Are Pacific Bay guides on a rod any good??

[The Rooster]

I noticed most all of BPS's current line of rods have Pacific Bay guides now instead of Fuji like before. Are these a downgrade?? Never heard of Pacific Bay before.  The mid level BPS rods have the same guides as the much cheaper rods do.  Pacific Bay Hialoy guides from the Extreme rod for $100 down to the Graphite Series for $35.

[Big Bait Fishing]

yes , they are .... 

[flechero]

They are less expensive... and don't carry the brand recognition that Fuji does. I don't know if I'd say they are really a downgrade... each company makes a variety of quality levels. For other reasons, I prefer the fuji's but I have used Pac Bay on some rods in the past and was pretty happy with them.

I'd take the Hialoy over Fuji's hardloy. And for a few cents more, I'd take Alconites over both. But I don't buy guides by the 1000's... just 10's. ...lol So a couple dollars per rod overall, isn't a concern to me- but would be HUGE to a manufacturer.

[.RM.]

Pacific Bay (PacBay) is one of the oldest names in rod components manufacturing...

Tight Lines!!! 

[Bronzefly]

I had a custom with Pac Bay guides and I thought they held up fine.  They did their job very well. 

I held the new BPS Carbonlite rods at the store the other day - they have the Pac Bay guides as well - this is one sharp looking rod for it's price range!  It actually felt very nice in hand... they were on sale as well. 

[Alpster]

For large saltwater spinning guides, I like the PacBay guides. Like ReelMech says, they have been around for a long time. I find nothing particularly inferior about their guides at the same price range and class as Fugi. JMHO

Ronnie

[MarauderYak]

Like Flechero said, there is a wide range of quality levels made by Fuji and Pac Bay.  If you compare apples to apples their performance is nearly identical.

As I stated in another thread...  The reason several companies have switched some of their rods from Fuji to Pac Bay is primarily do to availability.  Now that quite a few have switched over, Fuji might start working a little better with rod companies to help them meet production schedules.