ive had only a quick flick over this tread and while i agree with much of what has been said from all sides of it, bits(a lot) of it are very personal to the respective writers, and should be taken as such , personal,,,,,,,,, i hold no great know how in what is good or bad for x, y, z type of float rod, from length to action to strength/power etc, but i do own a few from a range of makers in different lengths and one hand made 17'(maker shall remain nameless) and in very low to quite high price range, i have to say all my rods do what a rod should do, but some get used a lot and some not so much, theres been quite a bit of talk here of shakespeare, (i happen to rather like their gear and will lay praise upon ) but my go to float rod is an 11/13' maver , mostly used in 13' mode, i chose the rods on feel in my hand rather than name or price or writeup somewhere, i have cork handles and foam , soft tip and stiff all the way from tip to butt action rods, i couldnt tell any of you if theres a rod for you in my hodgepodge bundle, but if your looking to by , my reasoning would be, read a bit, listen to a bit, try not to be brand loyal, and until you feel a few in your hand dont make your mind up... just my personal musings on this subject