Anybody have any experience with this brand of rod?  I'm guessing it's Academy's in-house brand.  Very inexpensive but, are they worth it?  What do you sacrifice?

 

I'm not a professional so I'm hesitant to spend the money on a high-end rod.  I can get one of these in a 7' medium heavy/fast for about $30.

Haven't fished the premier but the Ethos HD has been a good performer for me. I picked mine up for $40. If you are able to go to the store in person, I would suggest taking a few rods and scanning them. The Ethos have the barcode on the blank and some of the ones that were on sale can still be found at sale prices.

If you're going sub $80, always just go with the Aird-X and call it a day knowing you got a rod by one of the leaders in the industry that, at $55, fishes like a $100 rod. It simply can't be beat in the budget rod category.

^X2 - I started with all Aird-X rods for my BC needs and even after adding three Furys, I still have two Aird-Xs in my lineup...and I'm not sure if I'm going to upgrade those in the future unless I get a big windfall and can go to Victory, Avid or Tatula (not XT).

I don't have that particular rod, but I have several H2O rods and I think they're all very good for the price. I have an H2O xpress tac-40 rod that I prefer over my Dobyns, Fenwick, and Daiwa rods. That's not a knock on Dobyns, Fenwick, or Daiwa. They're great rods. I just prefer the tac-40.

 

I agree with the above posters that the aird-x is hard to beat for $50, but I am not hesitant about buying H2O xpress rods. They sometimes ring up cheaper than the listed price too.

I bought my dad one because he's a once a couple times a month kind of fishermen and it's worked out fine for him.

Great question OP. Have used the premier rod. The blank is nice itself -lightweight with a nice moderate action for moving baits. However, when setting the hook, your baitcaster reel seem to move and wobble when fighting a fish within the reel seat. So much so that I have stopped using the rod. Have and use the aird x and ethos HD. For the price difference it is worth the step up in quality for fish fighting ability. Hope that helps. 

19 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

If you're going sub $80, always just go with the Aird-X and call it a day knowing you got a rod by one of the leaders in the industry that, at $55, fishes like a $100 rod. It simply can't be beat in the budget rod category.

I'd take a Falcon XD over the Aird-X, but both are decent rods for small cash.