Hum... I think I'd lean towards a #3, with the lower initial cost option. BUT, #2 as it stands in your poll....

I have broken 1.... 1 rod on a fish, where it was no fault of my own. It was that picture in Chuck's "BEND" thread that shows me fighting the fish on my broken float rod.

All other breaks where my own fault. For instance, last summer breaking a $600 rod, when the fish came straight at the boat, jumped, the braid looped around the 4th guide down, and when the fish hit the water...BLAMO! Pieces..... Aint a material on the market that could have survived that... BUT, for a more than reasonable ($70) fee, it was fixed.

I broke one last winter doing a triple backflip in the snow, and faceplanting on the rod. My fault, called in and was back on the water for about 1/2 what I paid for the rod....

There are true material defects... but there are far more human defects.