without actually having seen/tested one?  I, for one, will not buy any rod sight unseen, considering that there is no industry standard for rod actions.  I.E. one maker's M is another's MH and so on.  With the cost of rods these days, it's too much money to gamble on an unknown quantity.  JMHO of course.

I do it with St Croix rods, but thats only because they are cheaper some places on line. I admit most St Croix's I have bought on-line I have handled at another store first.

I've done it a few times.  You really can't know anything other then balance when testing it in the store, everything else you won't know until you're on the water.  It helps if you have a clue about that brand's ratings.

I have a few times.Been lucky so far.

I do it all the time. I live in a small town - about 80 miles round trip to a decent tackle shop, 150 miles round trip to Gander Mountain, 190 miles round trip to Bass Pro.

I shop the catalogs/web sites, read reviews, and put in an order. A couple of times I was disappointed when the rod came in, but generally I've had good luck. It probably helps that compared to others, I'm not as sophisticated an angler and don't have hands capable of determining 1/4 oz variations in rod weight

I knew that online shopping would be necessary when I moved out of the "big city" ... and it's a small price to pay to live in a great place 8-)

I do it all the time with St. Croix. I exclusively use them and always get what I am after. If I was going to buy another companies rod I would most likely have to handle it first. I am just comfortable with croix.

I think if you have used, and do use several rods from one brand, you get a feel for their power and action ratings.

If you are all over the board with brands, or haven't looked at several of one brand before it can be a real crapshoot IMO.

I buy a mostly online but 99% of the time I touch the exact model rod first, either at a store or with someone that owns one.

I buy most of my stuff online.  I have been lucky to purchase some rods that were exactly what I wanted.  It may sound funny but I have bought rods instore that I loved but didn't care too much for them when I actually started fishing with them.  Most of the rods I bought weren't available to me to try around here, rods like the Damiki Dark Angel, Lucky Craft Cranking rod, Daiwa Zillion, and Dodyns rods.  Others I have fished with friends rods that were similar.  In all I actually have to say that I have one rod that I don't care for that I bought sight unseen, other than that, I have been lucky.

without actually having seen/tested one? I, for one, will not buy any rod sight unseen, considering that there is no industry standard for rod actions. I.E. one maker's M is another's MH and so on. With the cost of rods these days, it's too much money to gamble on an unknown quantity. JMHO of course.

I agree, and as for the shipping cost.you would be better off paying the tax!  I have ordered a few rods per catalog,because I could not find the one where I live,but I new how the rod fished or how it did feel by fishing a buddys rod or looking in the store at say a 6,6" rod of that model and I wanted a 7 ft. rod.

I do a lot of online ordering from Tackle Warehouse and BPS.  For the most part, if a product has a good rating and a trusted name, I don't see the problem in not being able to test out the feel.  I have also been happy with most of my orders for the most part, and haven't had to deal with broken rods/defected reels or anything like that.  Plus, I can get that excited "Christmas" feeling when I see a package sitting on my doorstep!

I will not order any new line of rods that have no track record .

i've done it on *** with my last couple purchases...  8ft Tessera flippin stick and Powell Max 703c.. i havent been disappointed yet...

JimmyMo, have you had a chance to use the new Tessera flippin stick yet?  I've been thinking about getting one of those as well and am curious as to how they perform.  If you've used it, start up a new thread and let us know how it works?

It's easy if you are already familiar with the

company's rods. I'm totally comfortable with

St. Croix and G. Loomis online descriptions.

However, the best deals I have found are on

our Flea Market!

8-)

ive done it before with no problems. however , i do plenty of research before i decide.

I've done it once.  I don't make a habit of it.   I have ordered extras of rods that I like.  What kind of question is this?  Who wants to know?  Is someone doing market research?  Just a paranoid thought.

I do it all the time. I live in a small town - about 80 miles round trip to a decent tackle shop, 150 miles round trip to Gander Mountain, 190 miles round trip to Bass Pro.

I shop the catalogs/web sites, read reviews, and put in an order. A couple of times I was disappointed when the rod came in, but generally I've had good luck. It probably helps that compared to others, I'm not as sophisticated an angler and don't have hands capable of determining 1/4 oz variations in rod weight

I knew that online shopping would be necessary when I moved out of the "big city" ... and it's a small price to pay to live in a great place 8-)

Are you talking about the gander mountain in jackson tn?

I do it all the time. I live in a small town - about 80 miles round trip to a decent tackle shop, 150 miles round trip to Gander Mountain, 190 miles round trip to Bass Pro.

I shop the catalogs/web sites, read reviews, and put in an order. A couple of times I was disappointed when the rod came in, but generally I've had good luck. It probably helps that compared to others, I'm not as sophisticated an angler and don't have hands capable of determining 1/4 oz variations in rod weight

I knew that online shopping would be necessary when I moved out of the "big city" ... and it's a small price to pay to live in a great place 8-)

Are you talking about the gander mountain in jackson tn?

Other side of the state - Knoxville. The BPS is in Sevierville. I live in Crossville... (lot's of "villes" here!)

I have, why not?

I've done it once. I don't make a habit of it. I have ordered extras of rods that I like. What kind of question is this? Who wants to know? Is someone doing market research? Just a paranoid thought.

Paranoid is right ;D  It's just a question, asked out of idle curiosity, by an average fisherman.

It seems that I can get a better deal online than going to a store for rods and reels. But there is a bass pro shop 30 minutes from my house, so I will go get a feel of the gear first before I will order it online.

100% of the time for rods.

my local stores dont have much of a selection of decent rods, and the ones they do have are overpriced.

without actually having seen/tested one? I, for one, will not buy any rod sight unseen, considering that there is no industry standard for rod actions. I.E. one maker's M is another's MH and so on. With the cost of rods these days, it's too much money to gamble on an unknown quantity. JMHO of course.

All my rods are and were purchased on-line, as long as I keep with one brand that I 'm familiar with I get exactly what I expect.

So sticking to one brand is a way to avoid unpleasant surprises ( should have paid attention to what I say when I purchased them Kistler Mag TS, if I had purchased GLoomis ' instead I would not have had to sell the Kistlers at rebate to purchase GLoomis again, lesson learned ).

I do it all the time. I live in a small town - about 80 miles round trip to a decent tackle shop, 150 miles round trip to Gander Mountain, 190 miles round trip to Bass Pro.

I shop the catalogs/web sites, read reviews, and put in an order. A couple of times I was disappointed when the rod came in, but generally I've had good luck. It probably helps that compared to others, I'm not as sophisticated an angler and don't have hands capable of determining 1/4 oz variations in rod weight

I knew that online shopping would be necessary when I moved out of the "big city" ... and it's a small price to pay to live in a great place 8-)

I'm basically in the same situation. I have some tackle shops but they don't have the rods I'm looking at most of the time. I go threw TW for all my rods most of the time. Then again I go threw TW for just about everything.