Hardy & Greys Up For Sale

[BoldBear]

I have 5 Greys rods and they are all superb rods built on excellent quality blanks and all have a beautiful action both for playing fish and for casting; however one of them (a Prodigy Barbel rod) lost the lining of its butt ring very soon after I bought it; I was going to pass this off as bad luck but a friend of mine had exactly the same thing happen on his Prodigy Barbel rod which he bought a year later so I suspect that there is a common fault or inconsistancy in the rings on this model.

 

All of my other Greys rods (Specimen multi tips and Carp rods) are great rods and I haven't had any problems with them whatsoever (so far).

I have heard that the Chinese who build the greys rods (after the blanks are sent to them from the UK; I think) use a cheaper version of the rings which could explain why these rings failed.

 

I only have one Hardy rod (a 15ft Hardy Marksman specimen float rod) that I received as an early retirement present earlier this year (bought just prior to the release of their latest and cheaper Marksman Supero float rods), it is a brilliant rod although a little on the expensive side for me at £400; however I didn't have to pay for it myself.

 

I do like Greys and Hardy rods but I only hope that they sell the company to a really good company who can carry on producing the brilliant blanks and at the same time solve the intermittent rod ring issue on some of their Barbel rods.

 

As for being the only company that has its rods made in the UK (as the article appears to say); doesn't Diawa still make some of their their UK rods in Scotland? and what about Harrisons? are their rods no longer made and built in the UK?.

 

Keith (BoldBear)

Edited October 25, 2012 by BoldBear

[Ken L]

I once brought a Greys rod.

As a direct result of that experience, I have never and will never buy another rod (or anything else) from the Hardy/Greys stable again.

In the words of Henry Ford "History is bunk".

[Sportsman]

I have 5 Greys rods and they are all superb rods built on excellent quality blanks and all have a beautiful action both for playing fish and for casting; however one of them (a Prodigy Barbel rod) lost the lining of its butt ring very soon after I bought it; I was going to pass this off as bad luck but a friend of mine had exactly the same thing happen on his Prodigy Barbel rod which he bought a year later so I suspect that there is a common fault or inconsistancy in the rings on this model.

 

All of my other Greys rods (Specimen multi tips and Carp rods) are great rods and I haven't had any problems with them whatsoever (so far).

I have heard that the Chinese who build the greys rods (after the blanks are sent to them from the UK; I think) use a cheaper version of the rings which could explain why these rings failed.

 

I only have one Hardy rod (a 15ft Hardy Marksman specimen float rod) that I received as an early retirement present earlier this year (bought just prior to the release of their latest and cheaper Marksman Supero float rods), it is a brilliant rod although a little on the expensive side for me at £400; however I didn't have to pay for it myself.

 

I do like Greys and Hardy rods but I only hope that they sell the company to a really good company who can carry on producing the brilliant blanks and at the same time solve the intermittent rod ring issue on some of their Barbel rods.

 

As for being the only company that has its rods made in the UK (as the article appears to say); doesn't Diawa still make some of their their UK rods in Scotland? and what about Harrisons? are their rods no longer made and built in the UK?.

 

Keith (BoldBear)

 

Don't know about Daiwa but Harrison's blanks are still rolled in the UK

[Alan Roe]

I fell out with Hardy Greys when they started advertising chinese made kit as "Designed in England" and covering the whole thing with the union jack to give the impression that you were still getting craftsman made English kit. Then to top it off some of the products have been very poor in terms of design and execution. The first batch of Markman centerpins got sent back as they were falling apart, the three handle design was an appalling concept as well.

The Angel range of salmon fly rods are notorious for breakages are another case in point.The greys"lifetime" warranty has a poor reputation.

In short in many ways this company has lost it's sense of direction and is going to need to be refocused and separating Hardys from Greys would be a good start

[Alan Stubbs]

I used to have the Hardy's shop in Pall mall as a customer. It was more to do with history and celeb spotting (What????) than quality.

 

I think they really started to go downhill when Chub joined the stable, but 20 years ago I still recall someone walking into the shop complaining about the quality of whpping on a glass fly rod less than 2 months old.