I have to agree. I love my maverick. It is made just as well as the 500. And you can swap the parts. Mine has never hesitated to operate 100%.If you want something reliable and affordable the Mossberg Maverick "security" edition is a great choice.
You can get it from Academy sports for under $200. It's built to swap MOST parts with the Mossberg 500 so if you want to swap grips or add a side saddle you can just get 500 parts.