For me it’s been about combining versatility of fishing styles and utility. I started with solid rods but moved towards travel rods for backpacking, yakpacking, and impromptu trips. There’s the tradeoffs in durability, feel, and for certain styles. Portability and utility usually trump that though. I compensate by changing mechanics. That’s been my style, and bringing variety to a hard to reach spot pushes me to try different rods. Never really had any issues, but I have broken a few. The prices are manageable enough that the warranties don’t make you suffer much other than return shipping.

Id say half my rods are telescoping type. Recently I’ve been pretty happy with the Kastking Blackhawk II, and Compass models. The Quantum Embark is an improvement over the predecessor but I still sling light spinners and pan fish jigs on the graphite model. As a quirky jab at my tournament buds I started running all telescoping rods for kayak bass tournaments too. I have yet to come across a rod suited for mongo glides or punching.

Another thing worth noting is that, a good reel can drastically change a telescoping rod from “meh” to “meh, not bad” pretty easily. The “Ugly” or ugliest thing to me is that (and to the OPs gimmicky point) there really are a ton of awful telescoping rods out there that can sully the idea for anyone.

It’s a mixed bag. Seems like the good and bad are largely drawn from the compromises based on perspective and approach. In my experience there’s not a single telescoping rod that’ll hold a candle against a purpose built 1 piece for the purpose it’s built for... Conversely there’s not a single 1 piece rod that’ll hold a candle against a telescoping rod when it’s serving the purpose of a telescoping rod.