As pointed out on a previous post the springs do a good job detecting lite bites and up bites. We have found out that when fishing for crappies a good % of the bites are a up bites. It seems like the bigger the fish the lighter the bite. There are exceptions when the fish are actively feeding and just about jerk the rod out of your hand. Unfortunately the active period is usually very short and we have to contend with the lite bite.
When the crappies and gills are running together It is fun the be able to predict the type of fish hooked before the fish is iced. Up bite crappie, down bite gill.
One other virtue of the spring is fishing with live bait. If the fish are mouthing and running with the bait you can follow the line down without being detected by the fish. This gives you a inch or two of wiggle room to work with.
One concern was storage of the spring when transporting the rods. With the HT spring system the spring is slid back to the rod tip. With the hybrid system the spring is removed from the front of the keeper and inserted into back of the keeper. With both systems the line is still threaded through the spring and the lure hooked to a keeper on the rod. With this type of a storage system the springs will not get a set in them.