Have been looking at getting a top water set, Wanting to spend around $450 for the reel and like the look of the shimano saragosa 1800 or the daiwa saltist 6000 or 6500. Opinions?

Would you run 50lb braid on a reel that size?

the Saragossa 18000 has more than enough grunt, but is a little on the the big / heavy side I find, and prefer to ue my Stradic 8000. Ideally I'd prefer 10000 or 12000 size. Depends to what rod your going to match to.

I use 50lb braid on a saragosa 8000 for top water fishing off the rocks and have landed kings to 20kg with it but also been dusted by a couple of BIG fish.

Good size reel in terms of weight etc but slightly undergunned for the bigger fish. 

Don't think they do a 10000 or 12000 sized saragosa in NZ?

Top water I would choose Saltist between those two.
Saltist is high speed reel and it does much better job for top water.
I would not choose anything slower than (5.3:1) for top water.

I use a saragosa 18000, choice reel, it is a little heavy, but I don't like to be under gunned when throwing $80 lures at the ocean

Bear in mind the Saltist 5000, 6000, 6500 are all the same reel, just different line capacity. If you drop down to the 4500 to lose out on drag. 

Have tested both these reels pretty thoroughly and would go for the saragosa 18000 first and without hesitation. Use should be considered (the saltist is higher geared) but from memory the saragosa has a slightly higher max drag (20kg) and at high drag settings (10kg+) it is silky smooth compared to the saltist. But you're getting quality either way.

Be patient,save a bit more money and buy a stella.....I looked at a saragossa but noticed that the body was very similar to my spheros i had before.....I had problems with body parts falling off my spheros,so that put me off....Dont dik about like i did....Dont buy something you know you wont be happy with in the long run and then have to sell it to buy a stella.....hunt for a second hand sw 10,000(by the time you have saved up the dosh,one will come up)....800 to 1,000 in good nick.Its worth that bit extra....very nice to use and heaps of grunt.

saltist