Ardent Apex Elite

[Paul Peixoto]

Anyone know about their(ardent) quality? Under 6oz and 13 bearing FOR 150$

[WRB]

Ardent built it's reputation on high quality US made products, this reel isn't made in the US. Can't imagine the reel isn't good quality for the price point. Will check around to see if any of the local guys are using them.

Tom

[Trey Harpel]

Anyone know about their(ardent) quality? Under 6oz and 13 bearing FOR 150$

 

personally I think there are MUCH better reels out there then ANY Ardent..

I think its funny how people say, well they are made in the USA!!!!!!

I guess if your happy with that crappy of a product coming out the US, then you have really low standards..

 

LEWS

DAIWA Lexa, or The new Tatula

REVOS

SHIMANO

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

The Ardents I've worked on didn't impress me either. Not very refined at all.

[Grantman83]

The only ardent I owned was sent to me broken. I sent it in and they kinda fixed it but kept the original box and paperwork lol. If your main platform is American made, it seem strange to me that you would release a line of reels for the budget minded angler NOT made in America.

Although maybe now that they are not made in America they might be okay lol..

[The Next KVD]

 If your main platform is American made, it seem strange to me that you would release a line of reels for the budget minded angler NOT made in America.

Although maybe now that they are not made in America they might be okay lol..

Its kind of hard to make a quality reel in America for a budget price under $150.  Labor is extremely expensive here compared to overseas.  I fished with a buddies XS1000 once which at the time did not impress me with the exception that it casted extremely long distances.  I have picked up a few of the more recent introductions in stores and still not impressed.  Their $300 reels are more like $70 reels made overseas in terms of smoothness but that's my personal opinion and the fact that 1000 plus other people have probably played with the display model may have something to do with it.  I love the idea of American made but when it comes to fishing reels I look to Made in Japan.

[Grantman83]

I get that it's hard to make a budget reel here, but that was their whole platform. They intended to keep up with the big guys while staying in America. To produce reels overseas undermines their entire reason for being different. Furthermore, if those reels are quality, then all they have done is undermined their own products which are made in america and don't have the most stellar of reputations.

I honestly just think it's a company coming to grips with the reality of the marketplace.

[Fishwhittler]

What Ardent should have done is take a different route than what other companies are doing, especially the OEM reel brands.  Instead of packing their reels with features like flipping switches, drag-tracking technology (which is pointless on a narrow-spool reel anyway), etc., they should have gone for ruggedness and reliability, and smoothness through close tolerances and good machining rather than high bearing counts.  Build a metal-frame reel with three or four bearings, keep it simple and tough.  Instead they wound up with the Edge, which has built for itself a questionable track record.  I haven't tried one, nor am I likely to.  There are too many reports of bad Edge reels out there for me to want to buy one and risk getting a lemon.

 

American-made companies can't compete with overseas companies because in the US, nobody's going to work for what they pay workers in China or Taiwan or Korea or wherever.  Any US company should focus on the US-made aspect and go from there—NOT on packing the reel with gimmicks that drive up the cost and don't really improve the reel.  In the past, what separated US-made from "Made in China"?  Domestic products were generally considered more durable and better engineered.  Well, that idea would still work.  The Swedish-built Abu Garcia C3 has stuck around for years in spite of being a dated design (albeit with updates and improvements), because it's designed to do one thing:  Last forever.  It hasn't got many bearings, no flipping switch, only one gear speed option, no clickies in the drag adjustment or CC knob, and it's big and bulky.  In spite of that it's popular because it's tough as a tank, reliable, and affordable. 

 

Ardent bit off more than they could chew with the Edge.  They're seeing that now, which is why the Apex series is built overseas—they can sell them for cheap while offering features similar to competing reels.  I hope they revamp the Edge lineup for 2014 and simplify things while ironing out the reel's problems, which appear to be chiefly in the quality-control.

 

BTW, I'm 99.9% positive the Apex reels are the same as the Gander Mountain GSX Elite, GSX Tournament Pro, and the Rapala Shift.  The drag stars are the same, the handles are shaped the same, the level-wind looks to be the same, and the frame is pretty much the same other than the porting or lack of same.  Haven't heard much about either of the GSX's or the Shift, though Tackle Tour gave the Shift a nice write-up.  Guess we'll see.

[Fishes in trees]

I'd consider trying an Ardent reel , if they weren't so hard to come by.  The company is located here in Missouri, but very few local tackle stores carry them.  The largest tackle store in the KC metro area doesn't carry them primarily because according to one of the tackle managers, they are a challenge to work with.   You don't  find them at BPS  or Cabelas.  Maybe in the catalog, I haven't checked lately, anyway I never buy a reel out of a catalog unless I've touched it live.   I'e broken that rule a couple of times and those reels are safely stored in the back up reel bin in my shop.

[zell_pop1]

Ive had an Ardent C400 for 5 years and havent had any problems a good cleaning did not take care of, I sent it to DVT once and he said it was like a Curado on the inside. Now it was an early dark red colored one, the later grey/college colored ones and the Edge series seem to get a bad rep so maybe the quality control was not up to par. Also I thought the review on TT of the xs1000 was a bit unfair-TT talked about its high quality bearings, drag, casting distance compared to a Steez/Revo Premier, and good durability then gave it a 5.91. Change the name to Shimano/Daiwa it would have received a 7.91.

[Grantman83]

The big complaint was the cage blocking the brakes on the xs 1000 which meant you couldn't do anything if a break came off. They later got rid of the break cage. Also, it was a magnesium reel but weighed a lot which negates the reason for magnesium

[WRB]

Checked out this reel today at BAT, very light weight, knowone had anything good to say about them.

Tom