A month or so ago, my fishing club had a Cast and Compare outing where we had fly shops and rod company manufacturer's reps provide us with rods, reels and lines to test cast both on river and on the land. I had the chance to cast several seven weights, including the Sage One, the Sage Accel (a new model for Sage), an Orvis Helios and an Orvis Recon (also a new model). Of those rods, I liked the Sage One the best, but that rod is priced beyond my budget. The rod that stood out of all of these rods as the best value was the Orvis Recon. It was light and responsive and just felt good to cast. It is definitely not a super stiff rod like the Temple Fork Axiom. The Recon is more money than any of the Temple Fork rods at approximately $450 but in my opinion it is a really good rod for the money. You might also be able to find an Orvis Access rod on closeout for a good price.

Whatever seven weight that you end up buying, try to test cast the rod with some different 7 weight lines and with an eight weigh line to determine what line feels best with a particular rod.