Although I don't personally own an Echo rod, I have cast them and from what I have seen they seem to be great rods and reasonably prices.

The post about the rod breaking is strange -- must have been a defect in the rod. Tim Rajeff has a video on his web site of him deliberately breaking an Echo fly rod -- he had to use a fork lift and an unbelievable amount of weight to bend the rod far enough to break the rod -- check it out -- it is truly amazing how much it took to break that rod.