Medium Rods - Z-Crank vs Cyclone.  Both are Medium Regular rods, very similar weights.  Trying to understand the why one over the other.  only difference I can see from specs is that Zcranks is a little longer.  Cyclone is described as an all around use rod.   So is it safe to to say it can do what the Zcrank can do but not the other way around.?     Which would you pick and why?  I am leaning towards Cyclone in this battle. 

Is there any reason to have both?

 

Medium-Heavy Rods - Blade vs Madbull.  Both are Med Heavy rods, similar action and same lure and line weights.  One is classified as a bladed rod (whatever that means) and one is a deep crank rod.  Seems like not enough of a difference to me.  The only difference is 2in and Blade is MH/MF and the Madbull is MH/F.  Does that have any real word difference?   Which would you pick and why?  Do we need a dedicated bladed rod? or a dedicated crank rod??  I am confused as these seem very similar and need to understand why one over the other - Thoughts??

is there any reason to own both?

 

 

Heavy Rods - Xbites vs Super Destroyer vs Tachyon Shaft.  All are MH rods.  Only difference is minor in lenghts.  Biggest different is in taper.  Xbites is Xfast,  SD is MF and Tachyon is R.  I have read that the X-bites is like an NRX sensitive bottom rod, but then what is the tachyon shaft?  Tachyon is described as "fastest and hardest Hook sets" - what does that mean??  Where does the Super Destroyer fit into this heavy rod lineup?  It is describes as the most versatile of the heavy line up but can it be a bottom contact rod?  Of these 3, which would you pick and why? 

Is there any reason to own all 3?  

 

 

 

 

SPECS BELOW

F1-63X PopX Stick - Beautifully crisp small finesse hard bait rod!

F2-60X Cliffhanger - All around precision Bait Finesse rod! 

F2.5-611X Kasumi Six Eleven - Accurate and delicate casting for small hardbaits!

F3-610X Bait Finesse - Next generation HIEN, all around Bait Finesse!

F3.5-70X Zcrank Elseil - Amazing new small crankbait rod capable for topwater and jerkbaits too!

F4-65X OneTen Stick - Shorter Jerkbait rod for precision casts and hooksets!

F4-66X Cyclone - Great all around use rod from spinnerbaits to senkos to Popmax!

F4.5-71X the Dark Sleeper - Bottom contact rod for jigs and Texas rig!

F5-68X Blade - Spinnerbaits, Chatterbaits, Swimjigs!

F5-70X MadBull - Deep cranks, big lipless, small swimbaits!

F5.5-72X X-Bites - Highly sensitive bottom contact rod for jigs and worms!

F6-66X Killer Code - Accurate casting big bait rod, I-wing, swimbaits, frogs!

F6-69X Super Destroyer - Amazing new all around use rod!

F6.5-67X Tachyon Shaft - New Jig Rod concept for delivering the fastest and hardest hook sets!

F7-70X Tequila Baccarac - All around heavy bait rod, swimbaits, frogs, A-rigs!

F7.5-90X ICBM - Ultra long casting rod for bottom techniques like Carolina Rig! 

 

Item	Length:	Power:	Taper:	Line:	Lure:	Price:
F1-63X Pop-X Stick	6'3"	Ultra-Light	Slow	6-14	1/8-1	$449.00
F2-60X Cliffhanger Thrilling	6'0"	Light	Regular	6-12	1/8-1/2	$449.00
F2.5-611X Kasumi Six Eleven	6'11"	Med-Light	Slow	6-12	1/8-1/2	$449.00
F3-610X Bait Finesse	6'10"	Med-Light	Med-Fast	6-14	1/4-5/8	$475.00
F3.5-70X Z Crank Elseil	7'	Medium	Regular	8-16	1/4-3/4	$475.00
F4-65X Oneten Stick	6'5"	Medium	Slow	8-20	1/4-3/4	$475.00
F4-66X Cyclone	6'6"	Medium	Regular	8-20	1/4-7/8	$475.00
F4.5-71X The Dark Sleeper	7'1"	Med-Heavy	Fast	8-20	1/4-1	$475.00
F5-68X Blade	6'8"	Med-Heavy	Med-Fast	10-25	3/8-1	$475.00
F5-70X Madbull	7'	Med-Heavy	Regular	10-25	3/8-1	$499.00
F5.5-72X The X-Bites	7'2"	Heavy	Ex-Fast	10-25	1/4-1	$499.00
F6-66X Killer Code	6'6"	Heavy	Regular	8-22	3/8-2	$499.00
F6-69X Super Destroyer	6'9"	Heavy	Med-Fast	12-25	1/4-1.25	$499.00
F6.5-67X Tachyon Shaft	6'7"	Heavy	Regular	12-25	1/4-1.25	$499.00
F7-70X Tequila Baccarac	7'	Ex-Heavy	Regular	12-30	3/4-4	$499.00
F7.5-90X ICBM	9'	Ex-Heavy	Med-Fast	12-30	3/8-3	$525.00

 

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I was about to chime in by my price point is the Orochi XX's.  LOL

goto youtube and look up the hook up tackle. They have videos on the P5's and break them down. 

i saw it doesnt answer my questions 

I’d call the hook up they can explain the actual differences. Just guessing based on specs, but the actions on the similar spec rod are probably slightly different making one more ideal for specific techniques than the other. Length will play a roll in how a rod behaves. Some could be different bend profiles even though they are both m/h reg or whatever. Im sure one of the guys there would be happy to break it all down and get you pointed in the right direction.

Anyone have experience with these rods?

Reviving dead thread, but for the sake of searchers, I can chime in on two:

 

Z-Crank:
I can't compare directly to the cyclone, but I can certainly vouch for my Z-Crank. I have it paired with a '21 metanium, and it casts squarebills fantastically - both small ones as well as bulkier ones like a R2S Big Poppa . I'm often surprised at how well these smaller squarebills can be thrown. There's something about the tip and the last 30% of the cast that it adds a whip to, and it just sails a light bait with a lot of accuracy. Very happy with my zcrank and what I use it for. 

 

Blade vs MadBull

I have both of these. The Blade was bought as my main spinnerbait rod, and the mad bull was for medium cranks. Right away I was not happy with the Blade. I'm throwing 3/8 or 1/2oz spinners with 3.8 kaitechs, and it just didn't have the umph or power for them. I can't quite define the exact issue. But I think the shorter rod length and weaker tip, meant I couldn't get any force for that last 30% of the cast to sling it forward and stright. The bait hangs down bending the last  foot at rest, so the casts are sloppy. I found myself constantly landing short of my targets. (I throw spinners around a lot of tules and cover.) To experiment, I moved it over to other rods, one of which was the mad bull. Night and day difference. I think the madbull's length, more parabolic and medium bend, and little extra power made a big difference in properly loading the rod on the cast. (same exact reels btw) Now I can cast much further with less effort - which translates into getting my bait right up against my target in that 6" zone. I bought another mad bull for spinnerbaits now. So far the blade has been the only MB rod I wasn't very happy with for my use vs it's intended application.

 

Hope this helps!

 

From fishing and researching these rods myself I’ve found a few things to pass on. 
 

The Super Destroyer isn’t the power jig rod in the lineup. The Tachyon is. The SD is much slower and more of an all around medium-heavy+ rod. 
 

The Dark Sleeper is a quality moving bait rod for anything around 3/8ths. Chatters, spinners, swim jigs. 
 

The X-Bites is a high quality slack line feel jig rod. It doesn’t have the guts to pitch into cover but deep or shallow rock piles or just bouncing a trig it excels. 

Ive only fished these rods less than a year, and they aren’t owned by me. My impressions are from taking them out a few trips and just getting a feel for them. 

23 hours ago, TNBankFishing said:

 

The Dark Sleeper is a quality moving bait rod for anything around 3/8ths. Chatters, spinners, swim jigs. 

 

I'll toss a +1 on the Dark Sleeper for spinnerbaits too. It also performed pretty well for my spinnerbaits. Ultimately I used the madbull, but I had both and either would have done well. I just keep it to swim jigs / swimbaits at the moment.