what not to buy

[ranger7717]

looking to add some new rods to my arsenal - brands i don't have, so obviously don't know.... i want to know what rods people have had bad experiences with so i can stay clear of those

[KP Duty]

One man's trash is another's treasure a lot of the time, and you end up with guys defending their brand.  That said I haven't had any bad rods, just ones I didn't prefer for one reason or another.

[The Next KVD]

Carrot Stix is a brand that is known to have a bad reputation of having rods breaking and horrible customer service.  Never tried them but I won't just from the horror stories. That said I'm sure there are people that had good luck with them, just seems the majority have a had a bad taste left in there mouth. 

 

I would say otherwise there aren't a lot of companies that are bad just personal preferences, otherwise how would they stay in business.  I would probably find a brand that you like and stick with them. 

[ww2farmer]

I don't see this thread ending well

[riverbasser]

Well for Christmas I asked my wife to pick me up an H20 express bone daddy rod. 7ft MH. I saw it in academy and really liked the feel. It has winn grips, micro guides and felt very sensitive. I wanted to use it as my jig rod. Although it is a well made rod after putting line on it I realized that it has no backbone. It has a very moderate action and may work well for a different application but not at all for my plan. 

 

Only other thing i can think of is the time I bought an Abu Garcia rod on sale at Walmart and didn't realize the top guide was missing its insert. I found out when my line snapped after setting hook into a good size bass. So always inspect before you buy

[ranger7717]

39 minutes ago, The Next KVD said:

Carrot Stix is a brand that is known to have a bad reputation of having rods breaking and horrible customer service.  Never tried them but I won't just from the horror stories. That said I'm sure there are people that had good luck with them, just seems the majority have a had a bad taste left in there mouth. 

 

I would say otherwise there aren't a lot of companies that are bad just personal preferences, otherwise how would they stay in business.  I would probably find a brand that you like and stick with them. 

bad reputations is what i'm looking for... sometimes it's only one or two rods out of a whole line up... i do stick to a couple brands that i really like , but i found them by buying and trying them ... so every year i try a couple new ones, usually read a bunch of reviews and pick a couple

[CTBassin860]

53 minutes ago, The Next KVD said:

Carrot Stix is a brand that is known to have a bad reputation of having rods breaking and horrible customer service.  Never tried them but I won't just from the horror stories. That said I'm sure there are people that had good luck with them, just seems the majority have a had a bad taste left in there mouth. 

 

I would say otherwise there aren't a lot of companies that are bad just personal preferences, otherwise how would they stay in business.  I would probably find a brand that you like and stick with them. 

Carrot stix is under new ownersip.I know a guy who loves his wild orange.Not sure how you discredit a product you've never used.

[RichF]

I replaced an old lamiglas certified pro with a new XP and had it snap on the first hookset.  They gave me a replacement for free but the second one did the very same thing in the exact same location on the rod.  Lamiglas did refund my upgrade fee as I told them I didn't want another replacement.  Thats a $270 rod so I'm hoping they just had a bad batch of blanks.

[Angry John]

I have an older lamiglas excel.  That rod is a tank and is my frog and light punch rod.  Lamiglas is a reputable company and his experience may be a problem in a certain product.  He'll gloomis had an issue with reel seats failing at the glue joint.

[ranger7717]

8 hours ago, MassBassin508 said:

Carrot stix is under new ownersip.I know a guy who loves his wild orange.Not sure how you discredit a product you've never used.

i heard the same thing about carrot stix...that's good enough for me

[new2BC4bass]

8 hours ago, MassBassin508 said:

Carrot stix is under new ownersip.I know a guy who loves his wild orange.Not sure how you discredit a product you've never used.

 

It is easy.  Read enough posts from others complaining of the problems they have had, and you tend to pass that information along.  I also read about the Carrot Stix breaking a lot.  Even back then there were a few guys that had no problem with their's and loved the rod for how light and sensitive it was.  It is hard to overcome that kind of reputation.  They seldom get mentioned, but I don't recall reading of a rod breakage problem with the new owners and in fact have read the occasional post here recommending their new rods.  Still....I'd have to see it being recommended by someone I trust before spending my own money on one.

 

OP. I can't say they are bad, but the only rod I ever bought that I didn't like was a Villain casting rod.  It is a 7'6" MHF rated 3/8-1 1/4 oz. but it will barely throw a 1/2 oz. lure a decent fishing distance.  Forget 3/8 oz.  I have a Villain ML spinning rod that I like the looks of.  I've used it maybe 2-3 times as I prefer baitcast reels.  I don't know how it handles its low limit (1/8) oz.), but I can tell you I can spit further than I can cast a 1/16 oz. lure with it...and I can't spit for squat.

[d-camarena]

I have a wild orange, great rod and whein i broke it they gave me great service. Overall im happy and will probably buy another

[Poolshark]

11 hours ago, ranger7717 said:

looking to add some new rods to my arsenal - brands i don't have, so obviously don't know.... i want to know what rods people have had bad experiences with so i can stay clear of those

I have luckily never broken a rod. I have purchased rods though and not been satisfied with their tapers or weight for certain apps. If you have a specific rod that you are considering, in a certain price range, it is always a good idea to ask for feedback. That way you can learn from others experiences and hopefully make a sound purchase. There is wealth of knowledge here. 

As far as brands or rod lines go....we all have preferences. And I'm sure some have had more problems than others. 

Older st Croix mojos were heavy, older veritas and carrot sticks were prone to breaking, older carbonlites had problematic micro guides, etc. etc. 

i had a Berkeley amp which handle came loose every other cast. 

When you have an idea of what you'd like to buy, ask about that model and I'm sure you'll get pros and cons to them. 

 

 

[ranger7717]

6 hours ago, Poolshark said:

I have luckily never broken a rod. I have purchased rods though and not been satisfied with their tapers or weight for certain apps. If you have a specific rod that you are considering, in a certain price range, it is always a good idea to ask for feedback. That way you can learn from others experiences and hopefully make a sound purchase. There is wealth of knowledge here. 

As far as brands or rod lines go....we all have preferences. And I'm sure some have had more problems than others. 

Older st Croix mojos were heavy, older veritas and carrot sticks were prone to breaking, older carbonlites had problematic micro guides, etc. etc. 

i had a Berkeley amp which handle came loose every other cast. 

When you have an idea of what you'd like to buy, ask about that model and I'm sure you'll get pros and cons to them. 

 

 

like i originally stated, i'm looking for people's bad experiences...thanks to everyone for their feedback

[Yudo1]

I've fished a bunch of different brands and the only ones that I've consistently disliked were wright and mcgill rods like the yellow skeet reese rods and ugly blue rick clunn cranking rods.  They just felt dead in my hands and not my cup of tea aesthetically.

[smalljaw67]

Here is the problem, a lot of guys will break rods through user error and then complain on forums and then others, who never touched the rod will parrot the same thing. The most common mistakes I see are people high sticking or boat flipping bass and boat flipping a 2lb to 4lb fish and then complaining the rod is junk because it broke is like complaining you topped off your gas tank with water and now the engine won't run right. There are cases like from 2005 to 2007 when Kistler started using overseas blanks in their Helium LTA rods and anglers began having breakage issues but it was easy to spot because every message board at that time had 10+ pages of guys screaming about rods breaking and warranties not being honored. That kind of thing is easy to spot and truth be told I haven't heard of any other rods having such an issue ever since. No matter which manufacturer, you will always hear a bad review or someone who wasn't treated right, like for me it is Shimano, they make great reels but I had 2 bad Symetre reels and their customer service told me I should have bought a better reel from them??? Well that doesn't happen to everyone and perhaps I got a rep who was having a bad day but it does stick with me to the point of me never buying Shimano again and this is the kind of thing you need to watch for. My advise to you is to pick a manufacturer who has the rods you like the look of and has the right models you want at the right price point and go from there because we all have brands we like and you'll probably get a few up votes as well as down votes no matter which one you choose and one last word, choose a rod based on your preference, it may sound funny but if you are looking for durability then stay away from high end graphite rods and instead choose something like a store brand rod either Cabelas or Bass pro shops as they will take returns on their products with little to  no hassle and they are decent for the price as well as the lower end models have lower grade graphite which will take a little more abuse if you are hard on equipment and some anglers are so find what your priorities are and go from there.

[CTBassin860]

Exactly.I read a review the other day where the guy was bad mouthing a rod that he broke the tip off getting caught in the boat.I've personally broke my 1st gen Veritas twice.Once high sticking another in the trunk.Id never bad mouth that rod.

[The Next KVD]

On ‎1‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 1:35 PM, MassBassin508 said:

Carrot stix is under new ownersip.I know a guy who loves his wild orange.Not sure how you discredit a product you've never used.

 

 

Like I said, the stories and friends who have had them had nothing but horrible experience with the rods breaking and than dealing with the customer service.  My friend loved the rods until they started breaking.  He still is waiting for 4 replacement rods 2 years later and a lot of time trying to get ahold of them.  I'm not willing to go out and buy one have it break and be waiting for a replacement for 2 plus years.  Especially when I know St. Croix will have a new rod in my hands in 7 days or less.

[ranger7717]

21 hours ago, Poolshark said:

I have luckily never broken a rod. I have purchased rods though and not been satisfied with their tapers or weight for certain apps. If you have a specific rod that you are considering, in a certain price range, it is always a good idea to ask for feedback. That way you can learn from others experiences and hopefully make a sound purchase. There is wealth of knowledge here. 

As far as brands or rod lines go....we all have preferences. And I'm sure some have had more problems than others. 

Older st Croix mojos were heavy, older veritas and carrot sticks were prone to breaking, older carbonlites had problematic micro guides, etc. etc. 

i had a Berkeley amp which handle came loose every other cast. 

When you have an idea of what you'd like to buy, ask about that model and I'm sure you'll get pros and cons to them. 

 

 

i appreciate the input ...i have tried to ask about certain rods before, and it usually turns into recommendations for a whole bunch of rods i didn't ask about , not to say that i don't learn something - that's why it's good to see when people debate....not fight over opinions, just debate

[Caliyak]

On 1/1/2017 at 9:48 AM, ranger7717 said:

looking to add some new rods to my arsenal - brands i don't have, so obviously don't know.... i want to know what rods people have had bad experiences with so i can stay clear of those

Stay clear of the over price rods. You can get a Walmart rod and get more out of it than a $300 rod. Only because a pro uses it, doesn't mean it's the best. 

I would take a Berkley Shock MH rod over 99% of the rods out there. Again, this is my 2 pesos. 

[CTBassin860]

7 minutes ago, Caliyak said:

Stay clear of the over price rods. You can get a Walmart rod and get more out of it than a $300 rod. Only because a pro uses it, doesn't mean it's the best. 

I would take a Berkley Shock MH rod over 99% of the rods out there. Again, this is my 2 pesos. 

X2 on the Lightning shock rods.Hard to beat for 50 bucks.

[IndianaFinesse]

22 hours ago, new2BC4bass said:

OP. I can't say they are bad, but the only rod I ever bought that I didn't like was a Villain casting rod.  It is a 7'6" MHF rated 3/8-1 1/4 oz. but it will barely throw a 1/2 oz. lure a decent fishing distance.  Forget 3/8 oz.  I have a Villain ML spinning rod that I like the looks of.  I've used it maybe 2-3 times as I prefer baitcast reels.  I don't know how it handles its low limit (1/8) oz.), but I can tell you I can spit further than I can cast a 1/16 oz. lure with it...and I can't spit for squat.

Abu Garcia rods run stiffer than they are rated, so that is to be expected.  But I have a medium lite villian also, and it casts 1/16 ounce Ned rigs a good distance with ease.

[Further North]

On 1/1/2017 at 0:42 PM, ww2farmer said:

I don't see this thread ending well

probably end pretty quickly though...

[Cgolf]

15 hours ago, Yudo1 said:

I've fished a bunch of different brands and the only ones that I've consistently disliked were wright and mcgill rods like the yellow skeet reese rods and ugly blue rick clunn cranking rods.  They just felt dead in my hands and not my cup of tea aesthetically.

 

This is where preference comes in, I got a good deal on a couple of the Clunn rods and love the square bill model. The action works well for casting and has enough give to limit my hard snags fishing rocky stretches on rivers. It has been my go to stick. The 8 foot model doesn't get a lot of use, because I haven't been fishing deep divers very much. 

[ranger7717]

58 minutes ago, Caliyak said:

Stay clear of the over price rods. You can get a Walmart rod and get more out of it than a $300 rod. Only because a pro uses it, doesn't mean it's the best. 

I would take a Berkley Shock MH rod over 99% of the rods out there. Again, this is my 2 pesos. 

i think the abu garcia vendetta , and even the vengeance fall into this category..... great performance for what they cost , and the vendetta is new and improved this year