$200+ is way too much money to spend on a type of fishing you're just getting your feet wet with unless you're rolling in cash. Not all of us advocating starting "cheap" are inexperienced. Personally, I've had the opportunity to fish with everything from South Bend to Sage. A beginner to fly fishing simply will not see appreciably better performance out of a $300 setup than they will a $70 outfit, and once the fly is on the water - it doesn't matter what the stick in your hand cost. The fish simply don't care, and will never be impressed with what the decal on your rod says. $70 (or less) plus money spent on some casting lessons will put someone heads & shoulders above the guy who simply goes to the fly shop and plunks down money for a "good" (expensive) getup.
The only place I would say not to skimp on cost for a beginner is the fly line, you can use a cheap reel, and a Goodwill gotten rod, but a cheap fly line is going to be more cumbersome than a cheap rod or reel. Cheap lines will have too much memory, they'll wear out faster, won't float as well, or turn over as well. And you can get "good" lines pretty inexpensively if you hunt for sales.
The old Pfleuger Summit rod I owned for over a decade did last, and unless the fellow I sold it to stepped on it, I'm sure it's still catching fish. It wasn't the prettiest rod, or the lightest, but I worked the dog **** out of it and it never wore out. For a $30 rod it was a steal. Farm pond bass & bluegill to Yellowstone River cutthroats, that rod simply worked.
Also - the advice to fondle at the flyshop and turn around and buy rods online won't garner much of a friendship with the flyshop guys, and if enough people do that, the fly shops will go away, or the owners will simply be much less willing to let you try before you buy. It's a slap in the face to the flyshop owner to vampire his time and energy like that, only to turn around and buy your new gear from some internet retailer across the country.
Not everyone is going to like fly fishing, or be able to master the casting, no matter how hard they try, or how many classes and clinics they attend. To tell them to drop $200+ on a rod & reel that they're going to wind up reselling is doing that person a dis-service. They'll never see their money back when they go to sell it. It's like telling a new driver to buy an Audi R8 instead of the Honda Civic, because the Audi is a way better car, it's more expensive, and better built. It's not a bad thing to work your way up to "higher performance" gear, especially for new casters. Tools only get you so far, it's the talent or lack there of of the person wielding it that is more important. There were plenty of folks at the get together last weekend who were fishing less expensive gear, and still casting beautifully and fishing just fine. In fact, a $100 combo outfished everyone else
There is simply no point buying expensive gear until you know fly fishing is your thing, especially given the actual quality of the "low end" "cheap" stuff out there today. And terms like "Lifetime Warranty" don't just apply to high end stuff (and it's funny, those high end makers still charge you money to fix or replace gear on their "lifetime warranty" rods. Or they stop production of that line, and you're hosed if they choose not to upgrade, or can't repair/replace the broken part of your rod). The $40 Okuma rod at Bi Mart comes with a lifetime warranty, and the only thing you pay is shipping & handling if you break the rod. Break a high end rod, and you could be looking at $40 to $150 plus the shipping & handling to get your gear replaced/repaired depending on how they want to treat your warranty today.
Because someone promotes beginners easing into the sport without blowing their savings, don't assume they've never used the "good" stuff, or don't know what the "good" rods/reels are like to fish with, eh?
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you need a fresh H2O fall river 5wt in 9' , its a 4 piece, with a free spare tip section, and a reel on tube comes with it. if you add one of their $65 reels to the rod they spool it up and load a mastery line on it for free and ship for free. this rod is $129 with a no questions asked warranty for the origanal purchaser... simply the finest flyrod in the world for the money. 
