I had a 4 piece GLX 8 wt i used for saltwater, pike, and trout and bass. I hated it. its tip was too soft, and the rest of the rod was fast...a weird combination i never learned to cast it well, be it with pike flies, medium sized streamers or an indicator and split shot nymping rigs...it was honestly the worst rod i have ever fished, and ended up selling it, one of the few rods i have ever owned that i sold. i really gave it a chance though, but i just never got to like it....not even close in fact, it was that bad. i bought it on a pro form and never got to cast it, so thats why i ended up with it....yet another reason to never drop money on a rod you havnt cast.
Thier other models seemed to be OK though...and i love thier spinning rods, both the GLX and GL3, they are favorites of mine. a friend of mine has a GL2 flyrod in a 9 ft 7 wt which seems to be an okay rod. Ive never cast the particular model you are looking at, only the GLXs...
Thomas and Thomas is more popular back east i think...they dont spend the amount of money on advertising as Sage does. In my opinion my T & Ts are my favorite rods, with a close second to the Sage XP line....they just feel good to me, have great finishes, and work well for my casting style. You are right though, i can only think of a few places that seel T & T....the top one in this region is Sage. (kind of like the Levi Straus of fishing rods..people just buy them because of the name

) they are great rods though....