Are expensive rods worth the money?

[eddyt]

Hey guys

I've been checking out the rods and trying to justify buying one of the more expensive rods. Do you guys think some of these rods are worth the extra money?

I currently own a Shimano Sahara and Sonic Pro, got them for a reasonable price (around $100 for the Sahara with a Sedona reel and $70 for the Sonic Pro with some other reel) and can't really complain, although I do feel the Sahara is better than the Sonic Pro. I like how the Sahara just feels more solid and generally feels better when a fish is on, but I can't really fault the Sonic Pro. Both rods give me around the same casting distance and both are just as sensitive.

I'm looking to buy some new rods (snapped both rods - gotta be more careful with car windows!) and I'm considering getting a more expensive rod in the $150+ range if it really is that much better, or just buy another Sahara. What's the benefits of the more expensive rods? I'm thinking about rods like those daiwa gen blacks that everyone's raving on about.

Mostly thinking about rods for fishing landbased with a mix of bait and lure fishing, targeting small to medium sized fish like bream, flatties, snapper, whiting, squid etc.

[cobby]

Yes and no. The performance increase of 30% requires an extra 80% spent. If you can justify it then yes they're great. Otherwise find a balance point and stick to it. My samurai ($550 at the time) runs rings around all my cheaper rods including a T-curve t series noodle to the point it's my dedicated snapper plastics rod at only 1-3kg rating. Every little tiny tap, bit of weed, and in dead calm conditions what ground the plastic lands on can be felt. My cheaper rods aren't anywhere near as sensitive

[bowl]

I have daiwa Laguna combo got it on sale. It shats on a sonic pro.

[sandef]

try to buy the best gear you can afford

[Dano]

good gear is no fun. i had so much fun reeling in a 8kg snapper with $20 kids combo. took me 15mins atleast

[AVG_Fisho]

buy the best you can afford, that goes for everything in life.

But yes, rods and reels definitely worth having the best you can afford to a certain extent.

[ducky]

There's a funny thing that happens with fishing gear. If you don't think you need it than you don't. As cobby said it's not linear. The difference between a $20 rod to a $100 rod is virtually the same as the difference between a $100 rod and a $400 rod. They do get better as the $$$ increase but you get the law of diminishing returns applying.

[Tyler]

For build quality, I think the more expensive rods are better quality but performance wise some of the cheap stuff can easily hold it's own.

My favorite rod is still my cheap Kato Predator graphite rod, it has easily out performed and caught more fish than my more expensive rods and had no dramas handling fish well out of it's weight rating. But the quality wasn't there and it's still useable but the reel seat is knackered.


Expensive gear doesn't mean you'll catch more fish.

[sandef]

best dosn't always equal expensive

[Boonanza]

My little bloke has a sienna 1000/sonic pro combo which is used just for spinning but last year at the carp cull he used it and caught two carp one was 17lb & the other just over 20lb not bad for a cheap spin combo with 6lb line. :thumbsup: