Anyone Have A Full Cork Handle St. Croix Ltb?

[The one that got away]

I've been poking around at the Black Friday sales and didn't pull the trigger on anything (yet).

I was checking around on Ebay and found a "new" St. Croix Legend Tournament 7ft medium heavy casting rod, so I put in an offer and ended up winning it. The seller claims it has never been out of the wrapper other than for photo purposes. This one has a FULL cork handle, which is why I bid on it. I know the St. Croix website has discontinued LTBs, but all they have left is the 6'6" MH casting rod, and I wanted a 7 footer.

I don't have an LTB haven't heard anyone complaining about their LTBs. I have a couple Avids and they're good rods. Those are the best rods I have, so I'm hoping the new LTB will be an upgrade.

I'm intending on using this for spinnerbaits, jigs, and weighted plastics.

Anyway, I'm sure someone here must have one of these old-style full cork handle LTBs. What reel do you have on it? What seems to balance best? Do you also have a split grip LTB, and is there any other discernible difference between the two models, other than the different cork grip?

I was thinking putting a Chronarch or a Lew's Tournament on it. I've owned a Curado and loved it, but I'm open to other ideas. I know TW has their sale until Tuesday 12pm, so any input would be appreciated.

[Bluebasser86]

I have a full handled LTB 7' 3" C-rig rod with a 200E7 and I like it really well. Haven't really ever tested the balance but not really worried about it tossing a C-rig. I have several of the split grip, not a huge difference that I can tell. You won't be disappointed with it, they're really nice rods.

[iabass8]

The full grip ltb is the older model of the legend series. The split grip ltb has a newer blank. I believe the blank has been upgraded twice since the full grips wre taken out of the line up. The newer blanks are more responsive and obviously lighter in weight and use a better set of guides. The old full grip cork is still a very nice rod.