O.k. pick one from this list while I bang my head off my desk:
Sweetheart Rosewood
Desi Seery Delrin
M&E Delrin
Rutzen Irish D
I wouldn’t pick the Rutzen over the other three.
I have an M&E already, so my pick would be the Seery.
Depend on what you’re after. 
The Seery is more of a Pratten style flute. It has larger holes and a fairly wide finger spread compared to an M&E which is a Rudall copy and has smaller holes and a more comfortable stretch.
Both are plenty loud and well-made. If you’re new to fluting the M&E will be a bit easier to play because of the less challenging embouchre.
Desi Seery also makes a small-hole version which is a nice compromise between the two. It’s a very nice instrument as well.
I’ve never played a Sweet and haven’t heard of the other one so can’t be much help there I’m afaraid.
Cheers,
Doc
Heh, which is exactly why I’ve already got an M&E and would now pick a Seery.
I have a Rutzen flute (blackwood body, Ruddallesque-ish, with a delrin headjoint). I don’t like it much. It’s well made, but I’ve never been able to get the tone I like out of it… it sounds muddy and unfocused. It’s very narrow in the bore towards the footjoint…my cleaning rod won’t pass through it, whereas it’ll pass through my other flutes easily enough when swabbing out. Why I mention that, I don’t know. But it is. And I did.
The Sweetheart is remarkably similar to the Seery in tone hole size and placement (although it is a little easier on the hands so the holes must be a tad closer together). It’s based on a Boosey Pratten that Ralph Sweet owns. I do think the embouchure is a bit more forgiving than the Seery, though.
I’d vote either for the M&E, the small hands Seery (I own a regular Seery and love it) or the Sweetheart (I love my Sweetheart).
One question though, how do you feel about carign for wood? The polymer flutes do have an advantage in that you can leave them assembled, really only have to wash them in dishwater and don’t have to swab them out. Another option would be the Sweetheart resonance flute - it’s new, so I’ve not played one, but Walt Sweet sent me an email saying it’s a good player in his opinion…being made of dymondwood means you get the wood look but it requires little to no care (I wouldn’t leave it assembled though - that’s tough on cork).
Eric
The thing that concerns me about the Sweetheart is the lack of a tuning slide. Do find that to be a problem?
M&E, can’t go wrong with it.
I have a rosewood Sweetheart and am very happy with it. It plays well in tune even without a slide. The headjoint tenon is long enough to make slight adjustments. The sound is lovely, and when I’m “on” (which isn’t as much as I’d like), it sounds comperable to my teacher’s Olwell. It may not look as “Irish” as a big black stick, but the proof is in the playing. In fact, I’m seriously considering getting one of Sweet’s keyed flutes as soon as I save my pennies (would have done it this summer, but my car needed replacing first – ugh).
Kate’s right on - the lack of tuning slide isn’t a problem for me, either, and I play in sessions where you need to tune with others. I like the tone of an all wood flute myself, and no tuning slide decreases the chance of cracking (cracks most frequently appear where metal meets wood - polymers obviously don’t have this problem).
I like the look of rosewood myself, and I have the 4 key Sweet so I can play classical with my guitar and piano playing wife, too. Blackwood is a great tonewood, but if you like it’s look a Seery is virtually indistinguishable from blackwood even up close.
Eric
One of my flutes is a M&E polymer and I like being able to leave it togeather almost anywhere. Then pick it up and play when the mood strikes me.
Thanks once again for everybody’s input. I’m at the point where I could flip a coin and be satisfied with the result.
Preferance is all your decision.
I will add that getting a polymer flute will increase your practice/playing time significantly - because playing can become spontaneous and instantaneous when the flute requires no dissassembly.
Yes it can.
Well, which way did the coin land?
It’s still flipping in the air! lol!