as part of my ongoing "lightening up my load process", I was looking at paddles this year, trying to drop a few ounces...

I have a Bending Branches Sun Shadow Straight that I like, and so was looking at the BB Sunburst - very similar, but about 4 ounces lighter per the specified weight (BB weights are apparently for the shortest length of the padle, not average length - spec weight of the Sun Shadow is 19 oz - my 58" actually weighs 21.8 oz.).  Piragis was having a sale on blems, and it was tempting.  But I decided that if I was going to spend a fair chunk of change for a lighter paddle, I might as well do better than just 4 ounces lighter and looked at the Zav paddles and some others including Wenonahs carbon paddles.  Went with the Zav Z medium with an 8.25" wide blade and straight shaft option - checking the box for factory second offset the added charge for straight shaft, and I can't find any blemish on the paddle.  My brother used it for our Quetico trip this year, coincidentally in the stern of my Northstar, and really liked it - we don't hit n' switch, just normal forward stroke and J in the stern.

I have only used it a couple of times so far at the local lake in my solo boat - I usually try to do 2 or 3 laps around the shoreline, and use my Sun Shadow for the first lap and the Zav for the second lap, where the UL weight makes for a refreshing change.  I use a "C" in my solo lake boats, and I don't think there was much difference other than the weight between the two paddles performance - the BB has a larger blade, and that was noticeable when I changed to the Zav, but it(zav) had plenty enough blade to fight the wind.  IT was nice and stiff as well.  In short, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, and would recommend one.  My brother isn't particularly gentle with the paddle and used to to push off a few times, and I've hit a couple of rocks when using it - no problem so far.

no experience with any of the other makers you mentioned