I have owned and fished both rods....I no longer own the 78XH....way too much rod for me and just unnecessary, even with my penchant for heavy-ish lures....I caught a high 30's fish on the 78XH on the first day of a trip to Fiji earlier in the year...glad it was day 1 not day 6 or I may not have landed it! When people said it was an angler friendly heavy popper rod they definately meant comparitavely, ie, it is still a heavy popper rod...it has a very stiff tip, great for working chuggers, brutal to put a comfortable bend in when fighting fish
The 79H casts and works poppers like the King Kong, G-Cup and Craftbait GT3 ultra bigmouth just fine....so I figure why have the extra pain when fighting a fish
That being said, if you have the back and arm muscles for it, do it!