I own both brand reels (an Abu C4 and a Shimano cardiff 300 series). I've owned the garcia for about ten years and fought some good fish and had no problems. I have just recently purchased the cardiff and only used it once but it is also nice. I pretty much do all the servicing myself so I'm not familiar with the customer service but I'm sure the shimano is better as far as that goes but if your on a budget you can't go wrong with Abu Garcia.