Get a 9500 Penn Spinfisher and a spare spool while you are at it(they don't cost an arm and a leg). They are reasonable weight but that's because they are solid. Solid gears, solid spindle thingie that the spool sits on - not the thickness of a strand of spaghetti like a Daiwa Emblem Pro - so its not going bend out of alignment on a couple of big rays.

The spools are not real longcast but I compared my cast distance (about 120 meters with a dummy bait) with a longcast Emblem Pro spool and the Penn 9500 spool (on identical rods) and on average the cast with the Penn was about 2 meters less - about the margin of error??? So I don't get hung up on not using longcast spools for my fishing.

Shimano reels tend to have multiple delicate components. OK for freshwater and boat fishing but not a sandy windy surfcasting beach. Accidently drop a Shimano reel in the sand or have you rod pulled out your beach spike or have a big gust of wind blow sand or gravel over it and its off home and out with the jeweler's magnifying eye piece and the tweezers to disassemble the line roller, clean it and hopefully get the half dozen tiny components back together in order. I have a couple of Shimano 14000 Ultegra cI4. Lovely and light, smooth as, longcast spools etc, but they are not practical in crap Wellington/Wairarapa weather.

My go to reels for years now have been Penn Spinfishers and the latest version with instant anti reverse and more attention given to water sealing is tough as and good value. They are easy to service too which is important in a tough surfcasting environment. Having said that in the last couple of years I have only had to look at the line rollers. (I have taken the side plates off and its like the earlier versions - uncomplicated and solid but I would leave the anti reverse well alone)