What rod should I buy?

One of the most frequent question one sees on any fishing related forum is - What rod should I buy?

The good news / bad news is that at the same time, this is one of the easiest / hardest question to answer.

The good news is that there are no wrong answers.  The vast majority of fishing equipment available today is good stuff.  It really doesn't pay a company to spend the money required to produce, market and sell schlocky equipment.  In the day and age of the internet, the news would get out quick and the company would soon be out of business.

The bad news, there is no right answer either.  Asking what rod to buy is akin to asking -

What is the best color of t-shirt to wear?
Should I marry a redhead, blonde or brunette ?
What kind of pizza should I order ?

Each of these questions in large part comes down to personal preference.  The fact that my favorite pizza is thin crust with italian sausage doesn't mean that your favorite won't be thick crust with green olives.  Of course the thing to remember is that all the pizzas are wholesome, you aren't going to get sick or poisoned if you eat them.  So you can order any pizza on the menu with some level of confidence.

So if you ask 25 people what t-shirt/pizza/rod you should buy, be prepared to get 50 different answers.  None of the answers are totally wrong, but none of them are exactly right. You will probably like using any one you buy, but you may find you enjoy using one just a little more than the rest.