Finally got an Academy within 1.5 hours of me… I remember Blue liked their rods. Are the h2o rods still available and are they still recommended?

I have had one since 2012. Put a new tip on it and its one of my favorite rods. Cant complain at all . Medium heavy 7 ft came in Realtree camo. There good rods 

My Grandson has one of the ~$20 H2O express rods and loves it.  I haven't fished with it.   I may get one next time I need a rod.  I'm not a rod snob (no offense intended to anyone)  My ~$100 rods are expensive by my standards.   

 

 

 

 

I have some H20 Express rods in the Ethos series, and really like the Ethos HD with the cork handle or the Ethos Nano with the cork handle. The Ethos Nano with cork grip are harder to find. I just don't see them there often. I have one in 7' MH with a Daiwa Tatula CT Type R on it that works great for lipless cranks.

 

They also make an Ethos Nano with a rubbery "Wynn" style grip that I initially liked, but came to realize they feel more tip heavy than the cork handled ones do.

 

The Ethos HD's typically run $79 and are often on sale for $59. Great rod for that price! My main jerkbait rod is a 6'6" MH Ethos HD with a SLX MGL on it. Casts the jerkbaits great and doesn't slap the water when working it back. I also have a 7' MH Ethos HD for a bang around rod I can throw in the back of the truck and go fish a friend's pond. Awesome balance on these!

 

The Wynn grip Ethos Nano are normally $99 and occasionally on sale for $79, but I honestly stick with the HD.

 

I have rods ranging from cheap Berkley Lightning Rods to Dobyns Champion Extremes and judge them all by feel, not cost. Personally I really like the way some of the H20 rods feel in the hand and have had no issues fishing them with reaction baits. They have their place on my rod rack!

I had an Ethos HD. Hard to describe it but to me it felt great in store but average on the water. I'm not sure what exactly it was about it. Felt light in hand and crisp but didn't have the sensitivity I expected. My rods also tend to be inexpensive but for the price id go SLX instead.

The H2O rods in the $70 range with cork grips are quite well made - *good luck finding one though at Academy !! ... The H2O line of rods , lures , etc. has been "MIA" for so long now at Academy I have moved on to other options as local Academy Sports near me have a good 60% less fishing tackle (especially H2O line up) for many months now . Not sure what the deal is - but supply chain issues have to be a major factor as I do not believe "we are clearing out present inventory for our new H2O line up" ... That story / excuse has floated around too long now to make any sense .

1 hour ago, ChrisD46 said:

The H2O rods in the $70 range with cork grips are quite well made - *good luck finding one though at Academy !! ... The H2O line of rods , lures , etc. has been "MIA" for so long now at Academy I have moved on to other options as local Academy Sports near me have a good 60% less fishing tackle (especially H2O line up) for many months now . Not sure what the deal is - but supply chain issues have to be a major factor as I do not believe "we are clearing out present inventory for our new H2O line up" ... That story / excuse has floated around too long now to make any sense .

Agree that the racks for the H20 Express baits and tackle are pretty empty. We were there yesterday and they had very little of their name brand product. They did have a little bit of the new H20X branded stuff, but we will have to see if it fills back in next spring.

 

I understand fishing sales typically drop during the winter, but I buy year around and I'm willing to bet others do too.

2 hours ago, garroyo130 said:

I had an Ethos HD. Hard to describe it but to me it felt great in store but average on the water. I'm not sure what exactly it was about it. Felt light in hand and crisp but didn't have the sensitivity I expected. My rods also tend to be inexpensive but for the price id go SLX instead.

Yep,.... That's why I mainly use them for moving and reaction baits that don't need as much sensitivity.

If you can get the new Tac-40 with the monocoque handle, the Medium/Moderate-Fast is a pretty nice rod, comparable in action to a Dobyns 705CB, I think they're only like $70-80 now, too, dropped down from the old price of $99.99.

At $49, the Daiwa Aird-X rods have to be one of the best rod bargains for budget rods, and they're not horrible by any objective standard. I have fished with both the Aird-X spinning and casting models. My biggest grind with them is the hypalon grip, but if I wanted to get a budget rod, that would be my go-to, hypalon or not. And they do sell them at Academy Sports.

27 minutes ago, Big Hands said:

At $49, the Daiwa Aird-X rods have to be one of the best rod bargains for budget rods, and they're not horrible by any objective standard. I have fished with both the Aird-X spinning and casting models. My biggest grind with them is the hypalon grip, but if I wanted to get a budget rod, that would be my go-to, hypalon or not. And they do sell them at Academy Sports.

^ For a budget rod, Aird-X is my go-to as well. Despite my upgrading gear this year including 3 Victory rods - I'll still have 3 Aird-X rods in the bass line-up.

have two of the ethos heavies and like them . Use mainly in heavy cover.

Still available and I still fish them all the time.