Zulcron 435 lite

[groundswell]

hopefully now that it is clear where they are made as if it were not already well known, perhaps people can see beyond the "label" and comment on the more important issues like what makes it better or worse than their competitors

 

[concrete]

hopefully now that it is clear where they are made as if it were not already well known, perhaps people can see beyond the "label" and comment on the more important issues like what makes it better or worse than their competitors

I have to admit feeling a bit disappointed when I spied the made in China sticker on my Trabucco rod, but it performs brilliantly and is a joy to use. I just don’t like paying a lot of money for stuff I know has been made cheaply overseas.

 

[Cwab]

Best casters in the world by far are the Argentina team. All they would ever use was century ttrs,t1200, and Excalibur tt. They swapped out there rods for Chinese made blanks, seabay and tokio extremo. When i asked one of them why, he said it just recovers faster and better then the centurys and they did all seem to jump up in distance. But then there's lots of factors to take into account in distance. wind, pressure and obviously Venu. Not totally convinced myself, I'd take the old olive green blank zziplex m427su any day of the week

Not been a caster apart from playing on grass field and because it’s handy can only say for the fishing I do now, rock edges and heavy ground it would matter little what I use within reason and braid and egg whisk game changer and was late to the party.
Had a few century rods and still have but more suited to mono bar an ss which is fine but bought a afaw gbfs pro just for braid.
For me psychological as hurts less when I wound the gbfs pro but think it would be less painful with a Zulcron with rings taped on but having got what I have will stick with them and braid is to blame edit, plan to return to the cliffs this winter ffs!

 

[Cwab]

Forgot to ask what makes the Argentinian team so good, natural timing or just plain crazy with little fear or combination of all three?

 

[groundswell]

I have to admit feeling a bit disappointed when I spied the made in China sticker on my trebucco rod, but it performs brilliantly and is a joy to use. I just don’t like paying a lot of money for stuff I know has been made cheaply overseas.

And there it is “but it performs brilliantly and is a joy to use” if only the same could be produced here but it either cannot or they will not, therefore the “made in china” rod wins hands down regardless of price/ mark up or whatever other conspiracies some may chose to throw at it

 

[Topwater]

Forgot to ask what makes the Argentinian team so good, natural timing or just plain crazy with little fear or combination of all three?

Big lads, well practiced

 

[Topwater]

And there it is “but it performs brilliantly and is a joy to use” if only the same could be produced here but it either cannot or they will not, therefore the “made in china” rod wins hands down regardless of price/ mark up or whatever other conspiracies some may chose to throw at it

As long as the product is a good one AND the QC is good, practically it doesn't matter where anything is made. That's if you can put politics and ethics aside. Businesses are in it for profit and the bottom line is you can make more sales and profits when you buy cheaper in places like China. Its not rocket science. The thing that irks me and many others is when you get fed the "designed in Britain" smokescreen. Very few of the 'brand' rods are designed by anglers never mind in the UK, most are rebadged or cosmetically altered from existing product lines.

 

[Cwab]

Know virtually nothing about blank making and hand made bespoke items used to carry a premium with some items having life breathed into them, modern machining and electronics went a long way to replacing those skills.
Anyhows know for a fact if you ask and explain exactly what you want in great detail the Chinese are very capable of producing exactly what you wish with so many things and cannot see rod blanks been rocket science providing you provide the recipe to begin with. The British gun trade learnt that in the late sixties with Spanish gunmakers and the rest history.

 

[Cwab]

Big lads, well practiced

Maybe a bit more dosh thrown at the job for those that cast as well

 

[Conofish]

They treat tournament casting like a job, practice practice and more practice, perfect timing and understand all the fundamentals. Plus there very big lads, remember Andy copping and old casting mate coming back from the world's with them saying looked like something out of a world strongest man line, he wasn't exactly small at 6ft 6'

 

[Mike hemming]

hopefully now that it is clear where they are made as if it were not already well known, perhaps people can see beyond the "label" and comment on the more important issues like what makes it better or worse than their competitors

I like mine nothing wrong with them , it don’t bother me where they made , I brought 2 blanks and had a local rod builder ring them up for me

 

[Cwab]

They treat tournament casting like a job, practice practice and more practice, perfect timing and understand all the fundamentals. Plus there very big lads, remember Andy copping and old casting mate coming back from the world's with them saying looked like something out of a world strongest man line, he wasn't exactly small at 6ft 6'

What sort of distances between the different teams generally would you think and wonder how many competition casts they get from a rod?

Y

 

[groundswell]

As long as the product is a good one AND the QC is good, practically it doesn't matter where anything is made. That's if you can put politics and ethics aside. Businesses are in it for profit and the bottom line is you can make more sales and profits when you buy cheaper in places like China. Its not rocket science. The thing that irks me and many others is when you get fed the "designed in Britain" smokescreen. Very few of the 'brand' rods are designed by anglers never mind in the UK, most are rebadged or cosmetically altered from existing product lines.

you are on about "designed in Britain" but most of these Chinese blanks at least from the 2 companies we tend to speak about are given out to some anglers for let's say up to a year for testing and eventually they seem to go on sale here, that to me means designed in Britain in other words put through their paces info fed back to the person who will be selling them and hopefully fed back to the manufacturer for altering if needs be, if you want to bring the British manufacturer into the equation here, their rods are also farmed out to "anglers" for testing prior to being released now either these "anglers" are blind or do not possess the necessary skill set or indeed the manufacturer does not take the criticism on board or tries to save a penny but the ring placement on these British rods is nothing less than a disgrace, give me foreign built all day long, just a couple of examples of good old British manufacturing, space between the top 3 intermediate rings on a 14' century GT, under slight to moderate compression (5 - 170g breakaway leads) not even 2lb in old money the line not only touches the blank in-between the first 3 intermediates but actually goes past the blank altogether when using a multiplier, luckily I only use this rod with a fixed spool does anyone actually believe this is acceptable, point 2 I have in my possession a mates rod a graphex sport the ringing on the tip section resembles one of those fancy boat rods that are rung with a spiral wrap, did the lights go out whilst it was being wrapped ? if these were on foreign rods all hell would break loose on these sites

 

[Conofish]

What do you mean, how many casts does each individual get per day on each lead it's normally 5-6 casts

 

[Cwab]

What do you mean, how many casts does each individual get per day on each lead it's normally 5-6 casts

Sorry not been clear, was meaning how many full blown tournament casts the rod is good for before been retired when it’s world class casting or top competition use?

 

[Conofish]

Rod should go on forever, especially with good techniques of the caster, not snaking the rod, not casting off the tip.

 

[Topwater]

you are on about "designed in Britain" but most of these Chinese blanks at least from the 2 companies we tend to speak about are given out to some anglers for let's say up to a year for testing and eventually they seem to go on sale here, that to me means designed in Britain in other words put through their paces info fed back to the person who will be selling them and hopefully fed back to the manufacturer for altering if needs be, if you want to bring the British manufacturer into the equation here, their rods are also farmed out to "anglers" for testing prior to being released now either these "anglers" are blind or do not possess the necessary skill set or indeed the manufacturer does not take the criticism on board or tries to save a penny but the ring placement on these British rods is nothing less than a disgrace, give me foreign built all day long, just a couple of examples of good old British manufacturing, space between the top 3 intermediate rings on a 14' century GT, under slight to moderate compression (5 - 170g breakaway leads) not even 2lb in old money the line not only touches the blank in-between the first 3 intermediates but actually goes past the blank altogether when using a multiplier, luckily I only use this rod with a fixed spool does anyone actually believe this is acceptable, point 2 I have in my possession a mates rod a graphex sport the ringing on the tip section resembles one of those fancy boat rods that are rung with a spiral wrap, did the lights go out whilst it was being wrapped ? if these were on foreign rods all hell would break loose on these sites

I get to test game fishing tackle as part of my job so I know the script.
When it comes to my hobby fishing I build my rods from blanks where possible/available. I'm not defending Century as its been a long time since I bought anything sea tackle wise from them. I'd buy off Rossco Custom Rods and have one built to my own spec if I was looking for a Century or a Zziplex. He does a great job at not much more than factory money

 

[Topwater]

Rod should go on forever, especially with good techniques of the caster, not snaking the rod, not casting off the tip.

Rods(blanks) can soften over time with lots of hard use. This is particularly noticeable with faster, 'tippier' actions. Unfortunately nothing performs at its best forever!

 

[groundswell]

I get to test game fishing tackle as part of my job so I know the script.
When it comes to my hobby fishing I build my rods from blanks where possible/available. I'm not defending Century as its been a long time since I bought anything sea tackle wise from them. I'd buy off Rossco Custom Rods and have one built to my own spec if I was looking for a Century or a Zziplex. He does a great job at not much more than factory money

As I used to build all mine as well but eyesight not what it was and will not improve with age, I now buy off the shelf as it is only a tool to do a job , but there is no excuse for a British product tested be the so called experienced anglers for x amount of time and then being built here as well being lacking in what really amounts to common sense, Ray Charles could see it is a ring short, surely you would build it to suit a multiplier as we all know you can fish with a fixed spool on the majority of multiplier rods but not the other way round, for all the supposed faults with some of the far East products especially the 2 that seem to come in for criticism all the time they all have a sensible amount of guides and they are at least in line

 

[Topwater]

That's the 'hybrid guide placement' nonsense that I've discussed with Century along time ago. I believe it's a flawed approach that suits neither FS or multi fully - it's a poor compromise imo. Another point I've been vocal on is the spigot fit not being done before rods leave the factory - this should not be left to the angler to do. As for the decals not being coated in resin, well that is just outright penny pinching Other rods are available, or buy from a good builder like RCR°

Edit - °or Stan Parkin etc