you can't go wrong buying good tackle - if you use it, it pays for itself.
I always use my Penn Spinfisher and Mitchell 300 comparison.
When I was in HS, I had one reel, picked a Mitchell 300, as almost everyone would then. It was my bass-fishing reel, it was my inshore-fishing reel. By the time I was in college, the gears were shot from the big fish I caught at the coast (reds, specs, smacks). In contrast, my Penns have done all that and much more for 30 years, and just got back from their second borrow fish this fall.
I add that I've met defensive people on the water because of my choice of tackle.
It's also one thing to discuss tackle on a bulletin board. If you talk about tackle with friends on the water, it's usually simple question/answer with truncated discussion.
The best discussion is hand the tackle over to your buddy and let him fish it.
The function of the tackle will prove itself. Anybody who's proud of their new toys, let them be proud.
My buddy went to the coast this fall with 40-lb superbraid on his spinning reel.
I didn't say a thing, but it knotted, as expected, and shut itself down.
My 10-lb Seaguar copolymer will fish another year, is tough-enough to be 15-lb, and thin enough to be 6.
(both rods are Lami)
OK, I'll confess my 3-lb copolymer also knotted, but it's 5-years old, on a micro XUL spinning reel, and I had a spare spool ready to pop in.