You probably won't get a lot of responses to your query until the first orders get into the dealers. Nobuo brought just one of the 16'1" Solstices to the Denver Show and needed to take it back for a major spey event in Japan. Therefore, Juro didn't get to tour it around the PNW with the rest of the rods.
I cast it alot at Denver (I liked it). I only used 2 lines on it, a 7/8 XLT and the new 8/9 Grandspey - both long bellies. It was smooth and powerful but didn't have the raw power feel of the 16'7" Thompson Specialist. The idea was to have a long, light rod for big water summer fishing and I think Nobuo has got it.