American Rodsmith = JUNK

[jeffscout]

I bought a what I thought was a nice rod to go with a Shimano Stradic for my wife's 45th birthday last year. I took it out last Tuesday with her (probably the 10th time she's ever used it) and three of the guides had cracked out. What a piece of garbage. I paid nearly $100 for this thing and in a year's time it is total junk. I've got rods that have lived in the salt since we bought our Tiki place in 2007 that are fine, some even were submerged in Ike.

I tried taking it back to Academy with no receipt and they looked it up. It was worth $0.01 since I didn't have a receipt. I don't fault them, though, as I didn't have the receipt. I fault American Rodsmith for building a piece of garbage rod. I let Academy keep their $0.01 and replaced it with a Falcon that matches one of my other rods that has been there for a few years. I rinse all my rods and reels after every trip and I've never seen one just completely fall apart in a year's time. You can see one of the eyes that is cracked and about to fall out in the photos. One of the guides completely cracked and fell apart. Very disappointed in what I thought and heard was a good company.

[230Ag]

sorry to hear about your rod. Falcon rods are awesome. i have several Coastal XG's and they are top notch!

[Long Pole]

Did you wash it off with saltwater? Those eyes are pretty corroded. Looks like it was dunked and set in a garage.

[Gr8_Outdoorsman]

1) That looks like typical salt corrosion from not being cleaned and stored properly.

2) It looks like a rod meant for freshwater use judging by the material of the guides.

[Gr8_Outdoorsman]

Yup, it says it's a wacky worm rod looking at the last pic. Get a coastal version of whatever brand rod you go with going forward. Falcon makes a really nice coastal rod....

[BullyARed]

Are those guides Fuji guides? I have AR rod with Fuji guides and have no problem with it yet. I have a Kistler rod and the guides (Titanium!) just rusted out like yours. The Kistler rod has not even been used! Falcon is my first choice for price and performance.

[Juan Mas Kahst]

You do realize that if you took it straight to American Rodsmith then they would have bent over backwards to make it right? They don't make every part in their rods... maybe it was a bad batch of guides or something. I've had my head up my arse a time and two that ended in a broken rod(completely my fault, and not a defect or anything). Went directly to their office and they replaced it, no questions asked. I have always been taken care of by the good people at their store: http://americanrodsmiths.com/contact/

[team cut em deep]

Originally Posted by Gr8_Outdoorsman

1) That looks like typical salt corrosion from not being cleaned and stored properly.

2) It looks like a rod meant for freshwater use judging by the material of the guides.

X2

[Smackdaddy53]

Wash your equipment off and it wont rust the guides out! If i drove my truck through saltwater last year and parked it in the garage and drove it today id probably fall through the floorboard and be pavement surfing. It sounds harsh but i have anerican rodsmith rods from eight years ago that have been used countless times and still look new.


-mac-

[reeltimer]

Maybe if some of ya'll would read his post it's bigger than Dallas that he does rinse his rod's!Geez!