I had the chance to go messing around with a few yesterday.  Interesting rods.  

These rods look very nice.  They have split grips with nice little metal reel checks capping the ends the corks.  They have a new guide on them (I think they are new) - Fuji Silicon Nitride (the frames are inscribed "Fuji").  The guide frames on all the rods I checked out were double footed from one end to the other.  The Silicon Nitride inserts are very fat and look like that wrap around the inside of the guide rings.  The silicon nitride is dark grey - somewhere between Fuji Hardloy and SiC.  Looks like they can't pop out unless they break.  All the rods I looked at had softer than expected tips.  I was told these rods were made specifically for braid - hence the softer tips and fat heavy duty guides.  They are light, and feel rugged as heck.  The one thing I didn't particularly like about them is that the grip and reel seat area is so long that the rod portion is actually pretty short.  The 7' rod was 7' total, but the rod portion ahead of the forgrips made it about equal to a 6'6" rod - if you get what I'm trying to say.  

Neat rods though, and very nice looking.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_97964_100002006_100000000_100002000_100-2-6

Nice, just too stiff for my liking.  If I was going to be pulling bass out of heavy cover, I would want a rod that was not split grip.  I want to be able to wrap my hands around the grip when I'm pulling that bass.  Split grips works great when the lure weight is under 1 oz. IMO.

If they come out w/ these rods in lighter actions, then I would be very interested in upgrading my BPS rods.

Interesting. It was my understanding they were dropping the Pro Qualifier series which were also 70m modulus rods.  At this price I wonder if this is the replacement.  

I've never fished a split grip rod before but am tempted to try out one of the new ASR All Stars.  At $75 vs $150 I think I'll give my money to All Star.

Cart7, that All Star ASR is a great looking rod! Can you PM me where you can get it for $75? That's a helluva great price for that rod.

I checked BPS & they don't carry that rod, so I went to All Star's site & found the rod.

http://www.allstarrods.com/ROD%20SERIES/ASR_series.jpg

Here's the specs on the ASR rods:

http://www.allstarrods.com/as_asrseriesspec.html

BPS has had a Nitro line of rods for sometime, but I never paid any attention to them.

They didn't drop the Prop Qualifier, it's just different and a little more costly.  They had some of the new PQs, too.

BTW, BPS still lists the old ones - 2007's model.  

The 2008 models dispense with the butt-weight system, and the foregrip.  They are still the 70 million modulus blank, and Alconite guides.  They are $10 more expensive.

Frankly, I liked the older ones better.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_98314_100002006_100000000_100002000_100-2-6

Hook keepers on BPS rods.  FINALLY!