But one must also remember that the sensetivity of a rod can very well depend on how much lead one is fishing.

If you take a SAR 1265C for example and just bounce an ounce or so of lead with it, the rod is not loaded up and will not detect the bite as easily as when you are fishing say 6 ounces of lead. The opposite can be true as well. If you decide to fish 12 ounces of lead with the rod, the rod will be overloaded and again, have a hard time reacting to the bite.

BTW-I've seen that quote from Don many times before but it is ironic that the most progressive rod in Sage's lineup is the VPS (old RPL). GLoomis mastered progressive actions in their GLX and a couple other manufacturers have followed suit.