Hi there Andrew. I have 3 Diawa Power Mesh X rods - are they the same as the Power Mesh X "pike" ?
In case they are, mine are 2.5 T/C and I mainly use them when I am fishing for Carp on small to medium size lakes. They handle 2.5-3.5oz leads best although the higher T/C will obviously handle bigger leads/baits. They dont have SIC rings but I dont think thats really a problem. Main reason I got them was due to the price as I tend to abuse/break my rods quite regularly and I think you can pick these up for about 80 pounds each if you shop around. However the blank is still of a reasonable quality compared to some others in the same price range?.The difference in price across manufacturers rods that use basically the same blank is unbelievable!
My initial reaction was that they where quite unforgiving, the butt was quite rigid and also the tip compared to some other rods but I have to say that they seem to handle fish quite well. I am not a massive caster so I am not an expert on this but I would class them as "moderate" One moan I do have is that the rings are double not triple legged - in other words they are only whipped on one side so they do tend to get bent a bit easily but again I am not the best for looking after them.
I think there are several models in the Powermesh range from about 2.25 to more than 3 T/C and also a specific long distance blank I believe. For Pike fishing they may not be ideal for very small or soft baits that you are trying to whack out to the horizon but I think they will be more than adequate for most situations and certainly a good choice in that price range. Hope that helps.
