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JDM Levante

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 9:47 am
by Tokugawa
Anyone get their hands on the JDM Levante F3-67? That is intriguing to me...wonder what the sensitivity is like.

Re: JDM Levante

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 2:00 pm
by domthewon
Tokugawa wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 9:47 am
Anyone get their hands on the JDM Levante F3-67? That is intriguing to me...wonder what the sensitivity is like.
I had a 4 piece version for about a day and sold it. I have a few issues with the new MB casting rods. I did however test the taper and feel before letting it go. I must say that I really liked the taper of this rod and the power. It has a really nice fast taper and gets to the backbone pretty quick. Seems faster than my black Themis and my super elseil. The sensitivity was adequate but good for the price range, similar to the new XX and XXX black Themis to me and I had no problem with it. I didn’t do much testing cause I knew I was going to let it go. The Themis is slightly longer and more powerfully rated, but they feel pretty similar power wise due to shorter length of the levante. I really wanted to like the rod but my personal feelings on it’s design shortcomings were too much for me and I ordered a 5 piece legit design rod instead. I hope this helps you and hopefully I didn’t come across too negative. If you own a levante already and have no issues this rod can be a lot of fun especially a one piece version.
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Re: JDM Levante

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 2:38 pm
by Tokugawa
What were the shortcomings?

Re: JDM Levante

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 5:31 pm
by hotdogin
Interested to hear about the shortcomings as well. Especially since I mentioned this exact model in a previous post.

Re: JDM Levante

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 7:42 pm
by domthewon
Tokugawa wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 2:38 pm
What were the shortcomings?
I believe shortcomings is the wrong term and I should have elaborated I apologize. To be honest like I mentioned they’re my personal issues and probably won’t effect others, but mostly grip trigger and reel seat. As you probably know the grip starts thick and tapers down a lot, and differently than other mb rods. The thick part of the grip butts up to the trigger which is very short already and possibly makes it shorter than the gen 2 xx, 18 evoluzion,xxx in my hand. I’m not sure if it’s due to the thickness at the top of the grip or just the design, but it tears the heck out of the meat between my fingers. The point of the trigger hits right in the middle of my finger but on the bottom half of my bone. It’s bad on all the mentioned models for me but would be even worse with the levante I knew as soon as I picked it up. I’ve tried switching how I grip the rods and where fingers are placed, but it didn’t make a difference, and I don’t feel I should need to modify my grip to fish a rod comfortably since I don’t have to do that for any older models or rods from other brands. I really only have issue with how the rods fit my hand. If it were a comfortable reel seat for me I would be fishing that levante no question because It was a pretty sweet travel rod and feels a heck of a lot better then the gen one blank, and looks much nicer as well. Definitely seemed closer in sensitivity to the new XX than the gen 1 levante was to the gen 1 XX. I’ve been a long time MB fan and have been buying at least one rod from nearly every series of their rods since I first layed my eyes on them, but it’s actually painful for me to fish the new models especially on productive days. I took my super diablo type l and the Faust out last week and used them back to back a lot and paid the price. It’s not as bad if I only fish one of the new models, but 2 or more combined with a good day of fishing and I’m rubbed raw and missing skin by the end of the day. I don’t want my opinion to sway others from giving them a try. I’m sure I’m the minority here. I have a lot of respect for Megabass, and will continue to purchase their products, but won’t be able to purchase more rods if they are equipped with this trigger and seat. It is unfortunate for me because Id love to have more new models in my Line up including that levante. :-({|=

Re: JDM Levante

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 8:00 pm
by domthewon
hotdogin wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 5:31 pm
Interested to hear about the shortcomings as well. Especially since I mentioned this exact model in a previous post.
I didn’t see your thread earlier. If you read my above post you will know the rod doesn’t fit my grip. Other than that it goes together very nicely. Has small white alignment dots to help line it up. It’s put together very well and is a great option for putting under your seat in the car. Wacky Senkos, and some dropshot was gonna be my purpose for it. That was my plan and an annual float tube tournament I enter. It is a great option for the price if you don’t have the same issue I do. Shipping was cheap cause it was multipiece. If it was one piece I probably would have just kept it despite my poor little sensitive fingers :lol:

Re: JDM Levante

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 3:03 am
by Tokugawa
Ok. Thanks!

Re: JDM Levante

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 5:49 am
by hotdogin
I didn’t see your thread earlier. If you read my above post you will know the rod doesn’t fit my grip. Other than that it goes together very nicely. Has small white alignment dots to help line it up. It’s put together very well and is a great option for putting under your seat in the car. Wacky Senkos, and some dropshot was gonna be my purpose for it. That was my plan and an annual float tube tournament I enter. It is a great option for the price if you don’t have the same issue I do. Shipping was cheap cause it was multipiece. If it was one piece I probably would have just kept it despite my poor little sensitive fingers :lol:
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Thanks for the follow up, sounds like it might actually work for me and my small hands. Just picture that Burger King commercial from years ago that had the guy with small hands and giant burger. I know you had a very limited experience with the rod, but would you say it's best suited for just light rigs or kind of a general purpose rod for lighter stuff?

There's a pond around the corner from the office that I'd like to hit up a couple times a week. Looking for something bfs-ish because I just have a lot of fun throwing lures in the 1/4 oz range.

Re: JDM Levante

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 7:00 am
by domthewon
hotdogin wrote:
Tue May 07, 2019 5:49 am
I didn’t see your thread earlier. If you read my above post you will know the rod doesn’t fit my grip. Other than that it goes together very nicely. Has small white alignment dots to help line it up. It’s put together very well and is a great option for putting under your seat in the car. Wacky Senkos, and some dropshot was gonna be my purpose for it. That was my plan and an annual float tube tournament I enter. It is a great option for the price if you don’t have the same issue I do. Shipping was cheap cause it was multipiece. If it was one piece I probably would have just kept it despite my poor little sensitive fingers :lol:
Thanks for the follow up, sounds like it might actually work for me and my small hands. Just picture that Burger King commercial from years ago that had the guy with small hands and giant burger. I know you had a very limited experience with the rod, but would you say it's best suited for just light rigs or kind of a general purpose rod for lighter stuff?

There's a pond around the corner from the office that I'd like to hit up a couple times a week. Looking for something bfs-ish because I just have a lot of fun throwing lures in the 1/4 oz range.
[/quote]

Hi. To be honest I didn’t give the rod the full test like I do most others. The tip is pretty much a true fast taper. Fully loaded it might venture to a medium fast. I think it would lend itself better to bottom contact or smaller single hook moving baits than treble hooked baits personally maybe smaller hard jerkbaits would work well though. I can’t be positive since I didn’t give it a shot.1/4 oz baits are a good weight to throw on it. It is a very cool rod I wish I could have kept. It has the full megabass feel to it in a portable package.

Re: JDM Levante

Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 7:10 am
by Cristo
I am personally looking forward to a couple of multi piece variants maybe an additional backpacker :-k :big grin: