Grip looks way overdone. Maybe a little light on the amount of snakes(7) and boy what to do with all those ferrule plugs.

rsagebrush ... I'm counting stripper, tip top, and seven guides. In the hands of some/many those ferrule plugs are as good as lost. HA ...

Oh yeah ... and there is a philosophy behind that overdone grip. I've been trying to get George Revel, formally of Leland Outfitters, to explain it. I've cast a couple of their fly rods with this grip and it's very comfortable.

I like the grip. Yes is looks like it belongs on on a fly rod from Middle Earth, but it looks like it would be comfortable.

I believe rolled and built in Asia.

I'll keep an open mind but will make one obvious value statement: $500 is a lot of money for an Asian-made glass rod.

Yes, the handle does have a weapon like appearance and the price is a reach but the overall design appears practical and useful.

The configuration reminds me of a Lami Brush Creek 'Companion' I had years ago. I gotta say, having a rod that practically fits in your glove compartment can be nice. A lot of thought went into the presentation of this one. I personally don't mind the grip, and love the color scheme. But unless I hear some phenomenal reviews, I'm not buying at $500.

I like the idea of a 6 piece rod, but not a 7.5 ft 4 wt.

Money firmly in pocket.

That's a beautiful rod! Just because it is from Asia doesn't mean it is a bad rod ... I'll wait to pass judgment. Leland puts out some really cool stuff, from their Red Truck reels to their newer vintage reels. The thing I never liked about their reels though was that, for a very similar price, I can get a US made Abel that my son can pry from my cold, dead hands I can hand down to my son.

Fellows ... I agree this fly rod has an elevated price point and believe that there are a couple things going on here. First, this has been a four plus year project of R&D, samples, and prototypes which all cost money. Second, I also think this is a low numbers type offering. They aren't sitting on hundreds of these fly rods so there are less fly rods to spread the costs of development over.

This fly rod may be most interesting for those who travel a lot and looking for a premium pack rod.

wow, for $500!?!?

I guess I am not sure what the whole "made in Asia" stigma is. If you could walk into a store and look at the rod and test cast it, would you still feel the same way?

I know there are a lot of production facilities in Asia and things are outsource to the Far East and the first iteration might not be the best, but it used to be that "made in Japan" had a bad stigma to it. Nikon and Cannon started by copying other cameras. If the taper is good, the production is good and consistent, why should I care? (there are a few reasons, but I don't think they are the ones that most people are reacting to).

Wait, let me put my flame retardant suit on.