Re: Speaking of reels: Redington GD

[ffishnfly chatterton]

Once in a while a great product offered at a decent price comes along. I take exception to the concept that one has to spend the bucks to get quality products. Anybody who has not cast a Heritage rod, for example, cannot judge it's performance or value. Case in point, a good friend went to Alaska this fall with several high end rods and a Heritage rod he took along as a backup. He decided to use the Heritage instead of the Sage one day, just for a change. He ended up fishing the rest of the trip, with silvers up to the low 20 lb range, with the Heritage outperforming the Sage rods he had with him.  He was also the only one who did not break a rod out of 8 anglers in his group. Several of them broke two high end rods apiece.  And this is just not an isolated incident. Soos at Xstreame deliberately tried to break an 9 1/2 foot 6 weight Heritage rod and was unable to do so on salmon up to slightly over 30 lbs. The only Heritage I have seen broken was absolutely brand new and broke near the tip upon stringing the line thru the guides for it's first fishing trip. Turned out there was a nick in the rod there. Replacement was easy and reasonably priced.  So before making judgements of "value", one might want to try the rod first. I bought my first one when I went in to pick up a new pontoon boat from Soos so my granddaughter could take it back on the plane as luggage.  I asked Soos when he had started carrying rods, and he told me the story of how they had been developed.  Lots of "R & D" time and money went into this rod line. You can look in the archives to see the whole story.  I asked it I could cast the rod and bought one on the spot.  Same thing with my buddy when I took him over to look at pontoon boats. He now has 3 of them. I think sometimes we get hung up on the name of brands rather than using what really works the best.  There are some pretty high end rods out there that I personally do not enjoy casting. To each his own.  My $$ worth   Roger ----- Original Message ----- From: Richard Embry To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 11:11 AM Subject: Fw: Speaking of reels: Redington GD Dude, you said it all. The value stuff is great for persons just getting in to the sport, who don't fish much, who don't fish in adverse extreme conditions, or who catch fish that won't put a lot of stress on the equipment.  My value equipment that I bought when first getting in to the sport has either been sold, given away, or is kept as loaner equipment (in fact, a friend going to Christmas Island just hit me up to borrow some loaner equipment).  If a person thinks they will be in this sport for the long haul, then it's cheaper in the long run just to get the quality stuff.  Dan Blanton made a comment, but it was being applied to salt water fly fishing equipment, of something to the effect " Get the crying over by buying it once and buying it right." Obviously there is a niche and need for all the various levels and prices of equipment.  The quality and performance of the value products have improved substantially, and are continually improving.  However, there is a reason why it is value priced stuff.  Generally, you get what you pay for. Your posting makes a lot of good observations based on experience and application. Caveat emptor ----- Original Message ----- From: Ransom, Sean To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 9:35 AM Subject: RE: Speaking of reels: Redington GD They just do not like the salt. Had mine freeze up even though I religiously clean them after each use and sent it back. Received a brand new one in 2 weeks and have not had any trouble. However I have not used it in the salt again.    I am just going to replace all my reels with Ross reels and be done with it this spring. The new evolution looks really nice for smaller rods and the Canyon Big Games I have are in my mind some of the best reels out there. For value and performance they cannot be beat and as far as customer service is concerned Ross is the best.    I am personally sick of trying the okumas, heritages, (insert any other value priced offering), etc. In the end they are never exactly what I want. If I would have shelled out money for the good stuff in the first place I would have saved myself a ton of money and trouble in the long run. I look at my gear now and it is all crap. Cabelas rods which do not quite lay down a dry like a T&T or sage, okuma reels(three of which whose drags when to pieces on fish) which have drags that are not really adjustable like a good reel, and tons of other value crap that I just do not want. Adding up the prices of all this stuff and I could have bought a 4 and 5 wt T&T that I want and a couple nice ross reels to go along with them. It is like anything in life. You get what you pay for.   So in the spring I am doing what I should have done in the first place. I am throwing it all out and replacing it. You guys can keep your value stuff. All it has caused me is trouble.   Ok I am done now,   -sean   -----Original Message----- From: Jim Speaker [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 8:37 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Speaking of reels: Redington GD   I'm thoroughly impressed with the machining and performance of the Redington GD series reel I bought recently.  It's a great reel with precision drag control at $100.   Jim