Hi all,
Again, my 2 cents worth...
I have had dramas with 2 Diawas recently. A Saltiga 4500 and a Certate 3500hd. Both reels were sent back to Daiwa for service (both running a bit rough)and the Saltiga came back requiring gears and 4 Bearings ( this reel is 12 months old, probably fished a dozen days, well cared for). the Certate required 5 bearings replaced ( 2 years old, fished about 30 days with only 20lb braid- mainly snapper on plastics). Daiwa did not cover this under their warranty.
My local tackle shop handled this for me, and in fact, sent the Saltiga back after the first attempt to service it.
As a result, I have bought a Stella 10 000 and love it so far. Shimanos warranty seems pretty strong and Im told they have a no fuss policy.
Its a crying shame about the Diawas, because I was a real believer ( 6000gt, Expo, 4500,3500hd)
Im told the new Certates have a design flaw relating to the bail rotor touching the spool under heavy drag settings.
As Brandon has said, Im sure there are just as many people that have had trouble with their XYZ brand of reel.