Well I only own two Shimanos and they are calais's. The Nemesis casts farther than the Calias but the Calias is smoother. I havent had any problems with either. Also the drag on the calias is a little smoother. Now I dont realy think it is fair to compair a $389 reel to a $89 reel. I will say this, when I was handleing the VS it realy did feel comparable to the Calias. I know everybody swears by the curado but To me they just arent that smooth. I have nothing against Shimano, I do like there products but for the money I would go with the Okuma. I have fished a borrowed Curado before and It is about the same quality as the Nemesis but for some reason I can cast the nemesis farther than any other low pro reel. I have it spooled with 17lb test and when I cast a rattletrap as hard as I can, I almost empty the spool. It has about 10 wraps left.