Never ever buy one of these rods if your a serious fisherman. Yes, if you look you could spend upwards of hundreds of dollars on equipment but there is a reason. Yes the $30 combos will work for the small 1-2 pounders but get into something with weight and you'll strip your gears or the rod won't be stiff enough to cast out where the fish are.

The cheap entry level surf rod I prefer is the Diawa Black Gold series reel and the ugly stick rods. The Black Gold are great and durable. They are a little less then Penns. The Ugly sticks can't be beat for price and performance. A good combo will run you $170 but will last for generations. If I didn't have a house fire and lose all my equipment I would be going on 16 years of fish fun. 10/yr isn't bad. When I'm done with my fishing days all of this equipment will be past on to my son.