I've promised this review for a while now. 

   

 

Rod - JB3 Series 2 Outlaw Heavy Cover rod

Specs - 7'3" HXF 3/8- 1.5oz lure

Price - 249

     I have a serious problem. I'm horribly addicted to Heavy Power Casting Rods. I'm also a western fanatic. Enter JB3. Outlaw? Ya imma get that for the name alone. 

   I held this rod 4 times before I bought it. Very light but it had some beef where it counts. A basic look, which I'm a fan of. A nice cork handle, very supple. 

    I teased a monster score for this rod. I'm glad I waited. There are some glaring issues that need to be addressed. 

    

On the water

     First couple times out I got skunked, but I learned a lot about the rod. 

 

Sensitivity - 7.5/10- it's very good at detection on movement, but seems to be a little lacking on bottom contact. I know that's a bit picky, but at $250 it needs to be better. I have a Daiwa Tatula SVF Frog rod that is more sensitive on the bottom. That's a $150 rod. 

 

Action - 10/10 - Extremely limber tip area. By my measurements, it's actually an 82/18 tip. That tip is moderate. That's good to me. You want that bend. A unique action and flex here. 

 

Feel - 9/10 - It feels like a $250 rod. Nuff said.

 

Build - 6.5/10 - This is where the score suffers from here until we get to "hooked up". It has flaws. I was forgiving at first because it's obvious this rod was made by hand. A boutique rod. However, the cork grip was off center when I bought it, but not enough to bother me. That progressively worsened. It's now noticable. That's in 20 trips. Not acceptable. 

   The guides are straight. The epoxy job was good. Everything else passed muster. They didn't splurge on anything, the reel seat is in house. The guides might be too. Info on the website is nominal. 

   

Durability - 5/10 - After a few trips, I noticed that the rod started to feel loose. Not as sensitive or clean. That's a builders error IMO. It impressed me initially, but faded over time. Again, I bought it in July. That's not great for durability. 

 

 Value - 4/10 - I know, "dang Alex! That's low!!!". Here's why: They have a lesser series called series 1. Found one on sale and grabbed it. Same specs and height. Except for the EVA grips, it felt and fished exactly the same way. That's not good. That rod is $150 retail. Where's the extra $100 at? 

  

Hooked up - 10/10 - Finally got a bigger fish on it, and it shined here. It's a horse. Hookset is surgical. It'll bully a 5 pounder. Mine was probably around 4. It skated in. No issues with stress under a load. Excellent backbone. 

   

 

Final score - 7.4/10 - for a $250 rod, it does okay. But again, they have a cheaper one that does everything the same. Build and durability hurt this score bad along with value. It performed very, very well under stress. It was lackluster in too many places.

   IMHO this is not a keeper, which is sad, because it should be. This company is very young, so we'll see what they do next, but as of now, I'd be a looking for something else. 

 

 

 

About  22 inches. Good fish to test the JB3. 

15 hours ago, Alex Ball said:

About  22 inches. Good fish to test the JB3. 

That fish looks like it's been in a concentration camp!  

20 minutes ago, KP Duty said:

That fish looks like it's been in a concentration camp! 

It's been odd this last year. They get real long but really thin. It fought good til I stacked the drag. I have probably got 15 pictures of different bass just like that one. 

21 hours ago, Alex Ball said:

I noticed that the rod started to feel loose. Not as sensitive or clean. That's a builders error IMO. It impressed me initially, but faded over time. Again, I bought it in July. That's not great for durability. 

Don't understand this. How is this a durability issue?

7 minutes ago, waymont said:

Don't understand this. How is this a durability issue?

The loose feeling was the components starting to shimmy. A couple guides, reel seet is not locking correctly, etc... should've elaborated there. 

13 minutes ago, Alex Ball said:

The loose feeling was the components starting to shimmy. A couple guides, reel seet is not locking correctly, etc... should've elaborated there. 

Sheesh, that's a bad rod in my opinion. I have 15 year old Loomis rods that fish as they did when they were new.

29 minutes ago, Alex Ball said:

The loose feeling was the components starting to shimmy. A couple guides, reel seet is not locking correctly, etc... should've elaborated there. 

 

yeah, that ain't no 7.4 ...

2 hours ago, garroyo130 said:

 

yeah, that ain't no 7.4 ...

I'm being a bit generous. I'll say this: I was extremely impressed by how it handles a fish. That counts for a lot to me. Beyond that, I'm giving it that score based on the aggregate of the categories. At $250, anything below a 8.5 is basically a pass for me. 

   This rod fell well below that, and that's why i finished the review by cautioning against it. Outside durability and what id consider an inexperienced building staff(basing that on how the ones at work looked when they hired a whole shift together), I'd say it was a good rod. 

    One final note: I work on and repair rods, so if its fixable, I'm fairly forgiving. Based on your outlook, ya it's probably safe to call it a bust of a rod. I'm glad I waited on reviewing it. I would've hated to give a good review only to backtrack. 

2 hours ago, waymont said:

Sheesh, that's a bad rod in my opinion. I have 15 year old Loomis rods that fish as they did when they were new.

     It's definitely a disappointment and a lesson learned. I work for 1 shop and do independent business with another maker. From now on, I'm buying local or big brand. Builders I trust or Companies with long standing. Safer.