This is THE brand i got into fishing with. In the very late 90s, and early 2000s, i thought they were good. Don't remember having any issues with their rods back then.

Now i am seeing these kind of threads on reddit, and was wondering if the brand was pretty much killed by Purefishing like what they did to Pflueger, Abu, etc.

It's definitely a weird situation for them. The hiring of the dudes that designed the NRX series was a positive step. Making the Eagle through World Class have the same action respective of length/power is cool. But dang if they those really were improvements you certainly don't hear about it. Their marketing of them has been terrible. Reddit is almost always "xxxx was better before they did yyyy" with all interests (food, cycling, dash cams, you name it).

I got an Eagle 7ft 5in Hf (supposed to be a poor man's 873crr) and it's nice, obviously not an NRX, but not "woah" good.

I have owned eagles, HMX, HMG, and smallmouth series of rods. Played with some of the new ones in store, they just dont have that magical feel my old HMG and Smallmouth rods had. Kind of regret selling those. Personal opinion.

I own older HMG, Techna AV, Smallmouth and Aetos. I like them. Handled an Eagle in store a few years ago and thought it felt like a very nice rod for the money. It's the pits if the new rods can't match up to the old ones. 😢

Here in Ontario Fenwick rods were a big deal amongst anglers from the 70s through the 90s, and now they're almost irrelevant. I find that here's nothing "Fenwick-ish" about the Pure Fishing rods nowadays . I think that the JDM (Tiemco) Fenwick rods are cool, though.

The Reddit thread you linked is a guy complaining about an old model before the revamp (it appears).

So not only doesn’t seem fair to me, but completely irrelevant for 2026.

I think the issue is going on Reddit.

Tactical bass in likes their rods. I felt a new eagle in store and it felt very nice for the price. Perfectly balanced with Vanford. The same actions and lengths for each line is also cool.

I bought 1 each of the world class, elite and HMG. I thought they were solid rods. I imagine the association with pure fishing hurt them.

I bought 2 HMX rods last year. If you stay off the internet, they are great.

7 minutes ago, BradH said:

I bought 2 HMX rods last year. If you stay off the internet, they are great.

@BradH, I totally agree with your internet comment. Too many people believe everything they read.