I completely disagree with this. The bulk of my arsenal used to be Croix rods and then I bought I my first Dobyns. It took about 5 minutes of testing and comparing my Avid and the Dobyns Champion I had purchased to conclude that the Dobyns was a much more sensitive rod and a better rod overall even adjusting for the price difference. I have since sold all my Croixs except a Legend Tournament Bass Sweeper Spinnerbait rod and replaced them with Dobyns. St Croix makes a nice rod but I'll take a Dobyns over it any day of the week.