Nope never felt one, I'm just talking about the marketing and idea behind it. So you have to buy rods on the spot so they know you are a user of their product? :-/ But it is understandable for them to want someone who knows their product. I think there is a better way of doing it though.
The other thing I have seen with a few bait companies is "buy this sponsership start up kit for $500 and you become field-staff, buy this add on kit for an additional $250 and become full pro-staff." I won't mention the names of these companies but as wrong as it sounds, it is a great way of getting people to buy products. People will do ANYTHING to say they have sponsers and to make their resume better and companies can take advantage of it. Plus for the companyi ts a win win, the person spends $500 or $750 and they send them advertising stuff, and some products, and they get people to buy stuff from you at a regular price.