I haven't had the honor yet but know a few foks tha have and their comments have all been good...of course, I don't necessarily associate the price of the blank with it's performance. I have found some outstanding blanks that made super fishing rods for little front end investment. I have several "high dollar" smaller wt rods that would give anyone sticker shock to look at them and one of my go-to 3 wt's is an Elkhorn that I built a couple of years ago..great aesthetics and performance that is outstanding. One of my favorite 5 wt's for tailwater fishing is built on a Forecast blank. There have been many many times when I have fished them and left the others sitting in the shop stacked in the corner with the rest of them!!