just cause you pay a lot does not mean that you'll get a good rod, i had two allstar's brake on me within a week of each other, the first one i broke (hooked a bait in the carpet and snapped the tip) and never dreamed of asking them to replace it,the second i broke on a hookset, now i've been told i have a "more than required hookset" but i have only broken a few rods, but there was something wrong with these rods, took it to allstar (where they build them, this was when i live in spring texas)and they said it had been abused, well if setting the hook is abuse i'm guilty, the thing is i had 5 or 6 other allstars that had never given me any trouble, i really liked the wr1 and the wr2, but this rod was junk (sorry can't remeber the model #), they said they would replace it for the cost of the blank (40$ on a 130$ rod that i had just bought), well i'lltell you this i have not bought anything from allstar in over 12 years and won't unless if its because i didn't know they are involved, the truth of the matter is there are very few rod manufactors in the world, i believe g-loomis, st.croix, fenwich still build there own blanks, the rest or most buy there blanks from overseas, so if you buy a allstar a garcia or whatever chances are the blank was made overseas, the bps, and cabelas rods made with good (same as most rods) components is probably just as good a deal

myself i have a bunch of castaway rods and kistlers (built by billy and trey kistler,) and a few homebuilt on loomis and st.croix blanks...

bottom line by a decent rodfrom Bps with a good cork handle and you'll probably be happy....jm2cfwiw