So this is morphing a bit into personal philosophies. Here's mine.
To address your response directly, you are correct, that's exactly what I'm comparing, and I'm labeling it based on how it fishes (including all of the factors you've mentioned). I know an inshore blank when I feel one. That's what this is. It feels exactly like a Star Stellar Lite 15-25lb casting rod that had the grip re-configured. Great for bottom bait fishing, casting, inshore/near shore stuff. Terrible at working a jig.
I have nothing against the company, and, in fact, I use their ball bearing swivels as I think they are great. If Tsunami's slow pitch rod was marketed for what it actually is, an inshore or light bottom fishing rod, I'd give it a full endorsement - especially at the price point. I wish there was a high quality slow pitch rod in the ~$100 range, as it would allow many more people to get into this super fun and extremely productive style of fishing. As I see it, there's a lot of companies attempting to use the new buzzword of "slow pitch jigging" to get a foothold in the American market before it really takes off. I think the expanding market is awesome, but I also think it needs some perspective.
I've been fortunate enough to have been slow pitch jigging, almost exclusively, for about 6 years now, and have spent literally thousands of hours of sea time doing it, in every possible condition. I've jigged in 30 feet of water, to 1100ft of water. Flat calm to 8 foot rollers. Tackle-wise, I've fished almost every rod on the market, most of the jigs, and damned near every reel. At last count, I've landed over 50 species of fish on slow pitch jigs from a little Tom-Tate to a 80lb sailfish. I'm not writing this to be braggadocios, but rather to say I've got a pretty solid idea of what is what. When I review something it's based on my genuine impression of it, good or bad, so when you say that my impression is absurd, I'd at least like my absurd opinion to be placed in perspective.
Slow pitch jigging is 100% a passion of mine, and due to the nature of the tackle and the cost barriers of entry, my central goal is to get the correct information about it out to those who are new, so they can 1) make an informed choice about what they are buying, 2) not get sold a false bill of goods, and 3) have fun. This game is frustrating with the wrong equipment and people can make costly financial mistakes if they are given bad advice. BD Outdoors is a really great forum to get this information out, and I think it's awesome.
Call me a purist, but even when allowing for variations in technique based on one's fishery and location, there are certain fundamentals that should be consistent, or at least close, in terms of performance. The Tsunami rod has none of those other than the layout of the grip and guides. And even there, the butt end is too short, and the guides are too big. As I mentioned earlier, this has been a very costly game of trial and error for me and I'd like to help people not have to play that same game if possible. In my experience, I have found that it's better to save up a little more money for a higher quality product first than to buy something because it is cheap, which is not to be mistaken for economical. There are some lower priced rods in the market, in the high $200 to low $300 range, that have very good action. The Tsunami series is not one of them.
Just my two cents.