**2017 Review of Carrot Stix rods**

[Chance_Taker4]

I know most everyone has heard of Carrot Stix rods. I also know that there is a reputation on them for easy breakage, poor customer service and long warranty claims. I want to do this review because I have went back to using Carrot Stix again and want to let everyone in the community know my experiences I have recently had with them. I want to start by saying these are not the same as E21 Stix.

 

Customer Service- I ordered three Wild Wild Orange casting rods 6'6" Med Mod Fast, 7' Med Hvy Fast and 6'9" Med Hvy Fast. A couple days after ordering their customer service called me to let me know that they were out of stock of the 6'9" MH did I want to swap it or get refunded. I ended up swapping it for a 7' Hvy rod. I got an email from them the next day saying that the 7' MH was also out of stock and that since there was a delay in shipping and an inconvenience with the out stock rods they were going to swap the 7' MH with an upgraded 6'9" Wild Wild Black MH. To me this is great customer service on their end and did everything in the power to make up for the inconveniences.

 

Rods (Pros)- When I first received the shipping tube and got the rods out I was immediately pleased to see they came with their own rod cover to help protect the rods. Upon inspection I noticed that the guide rap seemed different than on my E21 Stix. Comparing them their seems to be more epoxy and less thread on each guide. This change makes me feel more confident when I was told that the breakage issues came from guides being wrapped to tight on the old rods. These rods are just as light and sensitive as they always have been. I enjoy the split reel seat on the Wild Wild Black over the One piece on the Wild Wild Orange. I have used all three rods for about a month now and really appreciate the lightness and sensitivity of them. They balance really nice with different reels but I feel the lighter the reel the better it balances. As for sensitivity I can feel little things that the baits are doing especially when I am using a moving bait ( I can feel every wobble the bait makes). I gave my boater one of the rods to use (I was fishing Co Angler) and he was also really impressed with the sensitivity it had. When fighting a fish I never once felt like this rod was going to fail me. I never boat flip a fish however because I feel like that is guaranteeing a broken rod at some point so I can't speak on the durability when boat flipping.

 

Cons- With all three rods there is only one negative I have found and that is that the micro guides bend easily however I find that to be the case with all rods with micro guides. Carrot Stix also offers their rods in Microwave guides and I think the next time I buy a rod from them I will be using the Microwave guides.

 

Warranty- You still get a limited lifetime warranty on all their rods. You have to pay $49.99 for each warranty claim however you don't have to fight with sending a broken rod back to them. I cannot speak on anything else about their warranty since I have not needed to file a claim.

 

All in all I feel the rods that Ontario Technology Group has brought to market look and feel like the old Carrot Stix but they have made some serious strides of improvement to bring a better product and reputation to the orange rods. I would not hesitate to pick up another Carrot Stix in the future.

[J Francho]

Wouldn't touch one with a 10' flipping stick.  Sorry, I just watched so many friends jump on these things, and NONE of them are in service.  They all broke.  This is a case where they should abandon the name. 

[Raul]

Hell no !

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

You go, @Chance_Taker4!!! While I probably will never buy a Carrot Stix rod (too rich for my blood), I can still appreciate a well-written, objective review. Too many times on here I see terse, fanboy comments, pro or con, about a product with no real rationale for the comment. Thanks for taking the time to explain WHY you have formed your opinion. Excellent job!

[Choporoz]

I agree with @GrumpyOlPhartte.  Thanks for the review.  I'm a little surprised that they even tried to revive the brand.  They've got a long uphill battle ahead of them.  I sincerely hope their CS has been overhauled even better than their rods.  I wish them well.

[J Francho]

Also weird that on their site, they have a product link to reels.  There is a Daiwa saltwater reel featured prominently in the image link.  I'm pretty sure Daiwa used this image on their site and in their catalogs.  Once you get to the reels product page, the header contains a close up image of a Daiwa Sol.  Go even further to the shop start page and the dealers page, and yet another Daiwa spinning reel is featured.  The contact us page has a cute picture of a little kid that caught a stick on a cheap Daiwa spincast.

 

The site hasn't changed since 2015, and I complained about it then.  Looks like it was designed by college intern, and the use of others' products in their images and images themselves is reprehensible.  It also possible violates copyright.  So, what am I to expect in terms of professionalism with this much care put into their site?

[S Hovanec]

I've repaired enough Wild Blacks to know there are still issues with the product.

 

[Chance_Taker4]

2 hours ago, GrumpyOlPhartte said:

You go, @Chance_Taker4!!! While I probably will never buy a Carrot Stix rod (too rich for my blood), I can still appreciate a well-written, objective review. Too many times on here I see terse, fanboy comments, pro or con, about a product with no real rationale for the comment. Thanks for taking the time to explain WHY you have formed your opinion. Excellent job!

 

37 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

I agree with @GrumpyOlPhartte.  Thanks for the review.  I'm a little surprised that they even tried to revive the brand.  They've got a long uphill battle ahead of them.  I sincerely hope their CS has been overhauled even better than their rods.  I wish them well.

 

Thank you guys. I appreciate it. I knew that there would be a lot of backlash for writing something positive about this company. But I feel that the issues from the past were amplified by people who never dealt with the problems first hand and were just reiterating what they were told. I am not trying to force Carrot Stix on anyone I just wanted to do a fair assessment of a brand that gets a lot of hate and maybe help out other anglers who never gave them a thought because of their reputation from 5+ years ago. I also use a lot of Ardent products and they too seem to get a lot of hate on here because people disliked the Edge series reels but their Apex reels are great.

[OnthePotomac]

I guess I am fortunate in that my 7' Med Wild is six years old and still doing duty as a crank bait rod.  Incredibly light.  Got it at a Gander on sale for $80. 

[Redlinerobert]

Somewhere,  I have a 1st generation first run carrot stick.  Used a handful of times.   Such an ugly rod.

[Chance_Taker4]

21 minutes ago, OnthePotomac said:

I guess I am fortunate in that my 7' Med Wild is six years old and still doing duty as a crank bait rod.  Incredibly light.  Got it at a Gander on sale for $80. 

I have an original E21 Carrot Stix that I still have as a dedicated cranking rod myself to.

[webertime]

Any of the companies wrapped up in National Pro Staff, I stay away from on principle.  It hurts mom and pop shops as well as the guys who try to get legit sponsorship.  Carrot Stix, eNigma, Denali.  I know guys who get deals from these companies and know that all 3 have significant issues. 

[J Francho]

8 minutes ago, webertime said:

National Pro Staff

 

YouTube 15% coupon brigade.

[webertime]

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

 

YouTube 15% coupon brigade.

It's like the sketchy photographer offering "deals" to the ugly girl on modeling pictures.

[J Francho]

Coming from the photography industry (mostly weddings and senior portraits), that whole "trade for prints" culture is a little icky.

 

But I digress.  Where were we?

[Redlinerobert]

Guys,

 

To the several of you that have pm'd me offering to buy the gen 1 carrot stik, I appreciate it but at this time I have no interest in selling. 

Thanks!

[Chance_Taker4]

On 8/9/2017 at 1:38 PM, webertime said:

Any of the companies wrapped up in National Pro Staff, I stay away from on principle.  It hurts mom and pop shops as well as the guys who try to get legit sponsorship.  Carrot Stix, eNigma, Denali.  I know guys who get deals from these companies and know that all 3 have significant issues. 

Denali and Enigma are actually not part of NPS or at least a google search shows all you would have to do is apply though their website. I know Carrot Stix is part of NPS.

 

As for mom and pop shops I always buy my equipment from the company direct. On very rare occasions I will buy from a tackle shop or tackle chain. Would rather have the full msrp go to the company that makes the product to keep them making products.

[kickerfish1]

Mmm..."carrot sticks" and ranch dip. Nice source of Vitamin A.

[Jjjayman]

I have an e21 that was purchased in 2009. I love this rod! Recently, the adhesive around the middle eyes finally started cracking and 3 eyes have come loose ?. I sent in a warranty claim and I hope they will help me out. Otherwise I might just try and to do a DIY and fix them.