Fishing Victoria Forum

Hi all,
Just looking for feedback on Shimano rods that are made exclusively for Compleat Angler (Ballistix branded) and Tackle World (Paul Worsteling branded). I always presumed they were just rebranded rods from the normal Shimano range.
Without going into too much detail, I've owned a couple and they have been a disappointment compared to my normal Shimano's with similar specs/price.

Generally I have found them to be lower quality rods/reels that are sold at a higher price because less info can be found about them.

Mattblack wrote:Hi all,
Just looking for feedback on Shimano rods that are made exclusively for Compleat Angler (Ballistic branded) and Tackle World (Paul Worsteling branded). I always presumed they were just rebranded rods from the normal Shimano range.
Without going into too much detail, I've owned a couple and they have been a disappointment compared to my normal Shimano's with similar specs/price.

what type/brand guides are on them

dazz999 wrote:

Mattblack wrote:Hi all,
Just looking for feedback on Shimano rods that are made exclusively for Compleat Angler (Ballistix branded) and Tackle World (Paul Worsteling branded). I always presumed they were just rebranded rods from the normal Shimano range.
Without going into too much detail, I've owned a couple and they have been a disappointment compared to my normal Shimano's with similar specs/price.

what type/brand guides are on them

The Ballistix Pro has Sea Guides, the Ballistix Gold has Fuji Guides. They just dont feel right & havent been as durable as the other Shimano's on my rack. I have no idea who 'Ian Miller' is, but his rods feel great and dont show signs of wear and tear. I'm pretty sure most of the larger store chains have a Shimano exclusive (eg 'BCF Beastmaster' vs 'Backbone'), but the 'exclusive' ones just dont feel right, they feel cheap.
Is it my imagination, or are they flogging crap for a better margin?

That’s retail...

ducky wrote:That’s retail...

I agree its all about fat margins (having your own brand also stops people shopping about for a better price)...I wouldnt be putting my name on crap though, it ruins your brand.

Imo it’s not Shimanos fault. They get asked to build x number of rods at y level of quality and the retailer then sells it for whatever price they choose. It’s a lot harder to do that than with say a tcurve or a Catana which are available everywhere.

All the retailer needs to do is stump up enough cash to meet the minimum manufacturing run.

Buy the real deal and you wont have any issues :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

ps - Ian Miller is a well known rod builder..

http://www.millerods.com.au/home.html

A lot of it comes down to ability to market the product how the retail outlet wants. They can price it where they want, do a 50% off when they want etc etc. It also means that when someone like bcf does a big special they can’t undercut by anaconda who will do a 10% off price match.

I would only ever buy their retail branded stuff when they do the mega specials. Otherwise they are way over priced for what they are.

Its like anything these days
You get what you pay for.
The cheaper it is that less quality you get