Worst piece of kit you have bought in recent years?

Following on from the interesting thread below where it emerges that the fishing publications will not print bad reviews, maybe we could have a few on here?

Here's one straightaway: My wife ordered me Catching the Impossible fromCalm Productions on January 6th this year and it has still not arrived. Obviously I cannot comment on the product, but that delivery time is terrible.

Ron Thompson 1.75 barbel rod. I smashed it the first cast i used it, casting a 4oz lead about 25 yards.

I got it replaced and smashed the second one in exactly the same way.

A very poor rod.

I bought a JRC 5 Season sleeping bag about 5 years ago where the zip continually got caught. Eventually it stuck for good and now the sleeping bag is useless.

Anyone else prepared to put the boot into a product?

Ohh this looks like a fun bandwagon to hop onto to of course i'm prepared to name and shame....TFG "power feeder" shoddy build quality from tip to butt!, crap reel seat which i cud actually swivel around the butt section by hand, thus meaning it was out of line with the rings, but don't worry they too cud be moved by hand! Section section had one ring out of line which ironically wudnt move, neither wud the others on that section. Got a replacement section this was when i discovered the moving ring formation that was on the other sections and the swivelling reel seat, by now I had given up even thinking it would be possible to fish with, put it out of sight and mind and stuck with float fishing with my preston sentient rod, yes i am aware of the gulf in price but I had one of those luminous shakespeare rods when i was younger, the fabulous green version supplied with reel and rope, i mean line lol and that is in fact still intact, all rings in line and a better reel seat to this day and that was about £7.99!!! needless to say I aint buying another TFG rod no matter what! ahhh i feel much better after that /forum/smilies/tongue_out_smiley.gif

my brothers ron t rod the tip come off casting a 1oz weight /forum/smilies/disappointed_smiley.gif.

Aircell Glass fly line. £25 instead of £50. As straight as a ball pont pen spring. Memory retension, it would never suffer from demetia.

STOP, STOP, STOP!

We have the FM Review section for this sort of stuff, where everyone can find honest reviews from users like yourself.

Fish Magic Product Reviews

Matt are you trying to knock us off our bandwagon?

Worst thing I ever bought was at a Tackle Show down the A! from Sheffield. A real bargain at £10, reduced from £50! I should have known!

It was said to be Carbon Fibre, it was Glass Composite! It was supposed to be a 1 1/2 TC Carp Rod, I never got chance to see... first cast with a 2oz weight and it shattered and I mean it shattered! a bout 30-40 pieces!

My adage now is "you get what you pay for!"

good job you didn't pay 50 for it Donald. sell it on tell em its a 40 piece rod (only jokeing )/forum/smilies/embarassed_smiley.gif.

Donald you should have saved yourself a couple of quid and bought one of the luminous shakespeares/forum/smilies/tongue_out_smiley.gif I remember landing a 2/3lb pike on mine, caught on double maggot on a size 16, drennan drift beater float....

middy match black landing net 5lb chub broke it .

Couple of years ago a Maver pole roller...it fell apart miserably after only few shipping in and out of the pole /forum/smilies/eye_rolling_smiley.gifdidn't last more than 30 minutes in total but I still have the tripode that came with it and use it as a pole roost support in place of a Preston Innovations tripode that has to be the second worst piece of £$%^ I ever bought /forum/smilies/confused_smiley.gif

Drennan hooks to nylon - on every single one the line was rough as if it had be rubbed against a brick wall. Needless to say everytime i got a bite the line broke on the strike. I haven't purchased anymore ever since. I swapped to another brand & i'm glad i did, after changing my hook lengthI landed a 20lb carp on a size 12 to 5lb line.

Bob Nudd Pole-Cat for one handed feeding while holdingyour Pole, what a load of rubbish, Itsent the fish flyng for cover every time the elastic was released and the cup smackedloudly up against the end of it. /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

Preston Dri-Fish 500 bib brace and jacket.Its not waterproof,the zip pockets are upside down so when you unzip them anything near the pocket edge falls out.Cost about £120 and for the money its CRAP.Also the On-Box X3 its totally useless if you load the legs with preston accesories,ie You cannot open the cross drawers because they hit whatever accesory 'arm' you have on the legs.and the handle for the trolley is too short and raked at the wrong angle,your heels keep catching on the footplate,and when walking with ityour arm has to be bent to keep the front legs hitting/catching the ground.Its a nightmare and not worthpeanuts.

God I feel sooooooo Good now.

Korum buzz bars which don't lock-out and aren't wide enough as the rods/ reel handles touch!

Argos "Complete fishing outfit"...

Shimano beastmaster ax carp float total pants broke three times bettween tip and first ring

My mate bought a Badger pod which i consider absolute garbage. he basically had tomanufacture it himself when it arrived as a heap of very low-grade, scrap aluminium.

P.S. Badger are pants im afraid!

Having squandered hundreds, nay thousands, on total rubbish kit I'll start a list (so much easier than finding each one individually in the tackle review section:

1. JRC STI bivvy........ok for weather but needs a forklift rather than a barrow and, worst of all, in sunshine the interior fabric takes on a ghastly red colour. Glowing red is not a calming colour! Groundsheet won't fit on uneven ground either. dead now!

2. Microcat. Faulty seals on the hopper release mechanisms, twice returned to Angling Technics, same fault re-appeared. The boat got gradually lower in the water in use, took forever to drain. Never quite sure it would return when sent out or whether it would slide gracefully below the surface. Persisted with it for a while, sent it off for a service (£128) and it still leaked. - Dead now!

3. Greys Prodigy rods - single leg eyes that bent in a mild breeze. - Sold for peanuts the pair.

4. Fox bedchair (two pairs of legs) - locking mechanism on bed head failed regularly, bought a further leg to fit to the head to stop it collapsing - dead now!

5. Any Solar kit - vastly overpriced and not particularly better than cheapo stuff.

6. Any and every version of stainless baiting needles - all eventually have the business end come unglued from the handle.

7. Fox soft Steel line......... curly whirlyand with a memory like an elephant.

8. Middy landing net heads - if they don't sag and buckle, you didn't need the landing net head in the first place.

9. Berkeley Ironsilk - moults after a couple of weeks and goes as furry as a fox's tail.

9. Korda IQ - best way of losing any fish you hook

10. New Abu reels - old ones were brilliant, modern ones living on past reputation and not in the same league!

/forum/smilies/sad_smiley.gif

Mustad A.S. micro barb hooks 9 pattern ...barbless and blunt in 3 fish sh#te.