My bread and butter trout rod has been a 1 pc fenwick venture 6'6" ML with stainless line guides and cork handle.  Bought rod over 10 years ago for $50 and its still hanging in there. I won't fish a 2 pc, less sensitive, guides get unaligned and a pain breaking down with rigged tackle. I prefer Fluorocarbon line for trout, it's sensitive, low stretch, tough as nails abrasion wise and invisible underwater for those gin clear water conditions when fish get finicky. It will develop memory so a respool is necessary, usually after a season, 4lb is my go to. Fluoro is pricey but in my opinion well worth it.  
 
In my experience fishing rods are a lot like sporting optics, you can get a great scope/binos for a reasonable price and they will perform well. Higher grade scopes/binos are out there but you'll pay for them and oh, you will...    

bump...........

 4 - 1/2' Fenwick brown glass cork handle. Third time I broke it they quit makin' that size so sent me same style in a 4' - 9" model. Original one bought in mid. 70's when they had lifetime guarantee.
 
crappy 

I have a 5' UL st. croix trout series rod with a 500 size shimano symetre and 6 lb. tectan line. Back up set up is a 4'6" UL okuma celilo with a size 20 pflueger trion reel.
 
I'm starting to like the longer rods though. We sell a ton of ul rods for trout in the 6' to 7'6" range. The daiwa ultra lights a nice. They give you a bit more control and casting distance. They can be a pain fishing small streams when you have to bushwack.
 
A friend of mine uses 1 setup for all his fishing. Its a 4'6" browning ul rod and size 20 pflueger trion. For trout he uses 4 lb. line, steelhead and bass 6 lb. He catches just as many fish as anyone.