Just wondering if anyone has any experience with either of these rods and if so, what were your thoughts.  I'm looking to get one of these as a squarebill and multi-use rod. I have a gift card to cabela/bps and these two have peaked my interest. Thanks for the help!  

anyone?

I briefly had the Expride in my possession. It had a little bit slower taper than I wanted so I returned it to TW. I think it'd be great for moving baits or as a general purpose rod. Looking back, it was probably fine for what I wanted it for and I shouldn't have returned it. I wish my local Cabela's stocked Exprides!

What were you trying to use it for?  Think it would work good for squarebills?  

26 minutes ago, clemsondds said:

What were you trying to use it for?  Think it would work good for squarebills?  

I wanted it as a general purpose rod but focused on bottom contact. I was limited to bank fishing last year (got a kayak now!) so a shorter rod was important to me. I think it would work great for squarebills with its slower taper. It's not nearly as slow as a crankbait rod but it's a hair slower than what I would call a fast taper. I compared it to a few other rods with fast and xfast tapers (as stated by the manufacturer anyway) and it was the slowest of the bunch. TW and some other places list it was a fast taper, but Shimano USA lists it as moderate-fast. That being said, again, I think it probably would have worked well for me. I just couldn't fish it and see, because TW said they wouldn't take it back if I fished it. So I decided to get 100% of my money back instead of trying to sell it and taking a loss.

oh ok thanks

Had a 6'6" MH-F avid x, which they replaced with the 6'8" model. Loved the rod, great quality, very light and sensitivity, hated the micro guides. I am braid to leader though. Semi micro works for me but the Mico guides are just too small. No experience with the expride though.