Sage makes excellent rods......

Their reels have been out for quite a while (10 +years) but have not really caught on, at least from what I've seen.

You might want to broaden your search to include some other brands and models.

The fish you will be chasing will also have a bearing on how much reel you may want in an 8 weight if you're torn between how much to spend--- fish like stripers, bluefish, redfish, speckled trout (weakfish) etc don't tend to test tackle as much as bonefish, permit, baby tarpon, and false albacore (or other small tunas like bonito etc). If you're going to be doing a lot of fishing for speedsters like that, it'll probably be with guides and or destination type trips---- so the extra cost of a premium reel becomes something of a rounding error in terms of your total expense (if that makes it any easier to justify spending more.)

The two reels from Sage you listed are at significantly different price points.

Sage 2000 series 2080 for 8 weights goes for around 210.00
other reels to look at that would be plenty for anything in the NE and great for occasional flats stuff:
Bauer Junior Mac JM3 (239.00)
Lamson Velocity 3X (280)

The Sage 4500 series has the 4580 for 8 weights and goes for 425.00
If you're shopping in this range for a new reel, take a look at
Galvan Torque Torque 8 (400.00)
Nautilus CCF CCF-8 (425.00)

But in this price range, you might also look for a premium used reel, with a significant discount off list (something like 66% of list would be a good deal IMHO). It should come in around the price of a new 4580. These reels are bulletproof and pop up every once in awhile:
Used Tibor Everglades (new 630.00)
Used Pate Bonefish (new 530.00)
Used Abel 3N (new 630.00)

I would also give a hard look at the Colton Torrent T810. These are sold direct and are not in shops, new at 315.00 it seems like a great deal in terms of bang for the buck. http://www.coltonfly.com/torrent.php

Just my 2 cents...

mark