I have three of the 7'3" Ethos heavy rods. Best rod for the money BY FAR that I have ever used. Honestly, I think I will buy two more.

Flipping or pitching? Flipping, I would go with 7'6" heavy. Pitching, I would go with 6'10" heavy.

Two different techniques.

I have 2 $100 bills at the house ready to buy some, the new Academy in Abilene is supposed to open anytime soon. I have one micro guide and like it a lot. My only complaint is when using braid it tends to want to stick and lay to the blank really bad(which affects pitching). I'm sure any micro guide will do this. I switched to fluoro on micro. Hopefully they can get the non micro guides in our new store.

Ugly stick!!! Or Cherrywood HD

2nd the Cherrywood HD. It was $14.95 at Academy a few weeks ago. It makes a good crankbait rod as well.

I can't speak for the Laguna rods but I have two of the Diawa Aird X. They are awesome rods!

I have had a Falcon Cara, several originals, used G Loomis rods and even tried Dobyns. Maybe I'm just crazy but I can't tell much of a difference between the higher end rods and the H20 Express rods from Academy. I think the Daiwa Aird X rods are just as good.

Maybe it is just because I have a limited budget for fishing stuff but I have actually stopped buying the expensive stuff. When I first started I had all Falcon Rods and Shimano Curado E series reels and two Lew's reels. I have actually sold all of the reels and only have one falcon rod left. Now I use mainly H20 Express reels and rods except for a couple of the Daiwa Rods.

I am the same way. family has to come first which limits me on what and when I can purchase certain items. this has made me look for cheaper options than I used to. I laugh at myself for what I used to spend on rods. I have fished 30-40 dollar rods that feel better than 200 dollar rods.

What are you saying?!?!

YOU HAVE to have a 75mph bass boat and $5,000 worth of rods rigged up 20 different ways to catch a damn bass!!! That's the only way to catch fish!

haha! well that seems to be what people think for the most part. im not knocking expensive gear in any way just how people think is all.

IMO, since you stated you are using braid I would go MH. Bear in mind there are variations between Rod Manufacturers. I'm found over the years one brands Heavy may be an MH in another brand. But overall I power down because I use so much braid.

The other nice thing about braid is it makes every rod more sensitive. You don't need a super high dollar rod to feel the bites when you have braid and I will use a floro leader and still feel just as many bites on my Falcon Low Rider that I do with my Dobyns Mike Long using the same braid floro combo.

Have you looked at the Ethos Heavy yet?

Another option is the Berkley Lightning Rod Shock - designed for braid & less than $50 everywhere. Don't tell anyone that due to it's tip design, it makes an excellent budget crankbait rod.