In my experience, I have found the "low end" Shimano's to be junk as well. They'd last about a year or two before crapping out and going South. I finally gave them all away last summer.

I put a ton of summer runs on my Sustain 2500 this summer and have only good things to say about it so far. No worse for the wear.

I have also put a ton of summer runs on my Diawa 2500 Capricorn and it's holding up just fine.

The Diawa is slightly heavier than the Sustain and the drag sounds like a coffee grinder. Other than that, it's another good "higher end" reel.