TackleTour

Just checked in with the new Kistler site. I was shocked to see the Helium 3 price jumped up to $350.
What do you guys think? Seems a little high to me for what looks like the same rod as the rod from last year.

Yea, no bueno.

But they do have nice sales if you are the mailing list. So you can get a nice deal.

I have a H3, and while it is a solid rod I wwould not pay $350 or it or even $300. I bought mine during one of their sales for $185 or $195, I think. For around $200 they are great rods.

Pretty screwy move on their part to just jack up prices by $50 or more per rod and not give the user anything in return. I get that it happens with most things in life but many companies are trying to keep their prices competitive. I believe the Shimano Poison Adrena is actually $30 cheaper in the second Gen than the first Gen.

yeah i have had a few h 3 and z bones usually bought on sale when they run them. I agree the h3 is a good rod but for that price i would definitely pick up one of the new poison adrena rods for sure. I thought they did a different blank at first but its still the same blank just a raised price for it.

Kistler has been offering legitimate savings during their sales. I know; unpredictable and will be a long wait until next Black Friday. But, if you can wait until that certain one or hit at the right timing, you can get a great deal. Otherwise; price is high in my opinion for modest builds (with top notch materials of course) considering they’ve taken out the middle man as far as I can tell.

I've always read rave reviews on Kistler rods but their marketing is too much like Edge rods and I got burned on a couple of them. Don't want to make the same mistake twice.

I’d feel a lot better if they included sic guides for the price increase.

Good news is they are offering a lot of length options. But they did that before also then before you knew it the options went away.

falcon wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 14, 2020 2:04 am

I’d feel a lot better if they included sic guides for the price increase.

Good news is they are offering a lot of length options. But they did that before also then before you knew it the options went away.

I don't think they are offering any more length options than before. It shows the option, but if you try clicking something that didn't exist before (like a 6'9 ML casting H3) it will say "this doesn't exist, go custom!".

Ahh I didn’t take it that far. That’s a shame.

I have a few H3s that I bought early on that where later never offered. One being my favorite that later broke was a 76 light MH loved that rod. Still think any rod that breaks the $300 threshold should contain sic guides.

Polkfish1 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 13, 2020 1:39 pm

Kistler has been offering legitimate savings during their sales. I know; unpredictable and will be a long wait until next Black Friday. But, if you can wait until that certain one or hit at the right timing, you can get a great deal. Otherwise; price is high in my opinion for modest builds (with top notch materials of course) considering they’ve taken out the middle man as far as I can tell.

I seem to remember Kistler saying they were going to be coming back with new blanks they were making themselves. However the way they wording it it seems unclear if NFC is making the blanks, or Kistler are buyig the material from them and they are rolling them. Either way they didn't update the rods other than getting rid of the smaller guides, and raised the price quite a bit. The old site said the blanks were made by NFC, now it's worded like this.

"Every rod is Kistler-Crafted™ by hand from Top Quality North Fork Composites Graphite (made in The USA), All built, wrapped, glued, and epoxied by our team in our Magnolia, Texas facility. Backed by the Trey Kistler Warranty Promise for Four Years. First year = Free replacement. Second, Third year and Fourth = Prorated replacement."

They’d go for $500 plus if they offered a warranty in line with other companies. Still very nice rods just lacks in other aspects for the price

or even a replacement option like St. Croix's star plans. The cork needs a revamp too. I'd buy several more from Trey if this changed. I understand people can take advantage of warranties but if you snag a zbone and have to pay several hundred to replace for a freak accident that would be painful.

i scanned the site after seeing this thread. Looks to me the HE's are on a new blank?? The cost question seems to be secondary. I have many positive posts about my HE3 but these rods don't appear the same blank so until we get someone fishing them who knows. zbone looks on the same blank but they changed aspects

DavidSA wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:00 pm

i scanned the site after seeing this thread. Looks to me the HE's are on a new blank?? The cost question seems to be secondary. I have many positive posts about my HE3 but these rods don't appear the same blank so until we get someone fishing them who knows. zbone looks on the same blank but they changed aspects

Why do you find the $50.00 price increase secondary?

DavidSA wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:00 pm

i scanned the site after seeing this thread. Looks to me the HE's are on a new blank?? The cost question seems to be secondary. I have many positive posts about my HE3 but these rods don't appear the same blank so until we get someone fishing them who knows. zbone looks on the same blank but they changed aspects

Looks like they are using Toray blanks now. Interesting...

montey wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 18, 2020 6:16 pm

DavidSA wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:00 pm

i scanned the site after seeing this thread. Looks to me the HE's are on a new blank?? The cost question seems to be secondary. I have many positive posts about my HE3 but these rods don't appear the same blank so until we get someone fishing them who knows. zbone looks on the same blank but they changed aspects

Why do you find the $50.00 price increase secondary?

Fundamentally the rod has changed. The HE3 that I own is so legit with any other rod I own in terms of blank action, sensitivity and durability. I think I paid $225 delivered but had it been priced at $325 it would have still been good value if I say compare to the zbone. At this point, the new torry based rod might be better then it was, worse, or somewhere in the middle. I understand they are taking a line of rods up in price from where it has been since the original Helium.