hardy, is it the in thing to hate?

[aliS]

Morning all,

Ultimately the question here is has Hardy gone down the tubes?

When I was a much younger and foolish boy of 10 I started fishing the local salmon river with an old hollow glass rod, a very cheap and nasty reel and a line Of unknown brand, origin or type. As well as been hooked on the lure of the chance to land a sea trout or salmon (which did not come for some time!) I was always in awe of the senior club members and the fine fishing tackle that graced the river. Back then, not that long ago too, anybody who was anybody and serious on fishing only used one brand, from the house of Hardy. My own favourite I remember was the beautiful and elegant Cascapedia. Now two/three years ago I decide to treat my self to a new troot rod and with a hand full of cash purchased a 10' mk2 swift and a demon reel - the demon reel was soon swapped to the Cascapedia and I was indeed one very happy angler. The rod I bought fished better, further and smoother than my now retired Leeda dragonfly II by a country mile. In my eyes I'd matured to the position held by my younger self as someone to aspire to. So in summary I'm happy with hardy.

But speak to the latest and greatest anglers I keep hearing the same old story, hardy's over priced, useless rods, there is a million better rods out there, they outsourced manufacturing to Korea etc..

But is the knock on hardy just a fashionable trend? Are these people I meet just jumping on a band wagon or am I alone in my delusion in believing Hardy make a quality rod?

Every year seems to bring a new crazy, is it all just clever marketing or one up man ship hyp?

ali

[Hill loch gold]

I've got 2 hardy flea rods and i'm very happy with them but it's the same as everything else, whether it's sage, loomis etc, your paying over the odds for the name.

[garryh]

It all comes down to quality control,years ago when hardy produced rods at alnwick they could be stricter with what they accepted ,but with the high volume of rods they sell now they have to lower standards and reject less.I built a couple of rods myself in the past and when I inspected the rods at the Glasgow angling center I was shocked at the workmanship on some of the rods .even with my limited knowledge it was obvious that the quality of the whippings for example were less than perfect.for the money they charge I would want better.I did notice that one make was head and shoulders above the others at least as far as cosmetics go were Scott.I have bought Scott rods since then and haven't been disappointed.but couldn't compare the casting abilities as I have never owned a hardy.

Garry

[aliferste]

I have heard of lost of bad experiences of people breaking rods of both Hard and Greys and getting the run around to get a new section - basically saying pay £100 for a new rod. Sage on the other hand take £25 and you get a new piece job done!

Basically if Hardy want to pass themselves off as this top of the range outfit they need to provide the service as well!

[Robbie]

I have a Hardy Marksman rod and rate it highly. Having heard of poor customer service from many companies Orvis are nearly always my first port of call for new tackle now. In my experience their customer service is second to none.