I grew up fishing TD Hi's which were the best around at the time - definitely have an affinity for Diawa products. I gravitated to mostly Shimano over the years but a few years back I decided to change back to Diawa. I bought 20 Diawa baitcasters, a mix of Tatula SV's and Zillions. I fished for an entire season with them - at the end of the year just felt like the ergonomics were not as good for me as the Shimano. I also got more distance with the Shimanos - I use mostly Chronarch MGLs. Also not a fan of the larger drag star knob on the Diawas which I would beat up my knuckles on occasionally. Still great reels, we have a lot of good choices today.