Reviews

[Log Catcher]

I read reviews on items before I buy. I like to look for consistency in what is good or what is wrong with a product. When something new comes out it will be a long time before I try it. I have seen too many latest greatest things that were a bust.

[slonezp]

Lures are lures. As a fisherman all we need to know is when and where to throw what type. There is no magic lure. As far as gear, I'd rather get info here or real world person to person rather than a paid sponsor or aspiring youtube fisherman. 

I buy my rods at brick and mortar stores. I like to "test drive" them before purchase. As far as reels, I've used Abu for 50 years. All the fantastic reviews for Lews or Shimano or Diawa...don't matter. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

7 hours ago, PhishLI said:

@T-Billy's recent relentless flogging of ARK rods has me ready to bend the knee. The ARK Essence ticks a lot of boxes feature-wise, so why not. I'll find out for myself if he's batty after the next TW sale.

He was the straw that broke the camels back for me.  I had been curious about them for some time.  I was drawn to the Invoker LE but wound up settling for the Essence as a guide upgrade and wrapped blank wasn't worth an extra $70.

Unfortunately it's been a tough winter ice wise so I've only managed a handful of fish on it.  So far the sensitivity has been impressive.  The only faults of my particular rod is that the cork isn't great and the blank bg had some rashes on it right out of the tube.  The guides are on the bigger side and the open ended keeper may cause some headaches in the future, but that remains to be seen.

Short of some flaw that has yet to manifest, I would say @T-Billyis of sound mind. 

[PhishLI]

All kidding aside, I'm a gear and gadget enthusiast, so it's rare that I don't click on a review out of curiosity. If I already own an item being reviewed, and have formed my own opinion, I like to see if the reviewer specifically highlights performance aspects that I've keyed in on. Perhaps due to the short form nature of most online reviews that rarely occurs, but occasionally I do get a dash of affirmation.

 

Interestingly, this has also happened on these pages, and sometimes comes from someone who had previously rendered the polar opposite opinion from mine on another piece of gear. But that's because a total system consisting of an individual, rod, reel, and line is somewhat unique. An opinion expressed from a specific point of view about a complex system is a special type of subjectivity. Unlike having an opinion about a movie, which resides only between one's ears, it's far more sophisticated because of several aspects occurring simultaneously with variables stacked upon variables. I'd guess that it's quite often that a single component inserted into the a mix either gets blamed for failure unjustly or praised for success. Personally I've found unlikely synergistic mixes when mixing gear that I'd previously dismissed.

 

Feel is more than how a rod/reel combo fits in your hand and its action and sensitivity. People have differences in their center of gravity (balance), arm length, body type, hand size, etc. Even when those aspects are nearly equal in two people their preferences might be vastly different, and often are. Aside from static measurements, people often have different body mechanics(casting technique) which helps to explain different preferences in casting reel brake types.

 

In the end it's hard to know exactly how transferrable one person's experience is to my own, and vice versa. Also, the level of rigor it would take to even attempt to identify every pertinent virtue of a piece of gear isn't practical, so granular details rarely if ever show up in fishing gear reviews anyway. First, that may be hard to do, and ultimately might be unappealing to someone who simply wants to go fishing. In the end I'm content with hearing whether or not there were acceptable flaws, or glaring mechanical defects which showed themselves over the duration of the review. The rest is left for me to find out on my own.

[TnRiver46]

21 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

 

Short of some flaw that has yet to manifest, I would say @T-Billyis of sound mind. 

He’s got you right where he wants you. Beware 

 

just kidding I want some of those flipping baits he makes 

[Bluebasser86]

My favorites are the "reviews", of products that the users have zero, or next to zero actual usage hours with. That's not a review, that's a first impression.

[Kenny Yi]

if i see one more negative review with a 5 star rating...

[LrgmouthShad]

2 minutes ago, Kenny Yi said:

if i see one more negative review with a 5 star rating...

Please don’t keep me in suspense. What will you do?? 
 

Just kidding brother

[cyclops2]

Bingo Bluebasser86

[Kenny Yi]

29 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Please don’t keep me in suspense. What will you do?? 
 

Just kidding brother

i might actually switch to Daiwa XD

[EWREX]

i take reviews with a grain of salt, especially rod reviews. my favorites are the ones saying their rod snapped boat flipping a one pounder. i’d love to watch a video of this so called rod snapping boat flip. you know once you flip the fish into the boat you need more than 6 inches of line from your rod tip

[T-Billy]

5 hours ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

, I would say @T-Billyis of sound mind

My wife would disagree. ? LOL. The guides are on the larger side for micros. I like that. I don't fish leaders often, but do ocassionally and an alberto passes through them just fine. I've read in other reviews that the cork isn't the best, and even mentioned it in another thread when recommending someone check out the Essence. I've never handled one. The models I own have EVA. I really like that they use the same blank material across so many series. It makes it easy to order from different lineups and know you're gonna get what you're expecting. Probably helps keep their cost down too.

[Hammer 4]

Example, I read reviews on say, TW for rods, sometimes for reels. However I read between the lines, some are from people for one reason or another don't like a certain manufacture and will give a negative review, while others that really have no long term experience with a product, may give it rave reviews, based solely on a very short term experience, or they just bough the product but haven't used it yet.

I also will ask certain BR members their opinion of a product, those I ask I have confidence that they have enough experience and expertise to give me an honest answer.

I will admit that I bought a rod on a recommendation from a well known YT'r, I was really let down on the performance of the rod, so I tend to stay away from those types of reviews.  

[Catt]

I will not write a review unless I've personally used that product for at least a year. Of course some products take a lot less time because they are that bad.

 

As for others reviews I can quickly tell by looking for "buzz" words that clue me in that it's just regurgitated BS. Some are so blatantly obvious they're hilarious. 

 

Powell Inferno probably had some of the worst reviews I've ever read. Some guys actually said the rod would explode in your hands. After being asked by a rather large online tackle store to evaluate an Inferno I agreed just to see how bad they really were. After a couple months I bought it & am still throwing 3 or 4 years later.

[PhishLI]

32 minutes ago, Catt said:

As for others reviews I can quickly tell by looking for "buzz" words that clue me in that it's just regurgitated BS.

My eyes roll into the back of my head each time I read or hear a "reviewer" mouth the word "workhorse" in reference to a reel.

[Fishin Dad]

There are too many “Influencers” who are paid or trying to get paid to “review” a product.   I always try to read through this trash.  It is funny when you read the review and it is like reading the marketing brochure they received from the company.    
I still read reviews, but I put a ton more credibility on Bass Resource members as well as other places and then make my own decision.  I still don’t always make the right choice, but at least I can just call myself an idiot and not feel like I was just taken advantage of.  I did my research.  

[Sam]

For me, it depends on who is doing the reviewing.

 

I have 100% confidence with the reviews by our Forum members who have no financial intrest in the product being reviewed or tested.

 

The pros get paid to endorse their sponsors products, so you always take what the pros say about any one specific product with  "grain of salt."

 

Reviews by others who are unknown don't mean anything to me as one person can post 10 or more reviews under different names which skews the reviews in favor of the product.

 

And thats the way it is....

[Junk Fisherman]

I enjoy the reviews on Tackle Tour and their forum has some great information.  I'll post questions on here looking for advice about products as well.  The nice thing about getting reviews on forums is that you know many of the posters so some of the reviews you can really value.  I value the Tackle Warehouse reviews the least but I will look for trends.  For the most part, I don't put much stock in tackle recommendations from pros since they are often just pushing their sponsors's products.  The how, what colors, and when to use the bait are important and what I listen to but I stick to the brands I have confidence in.  

[Zcoker]

Often times, the reviewer needs to be reviewed lol. I've seen a lot of negative reviews on items based off the shipping, or the wrapping, or the packaging in some form or another. Even the time it takes to get something, "I waited 3 days to get my stuff!" But those kinda punch-lines are usually in the very last few lines of the 35 line paragraph, which most don't get to anyway. They instead skim quickly the first few rants and just "assume" the product is no good. Like some have pointed on here, going into all the reviews with a neutral state of mind does help sift through the ruffage. I'll often proceed to the very last reviews to get the most honest opinions on a particular product. The first batch of 5 star reviews can be kinda sketchy. 

[Bankbeater]

I never buy a product when it first comes out.  I give it a while then start reading reviews from different sources. 

[dodgeguy]

22 hours ago, PhishLI said:

Without ever giving much in the way of detail, @dodgeguy pounded me into submission with his metronomic endorsement of the 2020 Lew's Tournament Pro LFS. The $139 everyday sale price at the place that outfits sportsmen made it worthwhile to find out whether he was a kook or not. As it turns out this reel is now one of my most fished favorites. Its actual casting performance is top notch in my hands. Couldn't be happier. He's definitely less kooky than I might have thought beforehand.

 

@T-Billy's recent relentless flogging of ARK rods has me ready to bend the knee. The ARK Essence ticks a lot of boxes feature-wise, so why not. I'll find out for myself if he's batty after the next TW sale.

 

 

 

LOL!!!! THANKS !!!!

[DINK WHISPERER]

Absolutely I do! I also call the couple of dealers I do business with because a lot of times they've used the products and can give me a first hand look into them. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

21 hours ago, T-Billy said:

My wife would disagree. ? LOL. The guides are on the larger side for micros. I like that. I don't fish leaders often, but do ocassionally and an alberto passes through them just fine. I've read in other reviews that the cork isn't the best, and even mentioned it in another thread when recommending someone check out the Essence. I've never handled one. The models I own have EVA. I really like that they use the same blank material across so many series. It makes it easy to order from different lineups and know you're gonna get what you're expecting. Probably helps keep their cost down too.

The guides on the Essence aren't micro guides by any means.  The stripper guide is unusually large for a FW bass rod.  The only issue I see with is the price points they on the rods they have.  I'm not certain but it appears the Essence may share the same blank as the Honey Badger.  With Essence being nearly double the price of the HB without an upgrade in the blank or major upgrade in the guides makes me wonder where the extra $ went.  

With that said, If the blanks are the same Ark should make the price point much closer or improve the Essence to where the extra cost vs the HB would be justified.  It's not so much that the Essence is a bad rod, more like the HB is too good for the price points.

 

[CrashVector]

I do lots of review videos.  As a rule, it's always something I pay for with my own money, that I'm genuinely curious about, and something I've used long enough to give the pros AND cons about.

 

I'm never "first" to review anything because I won't post a video until I feel I have enough experience with it to give an honest review.  Could be weeks or even months after...just depends on when I feel "Okay...I've used this enough to be able to speak about this with some authority."

 

Like my Symetre combo review.  People are STILL commenting that it's a saltwater combo bc I said that despite the fact that I like the combo, the rod is as numb as lidocaine and isn't sensitive enough for finesse fishing.  Shimano clearly markets it as an inshore saltwater AND freshwater combo...they just don't like hearing that a Shimano product isn't up to par in my opinion, but it's my honest opinion based on over 30 catches and weeks of use.

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

The guides on the Essence aren't micro guides by any means.  The stripper guide is unusually large for a FW bass rod.  The only issue I see with is the price points they on the rods they have.  I'm not certain but it appears the Essence may share the same blank as the Honey Badger.  With Essence being nearly double the price of the HB without an upgrade in the blank or major upgrade in the guides makes me wonder where the extra $ went.  

With that said, If the blanks are the same Ark should make the price point much closer or improve the Essence to where the extra cost vs the HB would be justified.  It's not so much that the Essence is a bad rod, more like the HB is too good for the price points.

 

10-4. Good info. Thanks. Both the Tharp and Essence are listed as having K series guides. I'd describe the Tharps guides as semi micro. I made the mistake of assuming they were the same on the Essence. My bad. Sounds like with the Essence you get mediocre cork, full size guides, and a different seat for the extra $50. 

I agree with you based on that info, that the Tharp HB series is the better value.