Steve ,
As a fishing rod these are my opinions of the Kompressors S.
Rod when matched to Penn 525 mag or SL20SH and fishing 0.35mm line and casting weights from 125 to 175 grams is a pleasure with a smooth progressive loading of the rod with a number of casting styles, from simple OTG to a fishing pendulum.
Distances achieved with the rod are excellent and handling in the surf is also very good. the tip is not too hard as to bounce the gripleads out of the sand and therefore connection to your baited rig is very good.
The tip is not as sensitive as the lighter TTLD but as I use this rod for Smooth hounds , Bronzies , Mulloway and Snapper over here that is not an issue for me. It does however still register bites from smaller fish but not as well as the thinner tipped rods that I also use.
The rod sits very well in the tripod that I use and does not get moved around to much in windy conditions.
From a fish fighting point of view its less agressive butt configuration when compared to the SS and WR300 make it easier on the angler to handle a fish and let the rod absorb the lunges from the bigger fish.
Note it still has quite a bit of power to put a lot of pressure on but this is easier on the angler.
In regards to your question on how it compares to the older version I cannot offer my opinion as I haven't used the older models and don't have access to them over here in Australia.
All in all this rod a sa partner to my TTLD are my first choice when heading to the beach.
Regards