Dragon Exhibition

I've just returned from the Dragon Exhibition at Welwyn. I can only hope that I'm able to get fish into a feeding frenzy similar to what I have just seen. Absolute mayhem as soon as the doors opened, money flying out of pockets, I thought there was a recession on!
Pretty much everything there to buy, if you're quick, I picked up a few bargains myself.
To my inexperienced eye there were some quality rods and reels on sale at real rock bottom prices. I couldn't find fault with them, I don't understand why they don't have a great reputation, not 'fashionable' brands I suspect?
I have to point out I'm neutral, just amazed by the spectacle. Good luck to Roger & Co, I'm happy with the gear I bought, just wish I had a few more quids to spare lol

some of the stuff is good - a few on here rave about avanti? barbel rod

I have a carp rod 2 1/2lb tc that looks ok and deos the job, a freespool reel to match - lot £40 - ok it may not be the best but at that price it's good for my occasional carp fishing where the carp are over 20lb


most carp I catch are in the 8-15lb range and a 1 3/4tc rod does the job

I also ahve a rod pod from dragon carp - get used about 3 times a year £40 - it's light weight and easy to assemble

but there is some poor stuff - just got to pick thro it

Sorry,
but I think most of the gear sold by this company is a little suspect!
I know and understand that a lot of people are in the situation of money being in short supply but there are good quality brands out there that produce some really good tackle at low prices and it really does knock the socks off this (unbranded) c.r.a.p!
I don't mean to patronize folk, and you can spend your money as and where you like but do you think this guy is in the trade to help the poor folk that have hit hard times? I don't think so, do you?

mark

mark brailsford 2 said:

Sorry,
but I think most of the gear sold by this company is a little suspect!
I know and understand that a lot of people are in the situation of money being in short supply but there are good quality brands out there that produce some really good tackle at low prices and it really does knock the socks off this (unbranded) c.r.a.p!
I don't mean to patronize folk, and you can spend your money as and where you like but do you think this guy is in the trade to help the poor folk that have hit hard times? I don't think so, do you?

mark

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Tend to agree, the old adage of 'you get what you pay for' still applies in many many circumstances.

There is of course a market for low end kit but the price will often reflectthe quality.

Caveat emptor !

No Mark I don't think he does it to be nice
But if you look you can pick up the odd decent bit of kit s the right price

He's struck gold. Everything is imported in from China, where he gets most of it produced for him. He sells it at rock bottom prices. Its all sold on the premise that "It's only a tenner, so even if its **** its worth a go". He can't bring the stuff into the country quick enough.

After sales is a little poor and if you need spare parts, forget it. And again when most people pay peanuts they aren't too bothered about after sales, so bin the stuff in the event that it fails.

That said some of the gear is OK, some passable. The Cotesi reels are OK for the price. Personally I'd rather pay a few quid more and get something of a better quality.

I hope I'm not coming across as snobbish or condescending, that's not my intention. :w

Nathan Walter said:

He's struck gold. Everything is imported in from China, where he gets most of it produced for him. He sells it at rock bottom prices. Its all sold on the premise that "It's only a tenner, so even if its **** its worth a go". He can't bring the stuff into the country quick enough.

After sales is a little poor and if you need spare parts, forget it. And again when most people pay peanuts they aren't too bothered about after sales, so bin the stuff in the event that it fails.

That said some of the gear is OK, some passable. The Cotesi reels are OK for the price. Personally I'd rather pay a few quid more and get something of a better quality.

I hope I'm not coming across as snobbish or condescending, that's not my intention. :w

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No Nathan, you are not being snobby mate, you are right.
I allways say to folk if you save a little each week pretty soon you will have enough to buy that nice £100 rod or that top of the range reel. how many £10 reels are people going to bin before they realize how much they have actually spent over time!
Paul, I know that you can buy some stuff like terminal tackle that is ok, but another reason I will not buy from this guy is the fact that the products he sells are produced in sweat shops, enough said!

mark

Nathan Walter said:

He sells it at rock bottom prices. Its all sold on the premise that "It's only a tenner, so even if its **** its worth a go".

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I bet he would never say that though.

A bit like one ...... Gerald Ratner saying how come he could sell a pair of gold earings for 99p .... "Because they're cr@p." was his answer and from then on his business went down the pan.

In business, you always use 'puff' and 'bluster', never tell the truth lest you want to follow poor Gerald.

Totally agree Jeff and I say good luck to him.

He learnt his lesson the hard way, like Blair, Brown, Sarkosy (recent), Major and strings of others. "NEVER TRUST A MICROPHONE!"

The other consideration is imagine how you would feel if you lost the fish of a lifetime at the net as a direct result of the sudden failure or a piece of low cost/poor quality tackle. A long shot perhaps, and maybe some people would be willing to take the risk.......

Hi guys

I have and regularly use a couple of the £10 Avanti rods from DC and to be honest they are very good rods, and would be worth a lot more than £10. One of them, the 10 foot power feeder is a fantastic rod that's made from a super slim blank.

Yes some of their stuff is a bit suspect but they do have quite a few gems as well.

I haven't bought anything from them yet, but out of necessity would be very tempted to do so.

It'd be nice to have fine makes and quality gear of course, but I'm not shy to say that we're pretty poor and therefore the amount of money I can reasonably spend on a hobby, when there's a family to think about feeding and clothing, has to be as minimal as possible.

However, I'm put off buying it by the rumour that it's sweatshop produced. I wouldn't want to support that. I'm also a bit fed up of pages and pages of the same adverts taking up big sections of fishing mags and papers.

The alternative, which some have already mentioned, is to wait for the offers to appear on more 'branded' kit or get it off e-bay. You just need patience and to do a lot of internet searching!

A lot of tackle (and thousands of other products) are produced in China and it's impossible to know which ones are poor employers with very poor working conditions and pay and which ones are good.

And it’s probably made side by side with a lot of the more expensive names stuff. A huge amount of the worlds manufacturing is now done in China and that includes a lot of the expensive stuff as well.

No I am not saying every thing is made in China, just a huge amount of it. and for that we have to be grateful as its kept the prices down and in ever increasing amounts quality is going up.

Even the Japanese have a huge amount of their electronic gear made in china.

Its not that often do you see made in the UK anymore.


Paul

Whats this about sweat shops as far as I have seen some of the better rods they do are exactly the same as other expensive makes , I wander if the DC ones are the seconds rebranded .
I had a 13ft (power carp I think it was called )a few years ago it was a briliant rod till I snapped it in my van ,it cost £30 and I found the same rod with drennon (I think )on it for £70 it was the same rod not just similar.
Things like reel seats and rings can be of a lower quality but I think you have to pay lots more for a rod with better ones .
I know for a fact that most fishing tackle is from the same factorys it's just the marketing and brand name that are different you don't even have to order all that much in one go for them to put your own brand on it or make small changes to it .
Why do you think jrc , chub, mad tackle , badger, vision,space ,clobber and koala are the same but with different badges.
What about shakespear and grandslam?
I don't think they have good factorys just for nash and korum .they just pay more for different stiching and fittings.

dayglowfroggy said:

I had a 13ft (power carp I think it was called )a few years ago it was a briliant rod till I snapped it in my van ,it cost £30 and I found the same rod with drennon (I think )on it for £70 it was the same rod not just similar

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I thought all Drennan gear was made in his own factories.

Quoted direct from the Drennan site "All research and tackle development remains in the UK together with some of the more complex high-tech production, however the company now has six purpose built factories outside of Europe in an economically competitive location. This low cost location allows the company to offer the bulk of its range of tackle at prices which are comparable with Chinese manufacture but which are of superior design and have a much higher quality of build."

Ah, I think I see the caveat, "the bulk of it's range".

terry m said:

The other consideration is imagine how you would feel if you lost the fish of a lifetime at the net as a direct result of the sudden failure or a piece of low cost/poor quality tackle. A long shot perhaps, and maybe some people would be willing to take the risk.......

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I have a mountain leader qualification and I always advise people to buy the best gear they can afford because if a zip on a jacket breaks or a strap snaps on a cheap rucksack it can be very dangerous when stuck on the side of a fell in poor weather! Its the same if a poorly made rod snaps in two as you try to land a fish...you only have one pair of eyes!

mark

The only reason in this day and age to buy expensive over economic is when consistent quality is needed, as in the example above, safety equipment. When you buy to save money the only thing you loose is possibly consistent quality, that’s all.

If you spend a fortune on a Diawa rod you expect it to be of a consistent quality

If you try to save quite a bit of money on a much cheaper item there is a small chance they quality my be variable.

There is also a good chance you will get something almost identical to the expensive item with just different graphics. And if its not identical it will still be close, and maybe as much as 90% close.

If you can afford to be a tackle tart then good on you, if you cannot, and I am one of those, then buying a more economic item is nothing to be worried about. There is very little totally rubbish equipment about nowadays and when these is, its just as likely to come from a well known name than an unknown.

I have been fishing for about 40 years and always went for the economic option, apart from once, when I bought a Youngs Puris II Centrepin reel. Trouble was it was so expensive I couldn’t bring myself to use it. Also in all those years I have only ever had 2 items of equipment fail. One was a Mitchel 300 that stripped its gears and the other was a landing net handle that had its spigot fail.

If you can afford to spend top money then do so but don’t knock those who chose not to or cannot afford to spend on anything but economic equipment. And don’t get all jealous just because they might have bought something made side by side with your expensive item and sold at a lower cost but with different graphics on it.

Paul,

Proud of the fact that nothing in my vast tackle collection cost more than £59.99 for a single item (Apart from the Youngs C/P) but that don’t count as its now an ornament.

I was not ''having ago'' at folk who go for the cheaper option I was just stating a fact that buying cheap sometimes means economising on quality.
One more thing, cheaper products are not the same as expensive items with different graphics, that's just tosh!!

mark