I don't know. I personally am a firm believer that at a certain point, the value drops because of quality in relation to the price. If a $100 rod has only slightly worse performance than a $600 rod, then you just paid $500 extra for an incrimental increase in performance. IE the $600 might be better, but it's not worth the difference in price. I personally am not willing to do that. I like to shop around for my money, and if a $40 rod performs as well as a $100 one, guess which I'll be buying? My favorite freshwater jigging pole set me back $37 from Cabela's, and it's far better than any other rod I've used that's worth 3 times (or more) the price.