" Maybe the "SW" are just larger sizes of their standard certate lineup."
Yes I believe so. Certates have always been SW capable/rated from Ver 1.
I have a bunch of Certates in my quiver from the original Ver 1 ( blue ) up to current in sizes 2500 - 4000 & they have all performed extremely well...............if they didn't they would not still be there in my quiver.
I have a pair of Catalina 4500 which have been reliable too. I wouldn't hesitate to replace them with 5000 or 6000 LT Certate SWs when its time to upgrade
Slightly off topic, My son recently had a 4000 Sol 3 catastrophic stem failure on the strike ( left to tuck the rod under one arm & hold the broken off reel in the hand while winding things in with the otherhand . This model has a metalised reel cap that extends from the heel of the body well up the stem, This design separates the stem into 3 legs with the rear 2 being acutely angled & small in cross section to carry the tensile load from line pressure down the rod. There was nothing overtly wrong with the Vaion Thermoplastic molding............its just too small in cross section in the rear legs of the stem on the 4000 size to be strong enough. A 12Kg rated reel being used with 8# line at 3-4# drag on a 7 month old unmarked but highly used reel suffering a clean tensile failure on both rear legs & a front leg of the stem that peeled back like a banana skin indicates a serious design problem with the stem design. stem strength appears to have been sacrificed for the "beauty" of the metallised cap.
The issue appears limited to the 4000 size & the same body molding is used in the current Sol 3 ; TD Black ;& Emeraldas offerings in 4000..............beware. Smaller & larger reel sizes do not appear to be affected.
This is a shame because the Sol3 series was only a small step down from the Certate specs , but nearly half the price.
Daiwa here in Oz were quick to respond to the warranty claim & gave us a store credit to enable us to upgrade to a 4000 Certate, which was out catching fish in less than a week from the Sol failure......... we certainly didn't want a replacement Sol 3.
Kudos Daiwa for acting promply.
FWIW