Since there has been some question as to what the method to my madness is, and I am currently too full to work, and because I am shocked that the glorious return happened in a thread started by little old me, I'll give the story.
For reasons that I'm not willing to articulate, I am down to one of those three rods. I broke my dan craft FT a few weeks ago, and am feeling a major need for another "ferrari". I am skeptical that the legend ultra will fit my needs, as I have a scott A2 for my "feel" fishing. I need a rod to put a lot of line in the air on big water.
I talked to Dan at dancraft, and he is willing to work with me on the FT, so things just kind of changed. The FT will be my broomstick*, so the legend elite would be a bit redundant. I think I may go with the hydros, because it'll fit my need for an all purpose, montana ready rod with a warranty. The scott and FT have no warranty**, and I am no longer comfortable without having a warrantied high end 5wt. I am also no longer comfortable fishing big waters without a super fast rod, because I felt like it helped me to greatly expand my skillset.
But I still want to cast the legends before I decide.
*that's a term of endearment to me.
**Dan will work with me on the broken blank, but whenever it breaks, I have to rebuild it.
I will need 3 montana ready rods by the end of july. 9'5wt A2, 9'6wt GL3, and ???. Nymph, Bugger, Hopper.