
I've just bought two navi xta's with the baitrunner spool and sold my emcasts. Nothing wrong with the emcasts, for the money they're really good. I just wanted a quicker transition from freespool to drag and the xta does the job.
The Navi is just as smooth as the emcasts (has less ball bearings though) and is a similar weight; the spare spool(2 spare with xsa,1 with xta) on the navi is graphite, alloy with the emcast. Both have good winching power,both have a good drag, both are annoyingly too "free" and the handle spins round when trying to set up bobbins when legering!
If you can, go and have a play with both- i suspect it'll come down to which colour you prefer! ;-)
P.S. The xta's are only £60 if you shop about.