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cheap v expensive


Guest scoobs11

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Guest scoobs11

heres something to debate = if it's cheap does that automatically mean its poor quality ? why do some people think it's only any good if it's expensive ?

thank god there are still some firms out there who believe in value for money.

i judge a product on its ability to do a job not on the price tag.

what does every one else think ?

 

------------------

if you can't be good

be careful

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Guest Dave Hill

Unfortunately, most manufactures/retailers will set a products price tag based on its ability to do a job. This will generally mean that quality products will cost more IMO!!!

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Guest Mike_pk_Waters

Working in the food industry I can assure you that cheap selling prices just means less profit per unit, just greater unit sales so the end result to the manufacturer is the same. The actual cost to make one of item x which sells for 50p each and one of item y which sells for £1 is less than commonly less than 10p per unit. So in the end quality is a company based item, and if the company makes good quality expensive items then the cheaper items will usually also be good quality, just better value.

 

It all depends on whether your a tackle tart or not and into the label.

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Guest trent.barbeler

Scoobs,

 

For me, this is a fascinating subject.

I have pondered on this a great deal.

 

Because I started fishing very young, I have collected a vast amount of fishing tackle over the years. Some of this were gifts, some were purchased second hand. Some I made myself and some were purchased brand new.

 

To date, I own 64 rods. Deep sea, shore rods, salmon rods, trout rods, float rods and a collection of purpose made rods for specialist course fishing.

 

I currently own 47 reels along with a collection of old reels.

 

3 bedchairs, 6 chairs, 6 umbrella's, two dome tents ( which I now hate)and a tackle room filled to bursting with every sundry fishing item one could imagine.

 

Since the age of six, I have never sold or swapped any piece of tackle I have ever owned.

 

So then Scoob's, one could easily assume that by know I would know the difference between cheap crap and expensive quality.

 

Therein lies my fascinating problem.

 

Some examples.

 

I purchased an oval brolly when they first came out because they seemed to fit my requirements. Nice and big, wide enough to protect me from the elements without the need to use a bivvy.

 

Trouble was, it blew inside out on a number of occasions and leaked like a sieve.

 

It cost me about £80 as I recall.

 

Soon after, my wife Jo made me a new cover for an old umbrella from brand new 6oz coated nylon. I purchased the material from Blackledge's in Lancashire for about £5. It was olive green and lasted for about six years before the second hand umbrella frame passed away.

 

Then, stupidly, I purchased another re-vamped oval with mini-stormsides. That one cost me around £160. Once again, it blew inside out many times and leaked like a sieve. This oval and I parted company one stormy night when the poor product became airborn. Ovals also dont fly very well or float for that matter. The Trent devoured mine in one gulp never to be seen again. Thank God.

 

Three years ago I purchased my Aqua 50 inch with mini-stormsides. It cost £139. The workmanship is very high, it has never leaked or even tried to move in some fierce gales. Fairly expensive yes, but worth every penny to me.

 

I once purchased a brace of 4lb test carp rods in order to be able to reach far away feeding fish that I could not reach.

These rods cost me £560.

In their first season the spigots wore down, the eyes all became loose and the varnish started to peel.

 

I have purchased brand new rods for under £50 that are a joy to use and are still as good today as the day I first purchased them.

 

I mostly buy expensive reels and none of those as yet have let me down. Cheaper reels certainly have.

 

Waterproof, thermal gear? I am a salesmans dream. Over the years I have brought it all.

Now a days, I use a bib and brace from Bennetts that cost about £35 and a jacket that cost £40. None of those let water in and keep me warm as toast in the coldest of weather.

 

What you see or what the manufacturers tell you is nothing to go by.

 

Fortunately, If there is any tackle I may be interested in, I have it tested for me before I buy. My very own tackle tester if you like. Graham Daubney, my fishing partner is a fine angler. He is also the biggest abuser of fishing tackle known to the sport. Take it from me, if it lasts a season in Grahams hands then hell itself could not inflict worse.

 

At the begining of last season, Graham purchased a brace of Spirit rods for barbel fishing in one and a half test. Apart from looking like they have laid in a peat bog for a year, a good wash would see those rods looking good as new.

 

I purchased a brace of new barbel rods myself for this season.

 

Guess which ones I purchased?

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Guest Keith
Originally posted by scoobs11:

heres something to debate = if it's cheap does that automatically mean its poor quality ? why do some people think it's only any good if it's expensive ?

thank god there are still some firms out there who believe in value for money.

i judge a product on its ability to do a job not on the price tag.

what does every one else think ?

 

Well, I own (and I know that Alan Roe highly rates) a Shakespeare Oddessa Gold match rod.

 

I paid about £40 for it (which was hardly different from the RRP as I recall), and it is one of the best rods I own - and it's up against Normarks and Shimanos in the battle for my affections smile.gif

 

You'd have to be told that it didn't cost much, much more.

 

The main positive thing I would say about expensive gear is that - generally - it takes a lot of the guesswork out of getting quality product: with cheaper gear there's always the risk that you do end up with what you paid for.

 

But I love finding good gear at great prices - it's a real "inverse snobbery" thing with me!

 

------------------

Yours,

 

Keith

Blyth,

Northumberland

 

mailto:keith@go-fishing.co.ukkeith@go-fishing.co.uk

http://www.wacac.co.uk

 

[This message has been edited by Keith (edited 19 June 2001).]

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Guest DerwentBob

Cheap gear is great because half of it is either useless or breaks first time - and I get to go to the takle shop again biggrin.gif.

 

But seriously you can buy two identical cheap rods and one can be a dream to use while the other one snaps pulling in a 10oz roach. The only difference you get with expensive rods is that you can put forward a more forceful argument when you take it back broken.

 

Incidentally I usually find that an interesting way of looking at the real cost of an item of tackle is on a cost-per-season basis. Shakespeare Sigma reel, £20, length of service 10 years - £2 a year or about 5p a trip. 3lb test Maxima Chameleon (a birds nest every cast) £6, length of service 3 trips - £2 a trip. It makes you think when you work things out this way.

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Guest paul mc

cheap definatly doesnt mean less quality all the time. I recently bought a catch carp rucksack for £20 it has loads off pockets loads of padding and loads of straps and buckles. I have also ckecked the quality of the stiching on the seems and it looks fine. I recently seen an almost identical rucksack made by FOX and it was nearly £60.

I have also got an abu rod holdall(3 pockets/6 tube) which i paid £20 for about 2 years ago and its still like new, not even a lose thred on it.

On the other hand i have also bought some real crap stuff that hasn't lasted more than a couple of trips.

If you pay a little extra i think that there is more of a chance that it is quality than if you don't, but that does'nt mean that you cant get quality at cheap prices.

Regards paul mc.

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Guest davidP

I try and find the 'value for money' level rather than buying cheap or expensive. I'm at a stage in my life when I can afford go go to the better end of the market, but what I find (and it applies to practically everything) is that as you go up the price range there comes a point where the increased cost is not matched by additional features or performance.

Computers seem to be the best indication of this at the moment. The price difference between processors or hard drives is 50 quid a step until you get near the latest fastest chips or biggest drives at which point the jump is maybe 200 or 300 quid. The same seems to be true of fishing tackle, particularly if it's something trendy or that was heavily marketed/hyped when it was introduced.

So I seldom buy the top of the range, I normally buy a model or two down, or even better, buy last years top of the range model at a fraction of the price. In general the more you spend the better the quality, but I think that in fishing tackle this is changing a little as some companies are starting to realise that they can shift a lot of gear if it's at a reasonable price ie Decathlon, Badger, WMAC etc etc

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