Always and interesting topic to discuss. I like to find a rod that meets the needs of the person that is going to use it. It isn't necessarily always an expensive rod that will get the job done. Last year when one of the majors released their brand new technology in fly rods, I bought one of the blanks and built it out to their specifications. I was really impressed with its action. none of the 4 shops in town had one of these on their racks yet so I proceeded to visit one of the shops with my newly built rod. Everyone ooohed and ahhhd at it's feel and casting performance in the parking lot, but then one of the owners suggested a shootout with a couple of rods off the wall. Targets were set up and 3 different reels with different lines were selected and the shootout began. After about 30 or 40 minutes, we walked back inside and discussed our individual feelings about both of the rods and how they felt with really good lines on them. not more than 15 minutes into the discussion, everyone had agreed that the rod off the wall gave all the same performances of the new technology rod from the major rod maker. I won't mention the names of the rods that we used, but I will tell you that the $650 rod would be hard to justify when a rod that was less than $200 stood up in performance with it as far as parking lot casting goes. Everyone knows that is different than fishing a rod, but people that fish a lot can tell you how a parking lot cast would compare to fishing a rod. My bottom line is find a rod that works really well for you. If you look around you can find great performance in all levels of fly rods. Heck, one of my favorites to fish is a TFO Ticr 9' 5 wt, and I own a lot of rods that cost a lot more...(most of which I obtained in rod trades on bamboo).