I've been putting two brands I've never tried before thru their paces in the Canal the last few weeks---Stren Super Braid and the new Berkley Big Game Braid.
The Stren is a little thicker and more wiry. It feels like it has some kind of coating on it. I've gone thru quite a few leaders, but the line itself hasn't chafed or abraded. It casts very smoothly. I'm running that on an Abu BG 7000 CL. Even tho the label "claims" that it has the same diameter as 15# mono, there was still a whole crapload of line left on the 300 yard spool after the reel was filled as high as I dared. Like most braids, it's "mono equivalency" is pie in the sky
Since I'm using it on a level wind, I don't know how "thumb friendly" it is for reels without a level wind
Last couple of days I switched over to my Penn 525 Mag that's spooled with 65# Big Game Braid. I really like this line. It's a little thinner than Stren--the smaller 525 has about the same amount of line on it as the Abu does. Casts like a dream. I've been backlash free for several hundred casts on a very hot reel. It hasn't grooved my thumb, and it holds its color very well. After that many casts with Power Pro, my thumb would have been green and the line would be white. It's still not as thin as Whiplash, but it's the best braid I've used since they discontinued Whiplash.