BPS Titanium 8 Combo

[BigSkyBasser]

I just recently received by Spring 2016 Bass Pro Shops Catalog and their new combo caught my eye.

I've always heard from friends that BPS Reels and rods are a fairly nice bang for the buck, and when I noticed this new combo running around $240 I couldn't help but be curious what a high end combo from BPS would fish like.

My curiosities we're instantly crushed when I hopped on their website and found only right hand retrieve reels. 

Has anyone else had an opportunity to pick one or both of these up and fish them?

[Darren.]

47 minutes ago, BigSkyBasser said:

I just recently received by Spring 2016 Bass Pro Shops Catalog and their new combo caught my eye.

I've always heard from friends that BPS Reels and rods are a fairly nice bang for the buck, and when I noticed this new combo running around $240 I couldn't help but be curious what a high end combo from BPS would fish like.

My curiosities we're instantly crushed when I hopped on their website and found only right hand retrieve reels. 

Has anyone else had an opportunity to pick one or both of these up and fish them?

No, but I will speak for BPS rod quality - specifically the
Carbonlite series, which I really like. I know Edwin Evers
fished the new Titanium reel on a CL rod for the 2016 
Classic he won.

Anyhow, BPS rods are a good quality, I'd have no problem
recommending. And the reel is new, so probably not a lot
have fished it yet....

[Blues19]

I have looked at the Titanium 8 Rod at Bass Pro. They are light, thats for sure. I am curious as to why Edwin Evers used the CarbonLite rod over the Titanium8 rod. Maybe there is more variety. I dont know. But All of the Bass Pro rods I have ever used I have loved. They make nice quality rods!

[Chance_Taker4]

During the spring classic I went to but a couple carbonlite rods. A worker came up and told me BPS changed house brand manufacturer and their rods are lower quality but reels are higher quality. He said the Carbonlite rods are breaking tips more frequent than the older Veritas rods. I can't speak specifically towards other rods but he told me all the rods are lower quality. It was the first time I was steered away from the house brand.

[JGBassinAL]

4 minutes ago, Chance Brown said:

During the spring classic I went to but a couple carbonlite rods. A worker came up and told me BPS changed house brand manufacturer and their rods are lower quality but reels are higher quality. He said the Carbonlite rods are breaking tips more frequent than the older Veritas rods. I can't speak specifically towards other rods but he told me all the rods are lower quality. It was the first time I was steered away from the house brand.

 

With all the problems I have read about on the new Carbonlite reel I would hate to know what the old Carbonlite reel was like if these new ones are higher quality.

[Chance_Taker4]

Just now, JGBassinAL said:

 

With all the problems I have read about on the new Carbonlite reel I would hate to know what the old Carbonlite reel was like if these new ones are higher quality.

I loved the black carbonlite. This new white feels cheap and flimsy. The employee also steered me away from cl reels. I ended up buying Duckett Ghost rods and held off on new reels

[Bluebasser86]

I have a Titanium 8 reel in the 8.1 ratio. It's a smooth reel and cast very well. I have it on my frog rod so it hasn't done anything other than some test casting, but I have no doubt it will be a good reel when it's number gets called. 

[GetJigginWithIt]

6 hours ago, Chance Brown said:

During the spring classic I went to but a couple carbonlite rods. A worker came up and told me BPS changed house brand manufacturer and their rods are lower quality but reels are higher quality. He said the Carbonlite rods are breaking tips more frequent than the older Veritas rods. I can't speak specifically towards other rods but he told me all the rods are lower quality. It was the first time I was steered away from the house brand.

Sounds like a disgruntled employee. The reels are still made by the same company. The same company (Doyo) that makes Revo, Lews, Pflueger, etc. The jm cl reel just changed colors. How can a reel be higher quality when it is the same reel with a different color. Sounds like suspect info as sson as you mentioned the employee said reels better quality. 

[Bluebasser86]

Store brand rods are often the ones that are available at the best prices and often the only ones that can be bought with combos. I believe this leads to a lot of beginner fishermen and guys who are hard on equipment and therefore want to buy something cheaper. Plus, most stores return those rods without asking so there's no real incentive to taking care of them. I think a combination of those factors, along with the sheer volume of them that are sold, leads to a lot of them being returned. Yes they're not produced to the high standards that say a St. Croix or Loomis is, and some probably break because of that fact, but a vast majority of it I believe are user error. 

[smalljaw67]

7 hours ago, Chance Brown said:

During the spring classic I went to but a couple carbonlite rods. A worker came up and told me BPS changed house brand manufacturer and their rods are lower quality but reels are higher quality. He said the Carbonlite rods are breaking tips more frequent than the older Veritas rods. I can't speak specifically towards other rods but he told me all the rods are lower quality. It was the first time I was steered away from the house brand.

I will never judge a rod where the tips are breaking, especially if the rod is super light and I'll tell you why. When rods break at the tip, 95% of the time it is user error, the 2 most common type of error are high sticking, and boat flipping and when a rod is made to be light, the tips won't take bending past the 90 degree mark very much. Also, Stores like BPS, Cabela's, Gander Mtn. and other big box stores that have their own brands are usually good about returns so if the felt right to me and an employee told me rods were coming back with broken tip sections, well I'll take my chances, however, the blanks were breaking toward the butt section and there was more than a few, well then I'd listen but not when it comes to tips, I watch pros boat flip 4lb bass on ML casting rods, and that tells me they don't care but when your rods are free you really aren't concerned with breaking it.

[Poolshark]

I started out with bps rods, moved up to higher end at croix rods, and now I've been buying more and more bps rods. My collection is split. I have had no issues. As a matter of fact, I think for the prices they can be had at, they are a good buy. My ONLY gripe with bps rods is their hook keeper, even on their highest end rods, they suck. 

I am also interested in these titanium rods btw. I bought one of the their top shelf jm signature models last year and I think it is a joy to fish with. Too bad the reel has no lefty model. 

[Darren.]

I read about some tip-breakage as well, an employee
told me (this was a while back) that it may have been
a bad batch of rods.

I've got two white CLs and they've been excellent.
Caught a lot of good sized bass on them with no issues
at all.

[Allen Der]

there's definitely been a drop in quality of the lower end rods; graphite series, tourney special and bionic blade.  cheaper guides, cheaper grips.  Extreme series and JM Signature Series still look good to me.  Not sure about the CL.

[cottny27]

On March 10, 2016 at 6:17 AM, GetJigginWithIt said:

Sounds like a disgruntled employee. The reels are still made by the same company. The same company (Doyo) that makes Revo, Lews, Pflueger, etc. The jm cl reel just changed colors. How can a reel be higher quality when it is the same reel with a different color. Sounds like suspect info as sson as you mentioned the employee said reels better quality. 

Yes, the white Carbonlite reel handles the same I have both. Same reels