Well, I ended up picking up an Amundson Sturgeon for $100 at the Army and Navy. I looked at the Shimano Technium, but at $169 (everywhere I price-checked), I couldn't justify it. I noticed a rod which looked almost identical to the Technium standing up in the rack and I took it out and had a look. Save for the orange tip, the Admundson Sturgeon, the blank looked nearly identical to the Technium- same "unique" finish, same profile and same guide spacing. Both are 8', 40-80lbs rated. I then got one of the guys to place the handles of the rods flat on the counter and I tied on 18oz wedge weights on to the tips. Both rods had nearly the same profile bent as well. I even swapped the weights around to ensure it wasn't a discrepancy in weight. The Amundson bent about 1.5" less over the last two feet or so. Both rods were bent down about a foot by the 18oz, so 1.5" isn't much.
I'm curious if anyone else has noticed the similarity between these two rods. At only 2/3 the price, it looks like quite a rod.
Taking public transit from the Army and Navy downtown home to North Van with an 8' one piece sturgeon rod was interesting as well. A couple people* asked me if I'd caught anything off the Seabus before...
* its the day after welfare Wednesday recall and the booze is a flowin'