Pentair, Jandy and Hayward are all comparable on the quality of the "plastic" pieces. There are very few problems with this part on any of the major brands. The problems are most often in the electric motor or shaft seal on the pumps, as these are the working parts. You'll find that much like auto makers, whomever is selling one brand tends to talk down the other brands - just like Ford, Chevy, Dodge, etc., which is why you're getting conflicting information. All brands have two speed motors available. All these brands purchase the electric motor from the same mfg - AO Smith/Century. I've worked on all of them and the front housing is not where the problems usually occur. Pentair's Whisperflow, Hayward TriStar, StaRite DynaPro or MaxePro (btw, Starite is owned by Pentair) are the ones I'd recommend, unless you want to drop major bucks on a Variable Speed pump such as Pentair's IntelliFlow or Hayward's EcoStar.