Sensitivity is never an issue when fishing out of a moving boat if one is boondogging, side drifting, or free drifting. I'm pretty sure one could fish with a Sawyer wooden oar and still hook and land a steelhead when using these techniques.

To me, it's the feel of graphite (mush, spongy, whippy) and the weight of the graphite that push me towards a particular rod.

Once you match the proper action of the rod to the technique being used, it's kinda up to you as to what rod is the "best". It's whatever feels the best in your hands.

I've fished all three and am not a fan of the XMG's. They just don't "feel right" when fishing them. The rods are built well, and there's nothing wrong with the graphite- other than I just don't like the feel of them, so I don't use them. No other valid reason. The GLX is WAY too brittle and WAY too damn expensive. I don't like the lack of quality in the "craftsmanship" of the IMX, but the weight of the rod and the feel of the IMX graphite works well for me. Conversely, the GL3 1141 also just feels "wrong" when I use it. Just don't like that graphite in that particular rod.

Never tried an XST in a 1141 or 1082, but I suspect it compares to the GL3 in feel and weight. I do have an XST 1025 and it doesn't really compare in feel to the IMX 1025. I still go to the IMX 1025 over my XST 1025 as my primary rod.