I purchased my first Victory at the beginning of the season…68mxf casting and paired it with a 13 metanium for jerkbaits. I’ve been a longtime St Croix fan…my entire rod locker (including fly rods) consists of Loomis and St Croix almost exclusively. It all fits under the “if it ain’t broke” philosophy, I guess. 
 

The Victory is the first rod in a long time that’s made a serious impression on me. From a purely ergonomic standpoint, it compares favorably with my Legend X, NRX and Conquest stuff. You’re not going to get that level of sensitivity with a $200 rod…it’s not a reasonable thing to ask for. But to have similar weights and similar levels of comfort, it really narrows the field in terms of feel on the water. Grabbing the Victory setup to throw a vision 110 after having worked a fluke down the bank for an hour with a legend x/aldebaran…and having it feel nearly identical in terms of comfort? It’s almost shocking, really. 

 

What everyone says is true…the actions don’t match their designation. If you’re looking for an extra fast rod, this isn’t it. It might be the fastest in the lineup but in reality, it’s a fast rod and that’s it. That’s one thing to look out for if you’re interested in this series. There have also been sporadic reports of breakage but I’ve never broken a rod where it wasn’t my fault so I’m not exactly worried. Other than that, it’s nearly weightless, it feels “expensive” (more expensive than NRX, imo) and it balances about as well as you can expect given the price/weight. If you’re a high end rod enthusiast, these are unbelievable for reaction style baits. That’s their true utility for my purposes. Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, lipless, jerkbaits, swimjigs, all that fun stuff. I can’t speak to their use for bottom contact as the most feel-oriented bait I’ve thrown is a fluke and I’d say it returns about 75% of the sensitivity that my normal Legend X setup does. Again, not bad. That last 25% is gonna double the price of your rod but that’s just how these things go. 
 

All in all, these are remarkable rods and I’d say they excel in two categories. As previously mentioned, for reaction baits if you like high end rods. The other is if you want to experience NRX/Conquest levels of lightness and comfort without breaking the bank. My brother’s 68mxf victory/aldebaran is basically identical in weight and balance to my 803c NRX/aldebaran at nearly half the cost…