Help Choosing Bite Alarms Please

bigyun2000 · May 29, 2015

Hiya all

I am relatively new to fishing as a whole and even newer at Carp fishing. I am looking to buy a dual set of bite alarms preferably wireless. I have been told not to bother with cheap China replicas and buy FOX MICRON ALARMS.

I am a little OCD and generally like all my gear to be the same brand (TF GEAR) and was looking at buying either the TF Gear Magrunner Ignite Alarm Set at £109.99 or the TF Gear Reaction Alarm Set at £59.99

So i have a little dilema. Any help would be gratefully appreciated please.

Thanks
Tony

law · May 29, 2015

If everyone has suggested the old Fox's, I don't get why are you looking at something else?
TFG has a terrible reputation, yet Fox's are renown for going on for ever.
I have had a set for almost 20 years. In that time, I've replaced them with Delks, which failed, the new Fox set which went back under warranty and got full refund, yet I always fall back on my old Fox alarms. I've given up trying to find a replacement for them now so am just sticking with them.
I dropped one in a lake once. Was totally submerged. I netted it out, blew it dry and carried on using it without fault.

My mate had some cheapo alarms. Woke up with his spool half empty and his rod bent round. Neither the alarm or sounder had make a noise.

stevejay · May 29, 2015

2nd hand fox all the way. I still use original mmx which you can get on e bay for round £20.....absolute bargain. As mentioned, they stand the test of time and have features that cost an arm and leg on some brands.

I have just upgraded by buying a receiver as they are compatible.

If you are on a budget I wouldn't look anywhere else and avoid the cheaper brands as they probably won't last.

binka · May 29, 2015

Another vote for the Fox Microns here, unlike some I've not used any others as these were my first and bought on recommendations from here along with reading a few old threads so I can't say anything as a comparison but as a stand alone comment they've had some proper stick and been great.

My mate went down the Ebay unknown brand route and thought he'd found a bargain with three alarms, wireless set up and sounder box all in a posh case only to realise after that there was no volume control and they're set very loudly, one of them doesn't sound at all.

bigyun2000 · May 29, 2015

Hiya all.

Thanks for your input. Looks like Fox wins hands down. I think i will buy 2 MX+ for now and get a receiver later if i can find one.

Cheers

law · May 29, 2015

No don't.
Get the original Micron MMX. The new ones aren't a patch on the originals.

I just bought 3 for 45 quid for the Mrs. Can't beat that for value for money.

bigyun2000 · Jun 3, 2015

Hi thanks for the info. Well after much thought i have decided to buy the Delkim Alarms with snag bars and ES indication set.

A bit pricey but i've been told they are about the best.

Thanks go to all who replied.

law · Jun 3, 2015

bigyun2000 said:
A bit pricey but i've been told they are about the best.

Oh dear.

The first fault, get on to Delks customer service. They aren't as waterproof as the originals and suffer terribly from speaker crackle.

carperjake · Jun 4, 2015

I prefer Delkims to Fox, had my original TXis for nearly 20 years and they are still working well, the receiver has had to go away for a service and new battery connector but it's not a problem as Delkim customer service is great. I get to thinking every year that I should replace them but they are so good that I always find something else that needs replacing first!

I'd avoid cheap alarms, especially TFG, heard too many horror stories with all TFG stuff and had a complete mare with the 3 reels I bought. Buy it cheap, buy it twice.

retrobob · Jun 5, 2015

The majority of bite alarms are perfectly fine, I have some cheap old Micron Ms that were £25 each. It doesn't really matter what you get as long as when you pull the line through, it beeps. Everything else is just fluff to make you spend money, but hey that's what carp fishing is all about.

eyelburm8 · Jun 21, 2015

bigyun2000 said:
Hi thanks for the info. Well after much thought i have decided to buy the Delkim Alarms with snag bars and ES indication set.

A bit pricey but i've been told they are about the best.

Thanks go to all who replied.

You'll be sorry.... Fox all the way

bigyun2000 · Jun 21, 2015

@eyelburm

Thanks. Bit too late now lol. I was thinking of buying 2x Fox Warrior S Rods with 2x Fox EOS 10,000 reels.

So maybe i should have bought the Fox alarms after all.

sam vimes · Jun 21, 2015

Don't worry, for every Fox advocate there'll be a Delkim one out there somewhere. I've certainly never had any of the issues with them that I occasionally see reported. I have both Delkims and Nash alarms. They both have different strengths and weaknesses, which is why I've got both. The Delkims are used on small waters and for river barbelling. The Nash are used for carping, especially on big, deep, open stillwaters where tow is likely to drive me crackers.

smudger172 · Jun 21, 2015

bigyun2000 said:
@eyelburm

Thanks. Bit too late now lol. I was thinking of buying 2x Fox Warrior S Rods with 2x Fox EOS 10,000 reels.

I would advise a lot of homework on the fox reels.

Having had quite a few different fox reels, 10000 fs 7000e and 12000 mag all of which had problems and had to be returned to fox at some time. There all sold now as i could not trust them, at a big financial loss. I will not go near fox reels now...........

Smudge

Nobby C (ACA) · Jun 21, 2015

I can throw a Fox reel further than I would ever trust them. Mostly overpriced and over hyped. A bit like the other two parts of the Essex triumvirate;Mainline and Korda.
I'd recommend Gardner TLB's or AttX.
Steve Nevilles.
Older Fox models.

bigyun2000 · Jun 21, 2015

@smudger172

Thanks. What would you recommend for reels?

binka · Jun 21, 2015

Ditto the remarks about Fox reels, complete pieces of $hit in my experience and opinion.

Have a look at the Daiwa Emcast for a reasonably cheap, robust and reliable baitrunner or the Black Widow if you want a cheaper option with fewer bearings.

smudger172 · Jun 21, 2015

bigyun2000 said:
@smudger172

Thanks. What would you recommend for reels?

My reel choice at the moment are shimano 8000D for my general pike fishing. 4000D for piking afloat. I have some small Daiwa emcasts for tench and bream fishing as recommended by forum members and cant fault them. I also have some 4000 size spro reels that i cant fault. Only my opinion. Hope this helps.

Smudge

elzevir · Jul 16, 2015

Don't buy all your gear the same brand as you will be let down eventually is my advice
I'm OCD too but my OCD is to buy the best value everything
I would never even consider buying everything the same brand
And you will do that by being open minded and shopping around very carefully
Choosing a single brand in a huge market is a very bad idea as some of your kit will end up very substandard when you could have got something far better for far less money simply by doing a bit of research
I have about 20 different brands at least in my setup and it was very inexpensive, is superb quality, and looks utterly professional for example why have any branding at all on some of your kit?
Unbranded, completely solid fantastic steel banksticks can sometimes be had on ebay delivered for about 2 quid, it would be a great shame to buy a rubbish new bankstick for a tenner just because the brand matched up

Help Choosing Bite Alarms Please

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