This question comes up alot on all the mesage boards and in conversations that I have with other people all the time....I always say the same thing. Buy the one that feels right in your hand,,,I have seen people use just about every thing to fish with and the guy who always does the best is the guy that is most comfortable with his equipment and compfortable with the fishing technic that he is doing. I have a GL2 that I drift with and a cheap shimano convergence 10'6 that I use for dink floats...works great for around $50 bucks. so go out pick up a rod either take your own reel, or have the sports department place a reel on it and stand there and pretend to make a cast, set the hook, just hold and look it over real good. JUST DONT DO THE UGLY STICK TEST Always check all the eyes, even top quality rods get damaged in store settings, (carry a few Q-tips in when you go to buy a rod, run a Q-tip around both sides of the glass insert of the eyes. If there are any cracks, snags, or jagged edges it well rip off some of the swap material).....good luck..DJ