I've had four. Totally love the PJ, but mine is one of the first ones, and I swear it's notably lighter than every one I've had since. It does not have the carbon strip, which I think coincides with some other changes making the boards heavier. It feels flexy, lively, poppy, etc. kind of like C3/C4/black dart.
I didn't click with the Short Round or Puddle Fish shapes, but the boards did feel noticeably heavier than the PJ. And less flexy.
Just got a Hydra. Starting to play with it some, a couple sessions in bigger surf than I bought it for, once when it was fun but I was very tired. I already like the shape considerably more than Short Round or Puddle Fish, but I kind of wish they skipped the tail rocker and sidecut so far - need more sessions but I would skip pulling the tail in and flipping it up so much and just have it be a very modern grovelly quad fish, kind of a more aggressive Bean Bag. I will say if you have a PJ already and you want a "fish" version of it, skip the Puddle Fish and get a Hydra.
The construction's durability is Elder God Tier, but I could offer very high praise to carbon wrap, C4, C3, and black dart, and I'd recommend any of those over the current lib tech build for small clean surf. I'd say they should go back to the original build but maybe keep the plastic bottle rails - I want to say the Hydra build feels a little lighter than the Short Round or Puddle Fish.
They said on instagram, before shapers stopped accepting new orders and sh!t, that the Sabo Taj was coming out sooner than later. 8-9 months ago? That model, or the Round Up, sounds perfect for this. I am a little off the Quiver Killer because while I like the Psycho Killer, I did not like the Short Round, and I am not sure which one the QK would be more like - and I'd want something less biased towards small waves in the width/rail than the Short Round. But the construction just begs for a step up. The newer ones (other than my 6 year old PJ) are less chattery/EPS-y and since it's closed cell, just ideal for a travel step up. As good as the C3/C4/Black Dart/Carbon Wrap have been to me, once they're dinged, you need to do something about it so the EPS doesn't get soaked and f----d. Lib, I would feel better putty/sun cure/duct taping it.
I don't have any finbox complaints. I feel like I have enough fins, including OG 2 tabs, that I can tune the fin feel to my liking/conditions and the rest is just me overthinking it on in between conditions every once in a great while. I have had the original and FCS-2 compatible.
I would second what Aruka said about the Lib in chop/bump, especially the newer ones. I had the Hydra out in some HH zone choppy bump and the build went fine in the mess.
One scenario I'd strongly recommend these is if you have to up-size due to competing with the crowd, it might get bumpy so the lighter techs are less ideal, and there's burn artists and everyone's filming so you don't want to react in a way that winds up on YouTube. I was terrified of other people if I was surfing an Aviso. Not so the Lib Tech. I would "accidentally" bump rails with drop-ins, 0 fx given, all day long. I can see a weekend zoo hurricane swell in the Hydra's future already.
For OP, for maximum spicyness in small clean surf, I'd order a light-colored black dart, a C4, a Carbon Wrap, or a Light Speed (haven't tried any Light Speed myself). I'm a fan of the design like Aruka.