A little more on the Diawa Black Gold. Last week I surf fished every day for three or four hours with a 2500 model. There's been a lot said and written about the quality parts and engineering of this reel and it's value compared to reels costing better than twice as much. My use of it wasn't all that demanding. It got dunked a couple of times and no big fish but it worked perfect every day and IMO is as smooth as any spinning reels I've used including reels costing more than twice as much. I've been a Shimano fan for a lot of years, still am but I'd have to say for smoothness of operation and if the quality of parts and engineering is as good as reported, for around $90 the Black Gold might be as good a spinning reel value for heavy saltwater or freshwater use as you'll find.
