This spring I spent the big bucks and bought an Orvis Helios tip flex 8 wt rod and very quickly fell in love with it. It was so much lighter than my other 8 wt I could hardly wait to get it strung up and head down to the local lake and fish stocked trout with it. From my first cast I’ve been very impressed with the rod. I’ve hand 8 wt floating, type III sinking line and sink tip, 9 wt floating and 7 wt clouser line on it and it hasn’t disappointed me yet. The type III sinking and 7 wt clouser lines seem to work the best of the lot. The thing will cast anything from a small wooly bugger to a large bass bug or fly rod spinner bait without complaint.
Ok, enough of me singing the praises of this rod. What I really want is an objective opinion not necessarily of this rod but any of the other Helios line of rods from people who have had other premium quality rods. What, in your opinion, are your rods strengths and weaknesses? How would you judge it for accuarcy on both near and far targets? What do you think your rod is best suited for? Bonefish or carp on the flats? Bass bugging, pike, trout?
I’d like to end up with a more measured and considered opinion of this rod because right now I think I want another one!
Judging by the total lack of replies to this thread I guess I’m the only one with one of these rods. I KNOW some of you think as much of your favorite rod as I do mine and I also KNOW there are a lot of rods out there that are excellent. My problem is I have no idea how my rod or any other rod in the Helios lineup stacks up against any other rod. I’ve been searching the fly fishing magazines for a test report but nothing. Orvis has had a few of their Zero Gravity rods tested against other rods but for some reason none of the new Helios rods.
Be that as it is I love how effortlessly this rods casts due no doubt by better technique on my part but also the melding of all the various parts of this rod that make it what it is. It’s so light it’s like waving a feather and line just flies through the guides.
Just to see how much power this thing has I’ve got half a notion to put some 10 wt floating line on it and see if I can cast a rapala or some other light crank bait using a regular overhand cast with maybe a double haul thrown in to see how far I can get that thing out. If that works maybe keep on going up the weight and wind resistance scale till I can’t get it out 30 ft. I’ve got time this weekend. It should make an interesting experiment.
I cannot justify the cost of that rod. It is a nice rod, but so are all of the rods I currently own. Glad to hear you like it though, they are light for sure if that is important to you. I like my glass rod and bamboo rod enough that when I switch to any of my graphite rods it feels almost too light. I don’t fish saltwater but if I did I bet I would find a real advantage to a rod such as yours for sure.
PS. I am not ripping your rod, I am sure it is a casting machine. I will be interested to see the results of your experiment.
I haven’t cast the rod because I quickly lost interest. I did handle and shake several, though. They seemed very light and quick and probably would cast a ton of line if you like fast rods.
What stood out the most, however, was how ugly they were. Obviously, a rod is a tool, and aesthetics are not everything. But, this rod is an expensive tool designed for an activity that has an aethetic to it and it ought to be nicely appointed. I also realize that the look of the reel seat, grip, hardware, wraps, color of the blank, etc. are a matter of personal taste.
But to me, the rod looked garish … like a woman with too much makeup, too much perfume, too much jewelry, and too big earings.
I lost interest in casting the rod after this first, bad impression.
For many years I was not a fan of the orvis line of rods, period.
but that changed with the T3, ok rod.
I have been able to try out some of the new, yet to be released, Helios rods,I love them.
I have been casting the new 10’ 5wt Helios for awhile now and it is awesome.
great distance as well as good accuarcy. also very little tip bounce.
Yes it is expensive, hopefully that will change.
Simply put the materials that the Helios is made of could be what outdates graphite.
For the record I am a Orvis endorsed guide, but if this rod was junk I would say so.
Bubba
I love this post…
First paragraph… I don’t really agree with that…just “shaking” …maybe not!..you ought to cast it!
But the second paragraph…yep!..reasons to decide!..of course, there are others…but that’s your choice:cool:
I absolutely love my 8-1/2 ft 5 wt Helios - it is my “go to” rod. It is very responsive and easy to cast for a variety of situations. So, when I decided to buy an 8 wt, I assumed I would buy another Helios, but decided to try a number of other rods anyway. When I did my personal ranking of all the 8 wts that I tried, the Helios was ranked high, but not my #1 rod. I liked the light feel in my hand, but it took more effort for me to cast for distance than several other rods. Probably just my casting style, but I ended up buying a Sage Xi2…but my 5 wt Helios is still my “go to” rod when I want something in that wt range.
i have been wanting to try one. i too have been waiting for a review on them. orvis might be gun shy after the reviews on their zero gravity. i do like their superfine rods and love the t-3 6 wt. saltwater rod! im thinking the helios would be an insane rod for fishing the gulf here in mississippi!
Don’t believe everything you read. I absolutely love my Zero, which is why the Helios. But I still grab the Zero first.
cycler,
I don’t have a Helios, but I am very interested in the results of the experiments you talked about. Keep us informed.
I had a chance to cast a 6 wt Helios right after they came out. I wanted one right then and there - but couldn’t justify the price. The first cast was a little off as I was used to my own rods which tend to be in the mid price range. But by the third cast I was shooting line further than I ever had before. If you need distance and accuracy, this may be the rod. I just can’t figure where to get the money to buy one.
TxEngr
I cast one. Gotta say, it was up there with all of the high end Sage, Scott, Loomis, and Winstons. Orvis hit a home run with this one. Pricey, though but someone told me the technology made the rods super tough.
The Helios 5wt ,I have at the moment, has been out fighting very large carp in the cattails and willows, night fishing for large brown trout with large streamers, etc.
When I fish like this it is generally with a 7 or 8wt.
It is a pretty tough rod. I have had it bent over double many times cannot seem to break it.
And I have tried really hard to!
I finally did locate a test report that matched a Loomis Crosscurrent, a Sage Xi, a Helios and a Winston (the exact model escapes me at the moment. Although the Helios put in a strong showing in several catagories, especially for close in accuracy and, of course, weight, it didn’t win. It was last in value for the money and couldn’t do a 100 ft cast whereas the Crosscurrent and Sage Xi both could. The Helios also wasn’t their fav in the fun to fish, gotta have catagory. The overall winner was the Crosscurrent, with the Sage coming in second, then the Helios and finally the Winston.
With the Helios coming in so poorly in the long distance match I think my idea of overlining the rod with 10 wt line and then casting a crankbait would fall flat on it’s face. I’m actually a little surprised that it can’t do a 100 ft cast with the line they chose since the rod is quite stiff and I would think that would translate to great power but I guess not.
I’ll still fish the rod a lot since it’s the best rod by far that I have but if I get the money to spend on another premium rod the Sage and Crosscurrent with both be getting a hard look before I loose the credit card and order one.
That sounds like a few other rod reviews that just happened to be performed by a shop owner who had input on the design of the rods which always seem to just happen to win!
Jackster politely hit the nail on the head. The credability of the test results is highly questionable here. That test says more about the tester than it does about the abilities of the rod (especially his motives).
The only judge of the capabilities of that rod, what it can do, and how well it performs should be YOU. You can bet there’s dozens of folks on this board that could make a 100’ cast with that rod! It’s a shame that people actually believe tests like that.
Whoever was casting that rod in that test must have been a newbie.
I’ve has some limited fly shop time with a 9’5wt and the 9’8wt. Both felt STIFF in the wiggle test and stiff in the casting. Freaky light, however. "How much does .4 of an ounce really effect your casting?..dunno, but it makes a perceptible difference to my hand. It matters. It’s the way of high end, high peformance outdoors products. Those minute differences add up.
Anyway, the casting didn’t feel that good to me…the rods didn’t “wake up” until you got 40-50’ of line out and that’s about 10-20’ from my casting limits. Then I brought my own line to cast-not the shops beater line- and it came alive…very nice. Heavier lines work better. I used a wt GPX on the 5wt and that was very nice. Same on the 8wt. The rods like the lines at the heavier end of the scale. No suprise, really.
The 8wt is where the weight gets freaky. By comparison, you pick up the 5wt and say to yourself “yeah, this is light”. You pick up the 8wt and realize that the 5wt you have at home is heavier than this. As the line wt goes up, the light weight nature of these things becomes more and more apparent.
I’d agree that Orvis finally has given Sage and Loomis some real competition. About time…
This leaves the cost issue. It is considerable. I have found a way to justify it, however. Feel free to borrow from my convoluted logic.
Anyone golf? Probably not, but you can’t touch a set of good clubs for anywhere near this rods cost. OR so I hear. Into technology? Even building your own computers ends up being big $ because you can get the best for less but it still involves $ commitment. I’ve spent various amounts of time over the past decade building and racing a “cheap” automobile…only to find there is NO SUCH THING.
This rant to say that fly fishing is a relatively inexpensive game, even with $800 rods. Sad but true…
I thought you guys might like to look at the article I read that compared the Helios to the G Loomis Crosscurrent, the Sage Xi and the Winston BII Mx. I think they did a reasonable job comparing the four but, as LigonierA1 pointed out, the results could have been different had they used different line. The test url is http://www.yellowstoneangler.com/8.weight.fly.rod.comparison.mini.shootout.asp
Before I bought the rod I was really conflicted about spending the $$$ on a fishing rod but I figured if nothing else it would be a much lighter rod and that would translate into much less wear and tear on my arm and shoulder over the years. I was skeptical if it would really improve my casting that much. When I finally got the rod out on the water it was like WOW. This really is much better. The lighter weight turned out to be secondary to the improved castability as I don’t usually spend more than an hour or two fishing at a time anyhow. And of that hour I’m walking, unsnarling my line from trees, branches or weeds, cleaning junk off my fly, etc. as much or more than I’m casting. And, of course improving my form would take care of a lot of the wear and tear on my arm.
But, still I’m not sorry I choose the Helios over a Sage or G Loomis or any of the other fine rods around. Orvis does a lot to help the fish and nature and that is very important to me besides putting out some very, very good if a little pricey products.
I cast the 9 foot 5 wt tip flex and was not at all impressed. It is not a dry fly trout rod and I notice that all it’s praises are in the streamer/long cast department. As a guide I am so sick of people showing up with rods that they don’t know how to load or that don’t like to load at distances less than 50 feet which is where most trout are caught. I wish I had four hands because I’d give that rod four thumbs down.