Agree......but I will say one thing, not so long ago I was amongst the uneducated...........I know better now. They will learn. :-X

Are you implying that all buyers of box store reels "Will Learn" to ONLY buy Shimano and Diawa. Maybe - time will tell. But time may also tell that these reels will give good service at their price points. If a person is happy with their gear - then good for them!

On "learning", I'm sometimes glad I don't "learn" everything on this site. Just the other day I hopped in my 23 year-old car, drove to the lake, flipped the bail on my 25 year-old Shakespeare spinning reel, attached to my worthless broomstick BPS Extreme rod, tossed out a chatterbait on my also worthless 10lb BPS Excel mono, caught a 9.06lb LMB, released the bass, and then drove home. As I picked up some scissors that I've been using since about 1968 to cut my line to retie the chatterbait I started thinking, man, what I did was impossible - I should have had a new truck to drive to the lake, a ShimaDai reel, uber-expensive flouro on a St.CroLoomis rod, and at least used a new pair of line clippers to trim my line. How can you catch fish with this old equipment...everyone knows that this cheap stuff doesn't last or catch fish.............

just sayin' :

AMEN!!! i know exactly what you mean. Its nice to have quality gear and theres nothing wrong with paying good money for it if thats your thing. but at the same time, theres no need to be snobby and act like a man cant catch the same big fish on a cheap and/or moderately priced but effective combo as another man can catch on his highly touted and also effective expensive combo. specifically, a lot of people here are very high on shimanos and make comments like "wouldnt have that problem with a shimano" etc., not that shimano doesnt make a quality product(i have a lightweight shimano spinning combo that i love), theyre not the end-all be-all. plenty of people catching quality fish on a bunch of quality products that are available to us that are not shimano. i just wish some didnt act like the brand of their rod or reel makes them a better fisherman than anyone else here. just because you drive a 2011 rolls royce doesnt mean youre a better driver than the guy driving a 1958 vw beetle...

FWIW, the only reel I've owned that had problems straight out of the box was a Citica 200E.

The Shimano name is not necessarily a guarantee of quality.