Wow, where to start. Orvis is, by all accounts, a terrific company. The little that I've dealt with their customer service, it's been polite and courteous. They make (or, have made for them more often than not) a wide variety of rods, reels, lines, etc... I like their wonderlines, which are made by SA. Have a net from them that I like as well. But their rods...
I have no idea how a company of such repute, whose rods are made in the US, makes, on the whole, such an unreliable line of rods. I've seen more broken Orvis rods on the water, than all other brands combined. My fishing partner has returned the same rod THREE times due to breakage. Each time, the rod was up-graded, and each time, snap! The TLS Power Matrix that they sent him had a reel seat that came unglued. C'mon, Devcon Epoxy is almost bullet-proof, so what happened? He's on a T3 right now, I'll keep you posted. I have another friend who's had an equally bad time with their rods. He also is now on a T3. It casts beautifully, and looks nice too, but I honestly wouldn't trust it on a long trip without a suitable back-up rod, at which time, it's not worth it. It strikes me that when Sage started coming to the forefront in rod technology, and then Loomis came around, that orvis just dug in it's heels, as if to say, "We're Orvis, and people will ALWAYS buy from us!" They were the last premium rod company to sell their top line rods unsanded, and were the last to use generation II, and then generation III graphite as well. Why? The shame of it is, there were a lot of "Orvis" shops that just couldn't compete, due to their allegiance to orvis rods and gear. I beleive tha their trout rods are probably OK, but I would not take an Orvis to the salt, or for steelhead, etc... Just my opinion, but I knpw pf quite a few folks who would agree. Tight lines!