New for 2011, the XDP+ 7/9 features a full cage body, sealed drag and is ready for saltwater.

In the hand, this feels relatively light for its size. The full frame body has been trimmed and tweaked and machined to remove weight, similarly the spool has slim sides and holes wherever holes are possible. The thing to bear in mind is that a reel like this starts life as two blocks of aluminium cut from a hefty rod. Machining then removes much of the weight and rigidity of those two, so reel design is a balance between weight and strength. Then fit the spindle, drag and handle – which all add weight. Scierra has opted to fit the spool to the body using a captive-nut which means there is no play between spool and body.

Machining and finish seems good; around the body and cage I can find a few corners which are less rounded than they might be, but none that should come in contact with line. The finish and anodising are very attractive, sleek lustre gunmetal, with no visible signs of the machining.

A relatively large drag is sealed into the back-plate of the reel body, the clutch mechanism is inside the spool, the now familiar one-way needle bearing. The XDP+ came with no instructions on reversing the drag (this sample was released months ahead of its release to tackle shops so I would expect instructions to be provided by the time these go on sale.) I assume I need to winkle the bearing out of the spool and turn it over. As it stands this is set for left-hand cranking, which is fine.

The drag is smooth and the drag range is wide. I like the click on the tension adjustment and making subtle adjustments was easy. The spool clicks as line goes out and is silent as line comes in, conventional set-up. As it happens the outgoing click is nice and subdued. This spool is effectively free-spinning in the rewind direction, that has the curious and not uncommon effect that this spool can and did take up a few turns of line during casting. In the scheme of things that’s no big deal, it could conceivably cause a tangle by pulling line from the bottom of the heap at my feet – rare but possible.

This has a large arbour spool and it’s a wide spool. The capacity is prodigious, but more important the width of this spool means, unlike narrower spools, line does not often slump across and get tangled plus the actual drag varies less as the spool empties and fills – possibly the compelling virtues of large arbour reels.

Overall, this is an attractive, modern reel. It is light enough for freshwater fishing, tough enough for saltwater. If the price I have been quoted for the XDP+ is correct (I am writing two months before the XDP+ reaches UK tackle shops) then this looks like a very good buy indeed.