John,
I have used the Rio VersiTip lines on my 8 and 9 wgt striper rods for the past two seasons. The major advantage of this system is it allows you to add sinking tips to your floating line without compromising casting as occurs when you add sink tips to a full floating line. It is a big plus if you fish arears with varying currents. You also get much better line control compared to a standard shooting head system. Hope this helps.
Al