I fish Falcons and Loomis predominantly, along with a couple Cashion rods I'm quite fond of. But I recently bought a pair of All Star Lite rods (the chartreuse ones) at an Academy sale for $65 each; a topwater casting rod and a dropshot spinning rod. I figured I'd give them to my girlfriend if she ever decides to fish with me. Anyway, I've caught fish on both and they both act accordingly. They ARE silly lightweight and I think the suggested MSRP is around $150 each, so I don't know how they compare to the ASTeam series (the purple ones) in terms of blank quality, guides, et al.
That said, the only rods I've ever broken on a hookset were two Kistlers, so expensive rods break just as good as inexpensive ones.
And the tips broke WAY before the fish even got NEAR the boat.
