days a week. Do that for 5 years and you can actually wear poles & reels out! So I have several reels, and this reel is a favorite. High quality, never a problem, bought a second. Ps: I prefer this reel to my $700 Stela.

Been a while since i got this for my dad -but he says it has been good every time he goes fishing.

I have eight Sahara's. They are without the best bang for the buck. They have all been smooth as silk. You would have to pay twice the price to find comparable. I have reels that did cost twice the price but when I go fishing I always grab the rods with a Sahara on board. Shimano builds a great reel!!!

Used to have a Shimano reel just like this believe it was the GT series now residing at the bottom of spinny reservoir RIP trout slayerThe 2500 Sahara is the exact reel I used to have but improved it is so hard to find a rear drag reel let alone one that has a quick adjust and that quick adjust is what landed me my 10 lb cutbow I love this real and mounted to an ugly stick pretty deadly combination lookout northern pike I'm coming for ya!

Good reel, nice and smooth. Bummer about only one spool for the US market and the European version comes with 2... oh well. It casts very well and handles big fish with light line, the first day I caught a 30+lbs freshwater drum on 6lb mono line. Fun! The drag was easy to use brought in the fish with ease. Only giving 4 stars because of the no extra spool. When I purchased the 2500-r a couple of years ago (lost it in a fire with all my fishing equipment) it came with and extra one, but not this reel. Just FYI.

When I saw that shimano still made a rear drag and fighting drag reel, I had to have one. Couldn't decide between the 1000 and 2500 sizes so I bought both. Works really well. Smooth reeling and drag. The biggest problem I have is that the line loops around the bail pickup roller housing. Wind knots have been minimal. I like the reel and will continue to use them.

Purchased in November 2022. Used the reel 2 times before I figured out what is wrong with it. I'm very disappointed in my new 2500 series. It would be a 5⭐, but the reel I received has a screw that is overtightened for the bail arm and it doesn't allow the roller the line sits on to spin freely. Thus causing tension when reeling in, but this is also damaging to mono line and it did damage the majority of the line. So this will cost me now money for the oil for the bearing "if" I can get the screw undone. Then more money to reline it all.HAND TIGHTEN THE SCREW! THAT'S ALL YOU HAD TO DO, BECAUSE THAT'S THE TENSION THAT SHOULD BE ON IT, HAND TIGHTENED!!If you want to make due and send me a new one to save your butt for a review. I would greatly appreciate your company making right and I will change my review, because you are the retailers. Not the makers. I've owned this reel for not even 7 months and used it twice.

Top quality is what to expect from Shimano. I also own 2 sizes of the Shimano Calcutta reels. It doesn’t get any better! I also have a Sahara 4000 reel that’s more than a few years old and never have had any problems. Ever! So I don’t expect any problems with this newer model. I like rear drag reels. I tested and it worked great. Its a very smooth winding reel. I can tell it’s top quality. Looking forward to the ice melting here in MI so I can go out on Lake St. Clair and latch on to some Walleye with my new Sahara.