Orvis does it again

[Fly Goddess]

I thought this is pretty big:

Orvis has just pulled the curtain up on their new lineup of rods for 2010: the Hydros . Perhaps sensing that the economy is not quite what it once was, the boys from Manchester have made a series of very good decisions to essentially bring the popular Helios into reach of the masses. The new rods will cost $495 for all freshwater models and $525 for all saltwater models. They are going to be available in every weight class that Helios comes in, with the exception of the switch rods. According to Orvis' Tom Rosenbauer, they're built on the exact same tapering and scrim technology as the Helios rods, with many of the exact same mandrels used as forms.

How has Orvis managed to cut almost $200 off the price? By eliminating a lot of the Ferrari-level jewelry (bringing this baby more into the Cadillac class). The Hydros rods will not sport REC's Recoil guides (the flexible, bounce-back ones), nor will they have as light a reel seat. The male ends of the ferrules are unpainted (actually a feature, not a bug--unpainted ferrules seat more securely). The rods will come with a traditional Cordura-covered tube rather than a woven graphite model. Due to the hardware changes, the rods will be slightly heavier--more akin to the premium models offered by other companies. Interestingly, they will be available October 15; well in time for Christmas.

In short, to offer a little editorial, this is still a premium rod. Orvis seems to be filling in a gap in their lineup, offering a $500-class rod with very similar hardware to that offered by other companies, but building on what they believe to be a great blank design (and from what I've heard about Helios sales, the market certainly agrees on that blank). All in all this is a very intelligent move; rather than pushing the price envelope ever further, they are consolidating technological advances and putting more rods in more hands.

[Normand]

zach mathews article is here

http://www.midcurrent.com/news/2009/...-for-2010.html

[Fly Goddess]

zach mathews article is here

http://www.midcurrent.com/news/2009/...-for-2010.html

Sorry Zack. I did quote , but didn't put the author. My Bad, just excited about the news.

[HCR]

Very informative--thanks for the heads-up.

[DG]

Whenever I read or hear about the new and improved gear for the new year, the terms "sliced bread" and "marketing" come to mind. Convince us that we need new crap to replace the perfectly good old crap that we are currently using. Or in this case, not as good a crap as it could be but we realize that $700 crap is out of hand, possibly because we aren't selling as much of it as we thought we could convince people they needed.

I like to think I am wise enough to know I don't need a $500 rod. Even though there are a couple collecting dust in the closet.

I do own a knife which can be used to slice bread, however.

[Mojo]

I look at it this way DG. It might not be you or me that buys that rod (or any other new and improved rod). It might be a young fly fisher that is ready to get a little bit better rod and reel because he might need one, wants one, can finally afford one, or has cast it and just fell in love with the way it performs. Who are we to judge (I'm not saying you're judging anyone). If it didn't come down to gimmicks, marketing and the best thing since sliced bread, then most of us would still be fishing bamboo or fiberglass. It's the next phase of evolution for our sport.

[Daniel J]

I'm sure that these rods are great but I really haven't been able to tell the difference in performance between 40 and 500$ rods in my years and years of fly fishin'. I HAVE noticed that graphite out-performs fibergoass, and that all of them tend to do really poorly against rocks, fire, and car doors.....

But this is just my opinion. Heck, I'm happy fishin with a stck and and a bent needle with some duck feathers wrapped around it.

[bobbyg]

I'm sure that these rods are great but I really haven't been able to tell the difference in performance between 40 and 500$ rods in my years and years of fly fishin'. I HAVE noticed that graphite out-performs fibergoass, and that all of them tend to do really poorly against rocks, fire, and car doors.....

But this is just my opinion. Heck, I'm happy fishin with a stck and and a bent needle with some duck feathers wrapped around it.

I do feel that fiberglass, in certain conditions, is a better material than graphite....just my opinion.

bobbyg

[fishnfarmer]

I agree with Bass Bug. Good job BassBug-

[MontanaMoose]

....electric ?

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

I do own a knife which can be used to slice bread, however.