I bought a blaxmax/vengeance combo and went to use it, the tip of the rod snapped off on the first cast. took it back to exchange it for another and same d**n thing happened. so is anyone else having any problems with these rods.

what size rod is it and how heavy was your bait?

That's why I never buy "combos" regardless of what brand it is. Most people that look at combo's are people that will bend the crap out of the rod tip. Thinking they know how to test a rod out.

Save for a good rod, and save for a good reel. Also pay attention to the rod's "line rating and lure weight".

 

When I was a kid, I fished by myself. My dad wasnt really a fisherman. I used to buy bait casters from Walmart. Shakespeare for the most part. They didnt cast for crap and didnt last more than a year.

 

I started buying quality equipment as I grew older and what do you know. I still have ALL my bait casters that were of higher quality. 

I was throughing a plastic worm with a small bullet weight. and I have good rods thought it my be decent to walk banks with but guess not

There had to have been some damage or mishandling of the rod before you got it. Especially if you bought that combo at Wal Mart. Those rods that come as a combo aren't the best, but no way are they bad enough to where they won't stand up to throwing 99% of the baits you'll need to throw while fishing for bass.

I've purchased the Silver Max combo which comes with a Vengeance rod and never had any problems what so ever. In fact, I liked it well enough to buy another one. As far as saving up for a better rod and reel, I think that's good advice but you're not going to avoid rod breakage at any price. I have a friend who had a Carrot stick break on him and another friend of mine had a Varatas  (excuse my spelling please) break on him. I don't think either had any kind of warranty replacement.

Veritas rods are warranted for 3 years IIRC. All Abu rods carry some type of warranty. And for $50 the Vengeance is a nice rod.

Thanks for the correction on the Veritas rod warranty. I'll pass that on. I fished with one of his Veritas rods and really liked it but when he told me there was not warranty, I decided not to buy one. I really like the Abu Garcia gear that I've purchased and used so far. Good stuff in my opinion. I plan on adding another silver max combo to my arsenal.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

I'm calling BS. Unless it had prior damage, rods just don't break. Especially in the same place twice in a row. Either your beating the crap out of it prior to fishing, it had damage in the store, or your throwing a bait way over the recommended weight.

IMO you got a decent reel but a very poor rod in that combo purchase.  WalMart currently has their $79 Vendetta on sale for $29.  Combine your Black Max with the Vendetta and you will have a fairly good combo.