super_hunter

I have three Champion XPs and still have a Fury 733C that I use for moving baits. They are all solid rods for the money, versatile, and I love my 703C as a fluke / senko rod and my 804C as a heavy C Rig rod, but Dobyns rods are rated about a half tick heavier than they actually fish, so keep that in mind.

Try these guys: https://www.southwesternparts.com/

I was searching around to see if something has changed in the past couple of years when they did the blank change on the H3s and found this forum, thus the post. I took a video with my phone the rod right after breaking on a hookset, e.g. the drag that pulled easily, etc. and didn't have near the same result. If you search the Texas Fishing Forum, you will probably get a different overall vibe btw, stories of paying full price for a 2 year old replacement and it being a different blank and not as good, how things have changed, other warranty issues, etc. Anyway, my next post here will be something glowingly positive or helpful.

3 Heliums (1 Helium 2 and 2 H3s) and 2 KLXs. I don't disagree that the sensitivity is solid for the price when they are on sale, but my beef is guide issues, one two of them the hook keeper had to be redone after about 15 months, as well as dodginess on standing behind their product. Dobyns rods are iffy on their smaller guides too. Top of mind, my higher end Falcons, 3 Megabass rods and three Loomis rods have never lost an insert, and they all get fished the same amount and same way.

When you hit Warranty on the top nav, this is what you get: https://kistlerrods.com/pages/kistler-bend-strong-warranty Dogbone -if you aren't having guide problems, you are the only one I know out of 20 guys that have tried Kistlers that I fish against or with.

I have had owned five Kistler rods since 2019/2020 timeframe. I still have a Helium 7'3" that hasn't broken, but I don't use it much. They are notorious for changing their blanks frequently. They are also notorious for guide inserts that fall out under normal usage at about 3 times the rate of other $250 rods. I replaced all but 2 of the guides on a Helium over the course of 2 years. My main beef with them is they don't honor their warranties. I had a 3 month old rod that broke when casting a wacky senko, and they said they can't do anything on a $139 rod even though it was listed as having a warranty. I had a Helium break on a hookset in '24, and the replacement cost was $200 + a $20 processing fee, which was only $20 less than the current sale price. I would email them and get their warranty replacement cost in writing before you buy a Helium or Zbone...notice their website doesn't list the replacement cost and that's because they wouldnt sale many if they put a $200 replacement cost on a $235 rod out there. Better options out there from better actors than Kistler in my opinion.