Much more than I expected

For the past few months I have been using much longer mono leaders when euro-nymphing (35ft or more of 8lb Amnesia) in order to gain distance and feel on the relatively "big" water of the Yuba River. It really works well for me. The downside, however, is that I found myself frequently popping off the spool of my Orvis Hydros SL reel to free the leader that finds its way between the spool and reel frame. And, of course, this always happens at the worst possible times, like right after lobbing a cast perfectly into the sweet spot of a riffle. So I started shopping around for a "full cage" or "full frame" reel to eliminate this problem and, talking with Devin, ordered the Sempe Crid 5/7 on his recommendation. I just received it yesterday and was able to use it for a couple of hours this morning for the first time. Wow, I love it.
The Sempe totally met my expectation for keeping the leader-fouling issue at bay. What a relief! But what I did not expect was the super smoothness of the reel's action and its steady, infinitely adjustable drag. It is also quiet, which is a characteristic I particularly like. And, the Sempe balances well on my 10'9" 3wt T&T Contact II, and on my 4wt version of the same rod. Oh yeah, it looks good too. I can't speak to durability yet, but it looks like it will go the distance.
In short, I doubt there's a better performing reel out there, especially at this price.