About eight years ago I thought I would take up the spey rod. The local fly shop said the 9140 was a good rod. At 600 bucks it seemed a little high so I bought a Cabelas 14 footer for under 200. It was a great rod and my longest casts still come with this rod but it was a little heavy. I then bought a glx 15 footer. It was a little stiff and I could never get the timing down. I then went through a half dozen more rods. Each one was too short too long to soft or just didn't feel right for my style of casting. I finally bought a used 9140 for 350 bucks and is now my favorite rod. In the mean time I spent close to 4000 dollars to finally get my rod.