Actually, depends on the rod company. I know my buddy broke one of his older Lamis I think it was. A model not made anymore. He paid I think $20 and they upgraded to what would be the next best model. Not bad for a rod that was like 20 years old. Just depends. I've never dealt with St. Croix, so can't say how they are. But most will back their product if there is a name change. Same thing happened to one of my RPL's. It was my fault, I let a hard running fish take me around boat and I tapped the tip against the gunnel. Didn't fail that day, but did fail a month later. Can't remember what the RPL is now (sure Rob would know lol). But I got my rod back, just paid the standard fee, no problems at all and good as new. Luckily for me, I don't pay top dollar for my sages (I buy them used) and still get same service and fraction of the cost.