I love shimano gear and own many of their reels, however I have numerous diawas and have never had an issue. I have a 1300 and a 700 that have way more fish than they should be rightfully entitled to, and both have had only the barest essential maintenance with 0 failures. Diawa builds good gear!! Over all the years I have been fishing, I have had only 2 major failures, 1 diawa, 1 shimano. I know a couple of guys personally that have had pfluegers fail within a year of purchase, one buddy having had several issues with a couple of reels and read of many more failures online. I stay away from pfluegers, but your mileage may vary. Diawa or shimano, you can't go wrong. And while a little bit dated, I believe the 1300/700 line of diawas are quite possibly the most bullet proof reels around! If I wanted something from shimano, I'd add a few more dollars to your budget and get a stradic. I own 3 and they are all very solid!