okuma concept c3.

rodsmith magstrike predator.

damiki dark angel.

iaconelli, series daiwa.

so anyone have any good or bad things to say?

i was going to get a carrot stik, but my fishing buddy bought 2.

What are you trying to accomplish??? "One-up" your buddy or buy a GOOD rod ??????????

My $.02.....St Croix Avid or upwords, or anything similar...

Another vote for St Croix Avid or higher, or, get a custom for exactly the technique/application you are targeting.

POWELL MAX 683c!!!!  

My dad has a Magstrike, its an awesome rod.

if it was me i would buy the damiki dark angel.. you get a great rod at a decent price that got good reviews on TT. and not many people own them yet.... if i had four hundred dollars to spend on rods i would buy two.....don't know why but i always buy in pairs when it comes to rods... i feel like they need a friend or something...

Did your buddy threaten you if you bought what he bought ?

Get an avid if you really want to show him up.

The BEST VALUE right now is the Fenwick Techna AV

on sale at Cabela's for $129. I haven't been too jazzed on

this brand simply because they raised their prices from $169

to around $229. However, at the sale price, it's a no-brainer!

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/common/search/search-results1.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&sort=all&QueryText=fenwick+techna+av&Go.x=26&Go.y=6&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23

8-)

Of the ones you have listed, I have only used the Dark Angel.  I have a 7'm spinning rod paired with a Stradic CI4 and would recommend it to anyone.  Don't have any complaints with it.

So he bought the last 2?

no, but I don't want to buy the same rod as him since we fish together all the time.

do not buy carrot stix i repeat...do not buy carrot stix

do not buy carrot stix i repeat...do not buy carrot stix

Can you emphasize this point from you're own personal experince?  Have two, a gold and ltx, no problems with either.  

I have a 7'0" LTX Extra Heavy, Fast and love it.  No problems and have caught plenty of fish on it.