I absolutely love short small creek rods. My collection in that category includes a 4'9" 2/3 wt rod I bought in Japan, 6' Orvis Superfine Carbon 2wt, 6'6" GLoomis GL3 3wt, 6'9" TFO Finesse Trout 1 wt, and a number of small creek rods that fall in the 7'6"- 8 ft and beyond category.
I tend to agree with you. My opinion is spend as much as you like. Personally these rods generally aren't fished for technical waters so spending more isn't necessarily cost efficient. The 1 wt TFO was bought for $145 on sale as the line has been discontinued. It's not a premium rod by any stretch but I enjoyed fishing it this summer in our locals. At that price with all the bushwacking necessary for small creek fishing if I break it it won't hurt me too much.
Though I have some premium reels to match these rods I say its 100% unnecessary. Spend more on the rod and cheap out on the reel. The reel is only there to manage line. An echo base is like $50. I would get a nicer line though. I'd also get a DT as they generally land softer and you get two lines in one.
While I wouldn't recommend it these rods can be used for catching something beyond hand size fish. I took my Orvis 2 wt on a stream that I thought only had small brookies and manged a hog holdover from the lake.