Only one breakage - touch wood - in a lifetime fishing, and that was when, during one of those days when you do everything wrong, I pulled impatiently at a wrap-over on a DAM float rod and snapped a foot off the tip. Apart from being more careful since then, I'm never tempted to go for rods or poles that boast of low weight as a primary virtue - I like light tackle, but pushing that to the limits makes things more fragile, and besides, I've often found that rods with a bit of "meat" (we're talking grams, of course) have a sweeter action and a nicer feel. No offence to Acolyte fans, but when I swapped rods with a mate for a session I appreciated why he rated his 15' Acolyte, but the rather 'steely' feel wasn't for me, and I was happy to get my fractionally heavier own rod back. Talking to blokes behind the counter in a tackle shop that sees a lot of broken pole sections in for repair, they tell me that sections are so thin-walled in pursuit of lightness that the slightest knock causes damage which may go undetected until the next time the section is stressed, and then it fails. I just mention this as it suggests the breakage of a tip or other section might not have been caused by whatever you are doing at the time, but by an earlier stress or impact. A bit like the motorbike racer who comes off at a corner, but understands he came off there because he started to get out of line 2 corners earlier.