As part of my annual preparations for the wife's week-long family reunion, I made the trek to my local BPS to pick up a new spinning rod for my brother-in-law to use...for $100 or less. (see last year's search results here: )

One of the rods that really jumped out at me this year was the new Browning Hi Power. It appears to have a similar (possibly even the same) blank as the Carbonlite, EVA grip with a larger (JDM-ish) foregrip, but cheaper guides. It had a very similar feel to the Carbonlite in the hand as well.

I picked up the 7' medium and paired it with my Ryobi Zauber 1000 for a few casts in the front yard, and I think this reel may have found a new home for a while. The Zauber is an all-metal spinning reel, so it's substantially heavier than you'd expect from a 1000 but it seems to balance the rod nicely.

Anybody here had an opportunity to try one of these out yet?

rumor is its the same blank as the BPS piece, possible the guides are the same as well.

It does feel very similar to the Carbonlite, and I've got to say, it's beautiful in the sunlight.

It may wind up being a big pile of excrement, but I think I'm gonna have to sneak this one away from the B-I-L for a little while to see how well it fishes.

For me a positive on that rod is that has a decent foregrip, many split handle rods don't and that is a turn off for me.

My friend has one of these. Looked like my carbon lite I had with slight variances. I like the styling of the Browning