St Croix Avid VS Shimano Compre ?

[jbmaine 1,118]

Hi All,

Spinning rods-- I currently use a Shimano Compre as a pretty much general purpose rod. I use it to throw paddle tails, spinner baits, any thing along those lines. I am thinking of replacing it with a St. Croix Avid. I am thinking a Avid will allow me to cast a bit further, easier, be more responsive ? I would think a rod for double the $$$$ would have better performance. However, I am just guessing at this point because nobody locally carries them in stock, so I can't pick one up/try it out.

 A friend of mine has a couple of Avids I can look at, but they are different length, action, then what I am looking for, so I can tell if they feel comfortable, look nice, but can't compare apples to apples.

 So here's my question, given everything being the same, length, power, action, in your opinion, would a Avid be an improvement over a Compre? Or at least enough of an improvement to be worth the upgrade?

 I know common sense would dictate waiting until I can get my hands on just the one I want, doing my own comparison, but For a limited time I could order one for just about 1/2 price, so If I decide to get an Avid it needs to be now.

                                                                                       Thanks

                                                                                             Jim

 

[PatrickKnight 248]

Distance is more often a factor of the length of the rod more so than anything else. Other than that the Avid will be better in every way than the Shimano you are currently using. I have owned the 7 foot ML Avid and find it to be an extremely good general purpose spinning rod. St Croix tend to run a bit heavier per power rating than most other rods so a ML Avid will fish closer to a medium power Shimano.

[FishTank 338]

I have a couple of the St. Croix Avids and love them.  They are great rods.  Are the twice the rod of the Compre?  Probably not but definitely a step up in sensitivity and quality.

[LCG 250]

I have a compre and an avid x. Both casting rods. The compre is 6'10" mh-xf two piece and the avid x is a 6'6" mh-f one piece. 

 

The compre has proven to be decent. Caught carp,trout, largemouth,and smallmouth bass on it. 

 

The avid x is a whole other league. Cork handles are much more comfortable and appealing to me. The blank is sensitive and strong. I am currently debating about selling some other rods and buying an avid x spinning Rod to compliment the casting rod. Can't say enough good things about st Croix. 

 

The compre is my travel rod and carp/catfish rod. The avid x is my bass rod of choice. It won't allow farther casts, that's rod length and technique of the cast itself. The avid x does cast more accurate, as does my mojo spinning Rod. Accuracy is far more important than distance. Sensitivity goes to st Croix as does build quality, overall feel, and weight. You will not be disappointed with st Croix. 

 

 

[jbmaine 1,118]

Thanks everyone, that's just the kind of info I was looking for.

[Boomstick 418]

I would personally go with the Avid X over the Avid unless you're putting an extremely light reel on it at which point it might be a little bit tip heavy.

 

I have an Avid X 6'9" ML/XF spinning rod I use for finesse techniques, and it's a really solid rod.

[evo2s197 59]

I had 12 Avid x rods, and a few mojo rods I just recently got rid of, but I fished them quite often this past year, about 36  trips in a 10 month period, the major difference between the Avid X and the 2nd gen Mojo is the build quality and the fact that the Avid X is made in the US, other than that they were very similar while fishing with them.

 

Extremely accurate casting rods, st croix rods are always a bit heavier than they should be, I feel that they go overboard with the epoxy on the rods.

 

The new version Mojo rods I would say are slightly less sensitive than the Avid X rods even they they are both SCIII blanks, but the difference is negligible.

 

If I did it again and had to choose between the two and I was buying multiple rods i would go Mojo, if I was gonna buy just one or two, I would go Avid X.

 

A medium action casting and a medium heavy casting, along with a medium light spinning in either series will take care of a lot of presentations.

 

The medium heavy mojo or avid x if a stout multipurpose rod.

[DaveT63 146]

As others have said, the Avid is in a different league than the Compre.  The part nobody has responded to is the 1/2 price.  If you can get one at half price, there is no question about getting the Avid.  Actually, buy two if you can at that price!

[islandbass 422]

2 hours ago, DaveT63 said:

As others have said, the Avid is in a different league than the Compre.  The part nobody has responded to is the 1/2 price.  If you can get one at half price, there is no question about getting the Avid.  Actually, buy two if you can at that price!

Great advice! It reminds me of a shimano crucial I bought for about $59 only because it was a display rod (all rods are on a display, lol.) I snatched it up faster than white on rice. There were about three other rods, some model and such. But no, I was foolish. I could have bought another one, heck all of them... and could have made a profit even selling them off at a discounted price, which would have been a win-win for the buyer and me. I went back a few days later, and they were G-O-N-E. 

[jbmaine 1,118]

Well-- this is a bit of a bummer. Ordered an avid from my local sporting good store ( KTP). Just got a call from them, It's back ordered until around mid October. Called St. Croix and they confirmed it. ☹️