I have heard that H20 uses the same blank as Lucky Craft for some of there crankbaits. Does anyone know this for a "fact"?

The "same" molds, nah, I don 't think so, a knock off mold, I don 't see any reason why they can 't, it 's very easy to carve a mold once you have in your hand what you want to copy and with modern day machinery you can make it exactly the same..... but that don 't mean that whatever comes out of the mold will be the same ( identical duplicate ).

I very seriously doubt that. Although H2O makes good crankbaits, they are not the same quality as Lucky Craft. I have several of each.

Whatever the case, they both catch fish, but I don't consider my Lucky Crafts to be expendable like the h20's.  I'll throw them into the thickest brush and not worry about them like the Lucky Crafts.

even if the molds are the same, the materials used to make them will be different so they will not be the same. the companies place a different amount of emphasis on quality control as well.

I'm almost certain that they aren't from the same mold, but the H2Os are definitely some great lures. I feel sorry for you guys who don't have an Academy close by.

Guys forget all about the look and finish of the LC, the real difference is on the inside. I have cross sectioned a lot of baits and I can tell you that the knock offs don't measure up on the inside.

Some ko baits use weld spatter or drill shavings for rattles, some of them have a channel for weight transfer that will not hold the ball in place allowing it to fall to one side and the bait will not run true.

You can put a dog in a tux and teach it to dance but it's still a dog.

Guys forget all about the look and finish of the LC, the real difference is on the inside. I have cross sectioned a lot of baits and I can tell you that the knock offs don't measure up on the inside.

Some ko baits use weld spatter or drill shavings for rattles, some of them have a channel for weight transfer that will not hold the ball in place allowing it to fall to one side and the bait will not run true.

You can put a dog in a tux and teach it to dance but it's still a dog.

No pooh-pooh!

My fishin' time is too valuable and I appreciate innovation...

I don't fish knock-offs.

8-)

Take a look at these pics of a Megabass KO bait, this is a prime example and typical of most KO baits. The weight transfer system ball rides in a track that is too large and usually off center to allowing the ball to fall out the track. Once the ball comes out it is not possible to get it back, at least without surgery.

There are a few decent KO baits but they are few and far between.

I have a ton of LC and a few H2O. Although they aren't, "cut from the same cloth" the H2O baits have hung in there with LC for me. Oddly, the two biggest fish I've caught this year have been on LC and H2O. There's a noticable out of the box difference in quality but how far that translates into fish catching abilities IDK.

   

 

I know they are not the same, I have the H2o express RC knock off and a real RC and I can tell you there  is a slight difference between the two.

   -gk

Whittler thanks for that very infomative post, sometimes we need to see things like that and hear from people who understand why one bait is made better than an another.

  I will say that for the price you can't beat H2O hard baits and they do catch bass, but they are not equal in quality or craftmanship to the LC brand.

Thanks whittler for the facts. Do you have any photos of a split H2o or a Lucky Craft? I would be interested in seeing any split cranks you may have.

I do have a lot of baits that are cross sectioned but it will be a couple days before I can get some pictures posted. I do not have any H2O baits but I do have an LC somewhere in my shop.

It always amazes me that folks will look at a $15 LC and think that a $1.50 KO is the same.

Yeah I understand where both sides are coming from when it comes to people thinking that one company might be the same as another, because there are allot of brands out there that just market there products as a high end product when in reality they are not. Not all but most people tend to think just because something is more expensive it is better (sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't). Businesses know that consumers respond in this way, and will often mark a product up just to make it look better then it really is.

This is why I like to do allot of research before I buy something. But I rather buy a crankbait that is going to run true out of the box 90% of the time. Instead of buying 5 cheaper crankbaits that are not going to run correctly and that I have to worry if while im throwing it in a tourney for an hour if the lure is putting the correct vibration out or if im just wasting my time. In the end the cheaper cranks will still add up to be more money after you weed through the duds.

I'm looking forward to seeing the photos, sounds like a great idea. Wonder what's inside, well let's go inside!

I heard Academy was going to start an online store sometime this month.  Anyone have any insight to this.  That would be great for those of us who don't have a store nearby.

Thanks

They are made in different molds. The RC has a pointy, narrower nose with more scaling details in the body. The CRS has a blunt, more rounded nose.

What I don't understand is why people refer to the H2O CRS as a knockoff of LC's RC 1.5. There are a lot of square bills on the market and the CRS is just Academy's square bill. The two are similar in their designs, but the CRS is not a knockoff. If you hold the two side by side, you can see the RC 1.5 has much more detail in the body of the crank than a CRS.

Both are very quality baits and work well. They're just made for different buyers, one's a higher end crank and the other a lower end.

Sorry, I could not find the LC crankbait but I did find an LC pointer for comparison. The second picture is a KO deep diver pretty much the standard of most KO baits.

The LC will have a wall thickness that is smooth and even, very little variance in thickness from end to end, about .006 max. The weights are molded into place and there are no rattles.

On the KO bait the wall thickness varies as much as .045, you can see in the picture the interior is very uneven. The small bar like features it the rear are the weight transfer system, the ball in this bait will not stay in the channel making the weight transfer system usless. The ball at the front is used for the belly weight and the rattle. Tuning one of these things is next to impossible. Some of the KO baits that use weld spatter or drill shavings for rattles, well you can imagine it never is in the same place from cast to cast. So if you ever wonder why it runs left on one cast and right on the next, here is your answer.

With all the decent cranks out there at a reasonable price, Bomber, Norman or Bandit to name a few, why mess with a KO?

Ok, so to stay on track after this very interesting subject, nobody is saying H2O baits are bad, they are good and catch fish, but if what you want is LC quality then purchase LCs, when you purchase an H20 you are purchasing H20, not LCs knock offs but H20.

Thanks for taking the time and posting these photos.

And I think the most important thing we got from this thread would be the same thing my mom would always tell me.

It's not what's on the outside that matters, but what's on the (INSIDE)

Not the same molds at all. Academy's payed to have their own molds designed and made for these baits.  Academy will start selling online next month.

This year there will be a few more players to consider in the shallow square bill category as Strike King, Excalibur & Spro are all adding their version of these baits to the market as well. I did fish the Strike King a little before ice hit our lakes and it looks promising but I didn't throw it enough to compare to the RC baits which have been my favorite so far.

I'm almost certain that they aren't from the same mold, but the H2Os are definitely some great lures. I feel sorry for you guys who don't have an Academy close by.

When are they finally going to put up an online store??

I have heard at least ten different dates that have all been delayed.

.

When are they finally going to put up an online store??

I have heard at least ten different dates that have all been delayed.

Next Month we should be up and going. We have all baits ready to sell online. Right now we still have workers performing mock purchases and stuff to check for any system flaws/errors.....before we pull the trigger on this.