gman: Oh, I hear you! Actually, when I pull "maximum" drag on anything (other than my two roller rods and my 700XH) it is with a straight pull. Understand completely about not laying waste to the rods--especially the high-priced Japanese variety with instructions that read like a Godzilla commercial.
I do think most, if not all, of the rods that show manufacturer's ratings for max drag are pretty conservatively rated. And that is as it should be. For example, the Smith Ltd. KGS-70MH, which feels like a heavy bass rod, is rated at 11 pounds max drag at a 45 degree angle. But if you watch the video on the Accurate Twinspin page of Picarda fishing it with an SR-12 for GT, you can see that he is lifting a lot more than 11 pounds with it. The rod is similar in many ways to the older OTI 7-footer, but the OTI will handle more drag. I think I said earlier somewhere that I accidentally pulled 25 pounds with it and it sure seemed like it could handle a lot more--not that I will.
As for the 700XH Calstar spinner, I'm not sure I could break it if I tried. I have pulled just short of 45 pounds with it at a 45 degree angle, using the Twinspin 30 and 130 pound line. And it had more to give. I, on the other hand, did not.
Russ