That’s a very difficult question to answer accurately. Many anglers would simply say yes, Shimano is better. In my opinion, that would require some very serious and detailed justification. Shimano is certainly a more popular, well-known, high-end brand. Without several pages and some serious research and scientific comparisons, I wouldn’t like to say one brand is better than the other. I like and own them both. Shimano has a much bigger range across all products. But they’re also a much bigger company with a much bigger market share. My thoughts are that both companies sell excellent fishing reels and are worthy of shortlisting for your next reel purchase.