Experience with EDGE RODS

[Lane44]

Hello all, has anyone had any recent experience with EDGE Rods delta to black widow, Im curious on the expereinces yall have had with the actual rods themselves. In terms of the fit and finish, the "Sensitivity" and if the powers and tapers are consistent among each series and any other helpful info would be highly appreciated thanks.

[Kidflex]

Cheap components. Poor customer service. The MBR rods are not like the gloomis MBR series, these are more for heavier use. 

[Tywithay]

I have a First Strike 705, and a Black Widow 735. 705 feels like a Loomis to me. The 735 blank is almost 1/2" diameter at the handle. Looks really weird. That said, it's extremely sensitive. Fit and finish was okay. About as good as you'd see from most manufacturers. I like them, but I'm not in a rush to buy more. I'll stick with Kistler if I want an NFC blank.

[iabass8]

customer service is among the worst in the industry.

 

wait time for a rod is months.

 

Those that have them, generally, like them.

[Lane44]

That customer service part concerns me only for the fact of that I can understand shipping times being delayed because they are a small staff however if I have a problem from the rod a good customer service rep is great to have 

Is it also common among manufacturers that you have to purchase warranty with the rod?

[newapti5]

I have a Black Widow 734. Like others said, it's not the lightest rod out there, and I don't really care about the reel seat and way-too-slippery carbon handle. Sensitivity wise, I have a Legend X, and it seems to be on bar with that.  Power wise, it's rated 3/16 - 1/2 oz with a really soft tip, but its strong backbone warrants heavier lures. Balance wise, it's balanced really well. The most balanced rods I handled are Dobyns rods, and it matches their level of balancing. Price wise, I got it on sale for $250, and the MSRP seems a little too high for that. I'd say $300~400 is a good retail price range for it.

 

I mostly used it for river smallmouth fishing with 1/4 oz finesse jigs, which usually weigh about 1/2 oz including the trailer, and it handles it BEAUTIFULLY, very accurate for a 7'3 rod, and powerful on the hookset. I just can't ask for a better blank for that specific task. 

Edited June 22, 2020 by newapti5

[Teal]

I'll pass. ??

[Fishingmickey]

On 6/19/2020 at 6:52 PM, iabass8 said:

customer service is among the worst in the industry.

 

wait time for a rod is months.

 

Those that have them, generally, like them.

Nailed it. I have one and like it. But it doesn't make me Oooh and Aaah.

FM

[Lane44]

Thanks everyone for the input

[onenutinthewater]

Great steelhead/salmon rods- Worst service of any business I have EVER experienced. I own 4 but will never buy from them again. Order now and you MAY get it by christmas and you will get zero response to any email or voicemail.

BBB gives them an "F" rating..............

[5-20]

I don't know why but I've always had great customer service. I have one of their saltwater rods and it's absolutely amazing. Nothing else is like it in the entire saltwater industry. 

 

I hope they get all of those kinks worked out with how they build their rods. Because the blanks are completely incredible. 

[DaveT63]

I have a 735 Black Widow.  Nice sensitive blank, but I couldn't stand the carbon fiber handle so I had a local rod builder put a cork split grip on it.  Had an SV103 on it and balance was crap.  Swapped to a Shimano Scorpion 1000XT and it's like a completely different rod.

 

Like others said, customer service is crap.  After I placed my order, I never got a single response to any of half a dozen emails.  I won't buy from them again for that reason.

[AmSO4]

I had 3 BW MB732, 733 and 735.  I really wanted to like them.  The Carbon grips were too slippery.  I sent them back and got a full refund.  I bought Xray blanks from NFC, which are better than the HM used on the BW, and built my own rods with grips, seats and guides that are higher in quality and feel perfect for me.  Also the rods I build are much lighter and cost less than $200 (Xray blanks are $75+$10 on sale).  I am going to sell my all my NRX, Conquest, Expride and Xtasy rods as I replace them with NFC based rods I build.  

[DomQ]

10 hours ago, AmSO4 said:

I had 3 BW MB732, 733 and 735.  I really wanted to like them.  The Carbon grips were too slippery.  I sent them back and got a full refund.  I bought Xray blanks from NFC, which are better than the HM used on the BW, and built my own rods with grips, seats and guides that are higher in quality and feel perfect for me.  Also the rods I build are much lighter and cost less than $200 (Xray blanks are $75+$10 on sale).  I am going to sell my all my NRX, Conquest, Expride and Xtasy rods as I replace them with NFC based rods I build.  

I use to go to a local chicken place that was called NFC. I approve. 

[spoonplugger1]

Sometimes I wonder if some people reviewing a rod actually had it in their hand, and if they did, they understood why it was built that way, on purpose and with much thought behind it. Someone mentioned a blanks large diameter, if you want a rod to be stiffer, without adding weight or additional material you make it with a larger diameter, this has always been known in the rod building industry. Another simple question, what reel seat would be lighter, one with a 1/2 inch hole in it, or one with a 3/8 hole? One of the rules of racing applies here, nothing is lighter than a hole. A blank built with twice the diameter using the same amount of material will be 9 times stiffer. The reason why glass blanks aren't skinny rods.

The reel seat is made in the US,  when was the last time you used a US reel seat? You'll notice the threads a round cut, not square cut like other seats, this design has been around 40 years, or better, all the high end old Loomis rods had them. The aluminum nut was designed a bit sloppy so that it would ride up on the round threads and jam, keeping your reel more securely locked down, now others use a double nut to do the same thing. The Loomis MBR 4 power blanks are all 70's designs, that changed the industry forever, everything before them were broom handles, when the bass industry found lighter more effective presentations, Loomis was right there with the rod to do it, they didn't have to reinvent the wheel. Doesn't surprise me that Edge rods are not old 70's designs, thing have changed a lot out there since than. Finally check out the videos from Edge, you'll see they don't use the same business model as the big companies, they have no distributors, or dealers. Like custom builders if you blow up a rod they have to start from ground zero, there are no big warehouses full of stock. If you've never had to wait for a US built rod/blank after blowing it up, you haven't been around long, I've waited for product from all of them.

Edge is not for everybody and they don't try to be, originally they were never supposed to exist, Gary custom built some rods for the industry to review, the results caused people flooding him with requests for "that rod" not the blank, it was an unintended consequence.

[ATA]

On 6/19/2020 at 12:03 PM, Lane44 said:

Hello all, has anyone had any recent experience with EDGE Rods delta to black widow, Im curious on the expereinces yall have had with the actual rods themselves. In terms of the fit and finish, the "Sensitivity" and if the powers and tapers are consistent among each series and any other helpful info would be highly appreciated thanks.

just wait one week, I have one on the way haha

[CFDoc]

I have no personal experience with EDGE rods. However, there's actually another thread right now on another forum that has the same initials as British Broadcasting Corporation where a lot of horror stories are being described. 

 

There's a guy from an old fishing club that I know that had a HORRIBLE experience with them. His story is on the other site as well. His experience was unbelievably bad and that alone would lead me to avoid them.

[NOC 1]

On 11/17/2020 at 9:45 PM, AmSO4 said:

I had 3 BW MB732, 733 and 735.  I really wanted to like them.  The Carbon grips were too slippery.  I sent them back and got a full refund.  I bought Xray blanks from NFC, which are better than the HM used on the BW, and built my own rods with grips, seats and guides that are higher in quality and feel perfect for me.  Also the rods I build are much lighter and cost less than $200 (Xray blanks are $75+$10 on sale).  I am going to sell my all my NRX, Conquest, Expride and Xtasy rods as I replace them with NFC based rods I build.  

Where the heck can you find X-Ray blanks for $75?

 

Every time I look they are $250, maybe $200 on sale.

On 6/19/2020 at 7:13 PM, Lane44 said:

That customer service part concerns me only for the fact of that I can understand shipping times being delayed because they are a small staff however if I have a problem from the rod a good customer service rep is great to have 

Is it also common among manufacturers that you have to purchase warranty with the rod?

As near as I can figure, any company that is depending on Loomis for blanks is going to have the same problems. NFC also has an F rating from the BBB. Kistler, who uses NFC blanks also suffers the same problems. They are having a Christmas sale and have very very few rods to sell. They have alianated many customers because they cannot deliver warranted replacements in any sort of reasonable time (if ever).

 

What is it with Loomis? Has he gotten to the point where he feels like he is doing everyone a favor by deigning to sell them a blank? It seems like every single business associated with him, including his own, cannot deliver rods or blanks and end up ignoring the customer.

 

I've heard that G. Loomis owns Edge rods, but I don't know if that is true. His name is all over the edge website.

[Smells like fish]

@DomQ Nebraska Fried Chicken? 

[AmSO4]

3 hours ago, NOC 1 said:

Where the heck can you find X-Ray blanks for $75?

 

 

 

They just had them for that price for Black Friday.  They also had most all their blanks for 60% off.  They run these sales every couple of months.    If you register for the newsletter, you will receive notifications.  Also, try their Delta blanks for moving baits.  I built a Delta CB-7106 and it is an amazing deep crank and spoon blank for $35 on sale.  Finished rod weighs under 5 oz with 1/2-2oz rating.

 

[NOC 1]

4 hours ago, AmSO4 said:

They just had them for that price for Black Friday.  They also had most all their blanks for 60% off.  They run these sales every couple of months.    If you register for the newsletter, you will receive notifications.  Also, try their Delta blanks for moving baits.  I built a Delta CB-7106 and it is an amazing deep crank and spoon blank for $35 on sale.  Finished rod weighs under 5 oz with 1/2-2oz rating.

 

Thanks for the tip. I have a Kistler Z-bone and really like the blank and have been wanting to buy a few more X-ray blanks and build some of my own.

[kayaking_kev]

I ordered 3 NFC X-Ray blanks a little over a month ago, the MB733, MB736, & MB7109. I received them I believe about 10 days after I ordered them, so I was happy after hearing all the horror stories.

 

And, then I had to get a replacement warranty on the MB7109 because the tip was slightly damaged, and it only took them about a week to get the replacement to me. They also never asked for the damaged one back, so now I just have to cut a little bit of the tip off of the bad one and I'll have a free X-Ray blank.

 

I did have problems at first getting in contact with them through their email, but after no response, I emailed a lady named Angie directly who's email I had from when I placed my order. Her email addy was from EdgeRods.Com, but she responded and helped me right away with my replacement.

 

The diameter on the Med Heavy 736 and Mag Heavy 7109 is oddly almost identical, at least in the bottom third of the rod, but the Med Light 733 has an even slightly bigger diameter in that bottom section.

[Jerry7771]

So I ordered a Delta series Medium Light spinning rod for my fiancée as an early birthday gift in May.  Imagine my surprise when the rod showed up today ON HER BIRTHDAY!   The rod is extremely light, free of any defects, and absolutely beautiful to look at.  She is very new to fishing but she is awe of this rod.   I could t be happier with Edge Rods.  Thanks Guys

[CrankFate]

On 6/19/2020 at 7:46 PM, Tywithay said:

I'll stick with Kistler if I want an NFC blank.

AFAIK Kistler now uses Toray carbon blanks. No comment on them, but the NFC blanks they used to use are awesome.

 

On 11/17/2020 at 10:45 PM, AmSO4 said:

 (Xray blanks are $75+$10 on sale).  

I don’t think you could possibly buy any blank by NFC for less than $150 for the cheapest blanks they produce. I assume that this is why Kistler no longer uses them. If you bought anything NFC for less than $150, recently, not including tax and shipping, whoever sold it to you has no idea what the prices are now. You made out like a bandit ?

[AmSO4]

2 hours ago, CrankFate said:

AFAIK Kistler now uses Toray carbon blanks. No comment on them, but the NFC blanks they used to use are awesome.

 

I don’t think you could possibly buy any blank by NFC for less than $150 for the cheapest blanks they produce. I assume that this is why Kistler no longer uses them. If you bought anything NFC for less than $150, recently, not including tax and shipping, whoever sold it to you has no idea what the prices are now. You made out like a bandit ?

North Forks Composits often deeply discounts their blanks several times per year.  Most recently they were $125 for X-Ray and 60-75% off the HM, IM and others.  You might sign up for their email notifications to know when the sales happen.  Also, try the delta blanks for moving bait builds.  I got a few for under $40 and they are really good, for me.  Delta CB-7106 is great for deep cranks, heavy chatterbaits and med spoons.