If your looking at the elites your probably going to see alot of revos, quantums, diawas, shimanos, and ardent. I am a big fan of the shimanos but also use quantums. I tend to favor the Curado by shimano and the Citica also by Shimano. Thats not to say I don't like using my tour and accurist reels by Quantum. My main reason for using Shimano so much is the dependabilty and affordibilty. I don't see anything wrong with using a $500 Diawa Steez if thats what you have confidence in, it feels good in your hand, and is in your price range. But if the 5bills for one reel is a little steep for you like it is me there isn't anything wrong with going with $180 Curado or $120 Citca. Most any reel manufacture you choose to use will have something that feels good for you and fits your price range. The only thing that I will say is if you are going to purchase a reel you are going to be better off getting a reel over $100 then a lower priced reel. My reason for saying this is because the lower priced reels may feel good on the show room floor but 6months or a year latter(depending on how much you fish) the reel will lose it's smoothness and functionablity. The reason for this is because the lower end reels are made with lower quality materials, example being graphite instead of aluminum frame, and lower bearing count.