Initial Hammer Rod Review

[evo2s197]

Hey guys, I've been a member for a little bit, but mostly just read topics and how to's, anyway's I have a first impressions review of a pair of Hammer Rods I received.

 

 

 

 

I have ordered 7 Hammer rods total  within a week form Brian @ Tackle TrapTrap, seems to be a good guy to deal with, I received the first 2 out of the 7, they are both 7ft heavy casting rods.

 

The first thing I noticed is that they are a little on the tip heavy side, similar to a couple older IMX rods I had. Balances a little better with a reel mounted but still a bit heavy in the tip (see the balance point in the attached picture using a Lew's BB1 Pro) 

 

Rod feels light and sensitive, although I have not fished them yet and may not just yet, but more on that later.

 

Second is the build quality it's decent, reminds me of bass pro shops rods quality not terrible and not excellent, some of the guides aren't straight, the epoxy wrap isn't super clean in some areas, but all in all not too bad for a 150-200 price range rod but not above average in that price range either.

 

The rods are supposed to be made in the USA yet they have no markings or labels stating the fact, which is a little strange, I always like buying a USA made product and seeing that statement or a image of the flag on the item.

 

But I have two major issues.

 

The first issue is that with the two rods side by side and lined up the rod guides are off by about a 1/4 inch, which to me is unacceptable for any rod that's over 20 bucks, I can see a 1/16 inch difference at the most, but 1/4 inch variance between two rods that are supposed to be the same model is not good at all, which brings me to the second issue.

 

Both rods that are supposed to be the same model have to different actions and power, upon closer inspection the blanks are slightly different thicknesses which could explain the guides being off and the actions not matching, I believe one is mislabeled from the factory, which is not Brians fault, no way of knowing till they are fully unwrapped and inspected.

 

I'm disappointed in the variance issue between both rods, this could be an isolated incident but I do not know, I'm receiving more  Hammer Rods rods next week so I can compare them all.

 

Other than the issue I'm having they seem to be very good rods for the money, just from my observation, they are definitely more sensitive than the St Croix Avids and Premiers they are replacing.

 

The missing "Made in USA" or on the rod is alarming for a product that is supposed to be made in the USA I feel, hopefully they didn't start suddenly producing them in China.

 

 

Sent a email to Brian about the problem, so he should be getting back to me.

 

Till then stay tuned for a more in depth review once I have all the rods.

 

Here is the list of all of the Hammer Rods received or on the way.

 

Two 7ft heavy casting rods (received)

One 7ft medium casting rod (shipped)

Two 7ft medium heavy casting rods ( on backorder)

One 7ft medium heavy spinning rod (shipped)

One 7ft medium spinning rod (shipped)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE:

 

Brian got back with me and gave me some measurements to look for, so according to my caliper, one of the rods is mislabeled, I received a extra heavy labeled as a Heavy, which explains the offset guides when comparing both rods, they are two totally different blanks.

 

 

Also he said to maintain the same price point for this new year, they had to omit the flag icon and also other labeling, which I'm guessing is the line and lure ratings.

 

Stay tuned for the resolution, and also remember I have more Hammer rods coming so a more complete and in depth review will come once, I have them all in hand and actually fish with them.

 

 

 

UPDATE #2

 

I'm still missing the remaining two medium heavy casting rods I paid for, but I should have them by next week.

 

I have fished the 5 rods I have so far, they are fairly sensitive, as sensitive as rods costing much more.

 

Casting with them is decent but not great, they do not load up well, in fact I have a old 2001 era medium heavy shimano rod that I found myself grabbing more often while testing out these rods, it's just better overall.

 

The quality issue was not an isolated incident, the other rods I received after the initial review are not built well at all, one of the rods creaks badly at the reel seat while casting, out of all the rods only one is on par with a BPS rod which isn't saying much, and that's one of the first two I received, the other rod as you've read above was mislabeled from the factory.

 

Overall, if I could do it over, I would not purchase these rods, nor would I recommend them, if the style interests people, then I would suggest looking at the Falcon Bucoo micro series, better built rod, with a made in USA label actually on them.

 

This is a honest review, and not the review I was hoping to give on these rods, the sensitivity is pretty awesome for the price, everything else though needs a lot of work.

 

 

FINAL UPDATE:

 

BRIAN AT TACKLETRAP HAS REPLACED ALL THESE RODS WITH AVID X'S

 

GAVE THE HAMMER RODS A GO, BUT THEY JUST AREN'T BUILT GREAT, TOO MANY FLAWS AND ISSUES.

[islandbass]

Thanks for the review. I look forward to seeing his response on the reason why the guide spacing isn't the same or at least reasonably close. Perplexing. 

[Bluebasser86]

Interesting. I only own 1 Hammer rod but it's one of my favorite rods I own. Way nicer than any BPS rod I've ever felt, but it's the only one I've ever seen in person so it's an extremely limited sample size. 

[smalljaw67]

I have 2 Hammer rods and I really, really like them, the most versatile rods out there. That said, the one thing that might have cause your problem is the action of the blank, you said one was slightly thicker than the other. It could be possible that the guides are spaced to how the blank flexes instead of just put on by template, I know Kistler does the same thing so two identical rod lengths and actions might not be exact in spacing because of a small difference in the blank flex. I'm not sure that is the case but it is possible, the other thing is my Hammer rods have a USA flag on the blank so I'm not sure what the issue there is. You did the right thing by letting the guys at the Tackle Trap know, they should be able to tell you what the issue is but I can tell you this, most guys that have used those rods usually end up surprised at the performance, and for me it dispelled a long held believe that there wasn't a rod with a parabolic action that could be used with a jig or worm. The sensitivity of those rods still freaks me out as I got my heavy power for big topwaters and the MH for large jerkbaits and square bills and while they are parabolic they aren't soft like a cranking rod, I have no problem setting a hook even when using mono and as I said, the sensitivity is really good with great backbone and the perfect amount of forgiveness.

[evo2s197]

1 hour ago, smalljaw67 said:

I have 2 Hammer rods and I really, really like them, the most versatile rods out there. That said, the one thing that might have cause your problem is the action of the blank, you said one was slightly thicker than the other. It could be possible that the guides are spaced to how the blank flexes instead of just put on by template, I know Kistler does the same thing so two identical rod lengths and actions might not be exact in spacing because of a small difference in the blank flex. I'm not sure that is the case but it is possible, the other thing is my Hammer rods have a USA flag on the blank so I'm not sure what the issue there is. You did the right thing by letting the guys at the Tackle Trap know, they should be able to tell you what the issue is but I can tell you this, most guys that have used those rods usually end up surprised at the performance, and for me it dispelled a long held believe that there wasn't a rod with a parabolic action that could be used with a jig or worm. The sensitivity of those rods still freaks me out as I got my heavy power for big topwaters and the MH for large jerkbaits and square bills and while they are parabolic they aren't soft like a cranking rod, I have no problem setting a hook even when using mono and as I said, the sensitivity is really good with great backbone and the perfect amount of forgiveness.

How old are your rods? Maybe I was sent two demo rods, that's why they don't have the flag on them? I wasn't sure how the power would be on the Hammer  rods, from the extremely limited reviews, I was thinking that a a Heavy hammer would be similar to a St. Croix medium heavy, I've read that if you want a medium heavy get a Heavy, or of you want a medium then a medium heavy would be best.

 

I have two older casting rods from around 2001 I think, they were the first two "nice rods" I bought, one is a shimano Compre the other is a G Loomis GL3, both are medium heavy, I do not fish with them anymore because they hold a certain sentimental value to me, anyways the two heavy Hammer rods are stiffer "Have more power" so to me they seem to be appropriately rated, it just seems that nowadays alot of rods are way underrated than they used to be, a lot of big brands have medium heavy rods that are broom stick like, such as the Lew's Lite series, their medium heavy rod feels like a light duty flipping stick to me.

[Darren.]

I'd offer a welcome, but probably already did back when

you joined in 2014  So welcome back!

 

Nice review. Never handled a Hammer rod but they sound

like a solid offering in the crowded rod market.

[DomQ]

Interested in seeing the conclusion

[new2BC4bass]

I haven't as yet used mine for a technique requiring sensitivity, but there was a thread on another forum...which I can't find...that compared the Hammer to several other rods.  The consensus was that the Hammer has more sensitivity than its price suggests, and compares favorably with rods costing quite a bit more.

[Stephen B]

I agree they are great rods, but I am not a fan of their grips. I'd prefer a nice cork. The handles are a bit short for my liking as well. Overall, they are good rods at the price point, but it's a competitive price point.

[evo2s197]

Update added.

[jbrew73]

i've been very pleased with my hammer rods.  excellent sensitivity, good build quality (on my rods so far) and light weight compared to some other mid tier rods.

 

i actually prefer the exposed reel seat threads and the winn grips.

[Fishinthefish]

I'm curious to see how this plays out. I've taken interest when doing my research into future rod purchases. Though this just further affirms my belief that the best bet is to just order from Mike at DVT when I need a new rod, the extra money, and the wait time seems to be inarguably worth it at this point. I'm a rod snob, I know it, I just need to accept it. 

[Stephen B]

I have had a few flaws in the Hammer Rods I have received. On the 7'6" Heavy the expoxy work is not good and also the winding check is of cheap quality and is deteriorating. One thing that I found to be interesting is from my experience the spinning rods are not nearly as sensitive as the casting.

[evo2s197]

17 minutes ago, Stephen B said:

I have had a few flaws in the Hammer Rods I have received. On the 7'6" Heavy the expoxy work is not good and also the winding check is of cheap quality and is deteriorating. One thing that I found to be interesting is from my experience the spinning rods are not nearly as sensitive as the casting.

How many hammer rods do you have?

If the winding check is falling apart I think that would qualify for a  warranty replacement.

 

One thing I noticed between the two rods is that one is built way better, on par with a st croix premier, coincidentally the mislabeled rod is the one with alot of minor aesthetic defects.

[Summerland Outdoors]

I definitely agree that there is a lot of variance in the build quality, which is not a good thing in terms of QC. I have 4 of them. I have only been impressed with the 7'3" Heavy. The other rods don't impress me at all. I think they make good blanks, but need to work on QC. It's too competitive of a price range to make mistakes.

[Stephen B]

I have had the same experience as Summerland. Hopefully they honor their warranty on the products

[evo2s197]

See update #2

[JustinJ]

Seems to be a lot of flaws with these rods. I'll stick to dobyns lol

[evo2s197]

Final update

[Stephen B]

I had the same experience. I think they are just lacking the attention to detail as they are a small rod company that got a lot of business that they couldn't keep up with. How do you like the Avid Xs?

[evo2s197]

7 hours ago, Stephen B said:

I had the same experience. I think they are just lacking the attention to detail as they are a small rod company that got a lot of business that they couldn't keep up with. How do you like the Avid Xs?

Don't know, all 7 rods will ship out today, I'll review those when I get them

[evo2s197]

Just got my Avid X Rods, I'll do a final review comparing the two brands, I'll just stick to how they fish, no comparison when it comes to the build quality.

[DomQ]

32 minutes ago, evo2s197 said:

Just got my Avid X Rods, I'll do a final review comparing the two brands, I'll just stick to how they fish, no comparison when it comes to the build quality.

http://

Well although very thoughtful of you, I do not want to meet beautiful Asian ladies tonight. The gf might get a little upset... (its an ad in the picture link) 

[evo2s197]

lol oh crap, I'll fix that.

[burrows]

1 hour ago, evo2s197 said:

Just got my Avid X Rods, I'll do a final review comparing the two brands, I'll just stick to how they fish, no comparison when it comes to the build quality.

Holy cow! That's beautiful.