Are Irods poor quality? I just got a Genesis III Swimbait Jr and the Eva foam feels extremely cheap

[Ohioguy25]

Does this matter or reflect the overall build quality or performance or is it just a minor quip? It feels very cheap and airy, as opposed to the soft memory foam texture of other Eva I’ve felt.  Is this just a lighter style of Eva?
 

I really want this to work because it feels much more moderate than the Kistler KLX I tried, I’m just a bit worried about the build quality, or is parabolic bend most important?

[dodgeguy]

Any rod with foam is cheap.

[Catt]

You can not run fast enough to give a me a rod with EVA grips!

[Ohioguy25]

1 minute ago, dodgeguy said:

Any rod with foam is cheap.

Even a Dobyn’s Champ XP?

1 minute ago, Catt said:

You can not run fast enough to give a me a rod with EVA grips!

Lol why

[AlabamaSpothunter]

8 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Even a Dobyn’s Champ XP?

Lol why

He's old school ?

 

Heck I was born in the 80s, and I can remember a time before EVA

 

That said, I have $500+ rod with EVA, and several $200-300 rods with EVA.

 

EVA isn't cork....good and bad.   

[VolFan]

The lighter foam is…wait for it…lighter, and saves weight on the rod. How it wears we’ll see but I have rods with light foam grips that are probably older than my son (more than 10, less than 20). They’re still in great shape. Just like cork, take care of it and don’t get sand or anything that degrades the foam on it and it’ll last as long as you’re interested. I’ve never heard any complaints about Irods for that matter.

[ATA]

37 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

Any rod with foam is cheap.

I think the Dobyns Mag Swimbait rods are EVA and they are not cheap

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, ATA said:

I think the Dobyns Mag Swimbait rods are EVA and they are not cheap

Daiwa Tatula Elite rods also have EVA grips

Then there's the Steez with what they call 'Air Foam'.

[Functional]

Ive had a lot of poor quality cork come apart on me. Havent had that issue with any EVA yet but also havent owned them as long.

 

That said I still highly prefer a quality cork over anything else in the reel seat area, I could care less what is on the butt of the rod.

[Hammer 4]

No problems with the EVA grips on my Irods.

[Big Hands]

My nephew recently got one of the Irod Gen III swimbait rods and I was impressed with it, especially given the price. He paired it with a Penn Fathom and it is a sweet combo IMHO. 

 

Seems that a lot of swimbait rods have EVA. I certainly prefer cork, and almost never purchase a rod with EVA these days. But, I did get a Dobyns Fury 806 swimbait rod with EVA and I like the rod a lot, especially given the price. I have seen Gary say that the swimbait anglers generally prefer it and that's why he uses it for those particular type of rods.

[Catt]

1 hour ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Lol why

 

They all feel slippery when wet & they look cheap. I'll take Winn Grips first, I got 4-5 Lew's rods.

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

He's old school ?

That's a fact Jack 

 

I prefer cork ?

[FryDog62]

About half my rods are cork and half are EVA. I switch between rods all day long and don’t even notice the grip change. In fact, I had to sit here and think about a couple of my favorite/most used rods and if they were EVA or cork… surprising because I’m a bit OCD about a few things..

[PhishLI]

2 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

It feels very cheap and airy,

No, it doesn't. For the love of Christmas, just go fishing before you die of old age overthinking all of these minutiae.

[FryDog62]

Part of my ambivalence to foam vs. cork is I wear Fish Monkey gloves... so the grips all pretty much feel the same.  And no "bass thumb" any more either!

[Deleted account]

19 minutes ago, FryDog62 said:

And no "bass thumb" any more either!

 

That's so sad...

 

 

[FryDog62]

36 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

 

That's so sad...

 

 

I used to wear the bass thumb proud, until I ended up with a Staph infection once. (I'll spare you the photo ?). I guess that's what you get when you have soft, wimpy desk jockey hands like I do..! 

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, FryDog62 said:

I used to wear the bass thumb proud, until I ended up with a Staph infection once. (I'll spare you the photo ?). I guess that's what you get when you have soft, wimpy desk jockey hands like I do..! 

 

LOL. I was out a couple of days ago fishing from shore, when I tripped and fell forward, no big deal, except I put my left hand out palm down to braze myself, and looked over just in time to see the handy work of a beaver on a sapling. Thought for sure it would go clean through, but just put a pretty good hole in my palm, been doing Dracula, crucifixion, and stigmata jokes all week, even googled "Can you get rabies from beavers, and "How long doe rabies virus live outside host". Today is first day with a BC since, Oh, and yes, you can use spinning for big baits...

[FryDog62]

12 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

 

LOL. I was out a couple of days ago fishing from shore, when I tripped and fell forward, no big deal, except I put my left hand out palm down to braze myself, and looked over just in time to see the handy work of a beaver on a sapling. Thought for sure it would go clean through, but just put a pretty good hole in my palm, been doing Dracula, crucifixion, and stigmata jokes all week, even googled "Can you get rabies from beavers, and "How long doe rabies virus live outside host". Today is first day with a BC since, Oh, and yes, you can use spinning for big baits...

Careful when you Google things you can catch from beavers… ?

[Cbump]

I’ve never felt “memory foam”-like Eva. That would be way too soft. 
 

 

Also Winn grips suck. 

[Ohioguy25]

42 minutes ago, Cbump said:

I’ve never felt “memory foam”-like Eva. That would be way too soft. 
 

 

Also Winn grips suck. 

What are Winn grips, is that what IRod uses?

[PhishLI]

20 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Winn grips, is that what IRod uses?

No! You can cancel the UPS pickup now.?

[KP Duty]

16 hours ago, Catt said:

You can not run fast enough to give a me a rod with EVA grips!

Lol.  You didn't own any Berkley Lightning rods in the early 90's?  

[Dangerfield]

Shimano Zodias is now consider cheap cause it has EVA grips? I dunno about that, I've got a number of EVA grip rods, no complaints.

 

Although my two Lew's rods with Winn Grips, lost significant tackiness from season 2 to 3.

[WRB]

IROD gen 3 are well made and very popular swimbait rods.

If you prefer premium cork IROD 

Quercus IQ783SB is the rod you want, lighter weight components same blank unpolished.

Tom

PS, you want thicker foam over wrap with Winn Grip,