Uglystick is by far the most durible toughest rods ever known to man. If you want a set up that you can hand your grand kids 30 years down the road. Then the diawa bg and uglystick combo is the most recomended for durability in all of fishing. That being said if you want to have carple tunnel 30 years from now and have to get your wife to hand it over to your grand kids. Then look know further. Lol! Itis bar far the toughest combo on the planet. But the ugly stick is really heavy as is the bg reel. So is an army tank. But they do have the uglystick elite and ulgystick lite that are lighter then the gx2 but still a haevy rod.