Ardent

[Mobasser]

This company is located in Missouri. Originally, they're reels were made in Missouri. Now, they're in China.                    My grandson brought over a new Ardent Finesse spinning reel he just bought to show me this weekend.             Size 200, eight bearings. This seems like a nice reel in the 50.00 range. He hasn't had a chance to try it yet, but will give me his report soon.         If you own one and have fished it enough to form an opinion, has it worked out well? What's the consensus on Ardent reels?

[garroyo130]

Only ardent I've tried is the military edition baitcaster. Worst baitcaster I've ever had period. I have heard positive things about their higher end stuff though. 

[Jig Man]

I haven’t tried the reels but I have tried the reel grease.  It gets hard and turns black.

[Boogey Man]

I had an Apex Elite baitcaster. Casting wise, it was as good as any reel I've ever used. On the retrieve it was very geary feeling and noisy. No amount of cleaning and lubing would correct it. I sent it back under warranty, Ardent replaced the main and pinion gears, still was loud. I contacted them again and they sent me a free anti reverse bearing, still didn't fix the geary feeling and noise. Customer support was excellent but I'd hesitate to buy another Ardent. 

[WRB]

The original bait casting reels made in America were good and easy to tune. The only issue with them was they were heavy reels. I try not to buy from China.

Tom

[MAN]

I was all in on Ardent till they moved overseas.  Its hard to not see that margin difference and cash in quickly, but its a short-lived rush, and I am sure they have been feeling the effects of that decision for a while now. 

[r83srock]

I had an original (1000xs). Can’t remember the exact model. It was about a 10 bearing reel with a magnesium frame if I remember. It was a great caster and very smooth. That’s the extent of my knowledge of ardent.

[Blaine Donders]

I don’t know about their spinning reels, but the current casting reels are made by Haibo, which is as good as Banax or Doyo in my opinion.

[crypt]

I had an Arrow flipping reel..........I said Had.....that's all I'm gonna say about that.

[postoak]

It's a $42.99 (Amazon) reel, so it's probably as good as others comparably priced to that.

[zell_pop1]

22 hours ago, WRB said:

The original bait casting reels made in America were good and easy to tune. The only issue with them was they were heavy reels. I try not to buy from China.

Tom

X2

Still have my C400, distance wise will outcast Tatulas and Curados I owned.

[Eric 26]

Although I don’t own any Ardent reels a handful of years ago I purchased a Piscifun Saex Apex Elite which is the exact reel as the Ardent Apex reel with dual brakes and red highlights instead of blue . It’s held up well and I really like the profile although it’s not the longest casting reel I own. I purchased 3 Piscifun Carbon X spinning reels which I’m pretty sure are made by the same company making the Ardent spinning reels and I absolutely love them. 

[Eric 26]

@Mobasser I feel the need to share this about Ardent. So yesterday at 10:30 am I  contacted the Ardent customer service with an E-Mail inquiring about a reel part that they promised to respond to within 48 hours. At 7:00 am today I received a response E-Mail asking for my address and by 11:40am this morning I received yet another E-Mail stating the part I inquired about was being shipped with a confirmation number via USPS and the kicker is they never asked for a dime for the part or shipping. Very good customer service that I’m hoping your grandson doesn’t need to use.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, Eric 26 said:

Very good customer service that I’m hoping your grandson doesn’t need to use.

Too bad Pflueger isn't like that - 2 e-mails sent to CS in the last month...still waiting to hear even a notice that they received them.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

I had couple of the Denny Brauer flipping reels come through. I wanna say they had a locked drag and no level wind

[Catt]

Only time I've bought a reel based solely on looks!