I have a cardinal 102 thats about a year old and I like it, it was pretty cheap too, but it might be a bit large for a 5'6 ul, I use it on a 7ft ul and it works great. I havent tried the berkley cherryrod, so I cant help you there. One question what type of fish will you be using it for? I love using ultra lightes myself, I use them for large mouths and sometimes get some nice fish on them, which is why I mostly use 7ft rods.