I have watched the older Orvis rods on the flea market (and their going price) and am curious about the
quality of the new rods supplied by Orvis to compete with all of the traditional cottage craftman and production makers that supply rods to the market. The
question I have is simple. Would you purchase Orvis's latest products? Comments welcome.
This forum began as Clark's Classic Bamboo Rod Forum, founded by Clark Davis for all who share a passion for classic rods. The forum is now owned by Whitefish Press aka Dr. Todd Larson - banjo.
For those who don't use English as their primary language we now have a translator for your language of choice hosted by Google.
0 Kudos
- Members Corner
- Forum Announcements
- Collecting Bamboo Fly Rods
- Fishing Bamboo Fly Rods
- Rod making, restoration, repairs and discussion on those related topics concerning bamboo rods.
- Rod and Reel Makers Forum
- Information About Makers & Manufacturers
- Taper Exchange
- Appraisals & Identification of Bamboo Fly Rods
- Ephemera, empherma and Ephemerella.....
- Book Talk
- Photos, paintings, written stories and talents.
- Classic Reels
- Collecting and Tying Classic Flies
- The Cooks Kitchen
- The Classic Fly Rod Classifieds
- Technical Support
Orvis Battenkill Adirondac Fly Rod
| Author | Comment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 JPMarci |
Orvis Battenkill Adirondac Fly Rod |
Lead | ||
|
Posts: 92 04/04/2008 21:31 |
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
bulldog1935 |
#1 | |||
|
Posts: 5431 04/05/2008 11:13 Bulldog1935 |
I like apples better than oranges, but I don't see this as a reasonable comparison.
Orvis is a purveyor of outdoor lifestyle. Note style. Fishing tackle is a sideline for them. Their market is catalog buyers. I know of a gentleman that loves dressing his sporting arms and travel gear in Orvis canvas - and that's where the Orvis catalog ends for him. But if he considered buying a fly rod, it would probably be from the Orvis catalog. If a cottage maker were marketing to the same crowd, they also would need a 250% markup to cover their marketing and overhead. Apply that to your favorite cottage maker's rod and ask the question again. Would I purchase Orvis' latest product? No. You can be certain somebody will, or it wouldn't be in the catalog. But he/she won't be on this board to comment about his/her choice. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
Booaddict |
Orvis bamboo | #2 | ||
|
Posts: 14 04/05/2008 12:07 |
The proof is in the rod. A friend bought a Madison model last year. It is a honey. Every bit as good as a high dollar rod I bought from an East Coast maker.
Also, I recently had some repair work done on a 1960s impregnated Battenkill. The guy in the workshop at Orvis seemed very knowledgeable and did an excellent
job on my rod. It is easy to make fun of Orvis, but some of their stuff is first class.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
Buck Henry |
Buy used and save! | #3 | ||
|
Posts: 161 04/05/2008 15:36 |
I have no doubt that the new cane rods Orvis is producing these days are very good quality and worth the money. But if you shop wisely, you can probably pick
up two excellent condition vintage Battenkills in for what you would pay for one of their new ones. I love Orvis bamboo rods (own 5 of them and counting), but
I prefer to spend my money on rods produced in the 50's, 60's and 70's.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
hopkintoncane |
$ Notwithstanding, why not a new Orvis?? | #4 | ||
|
Posts: 161 04/05/2008 15:58 |
Just curious, I understand the whole lifestyle thing and believe me, it can be very difficult finding someone at the orvis store that knows anything about the product, never mind the fact that (at least in Boston) they don't even fish, but putting aside the issue of $, is there a reason NOT to buy a new Orvis bamboo rod? If so, is it a quality issue? Does the quality issue trickle down to the tip and repair end of the business?
Last Edited By: hopkintoncane 04/05/2008 16:00.
Edited 1 time.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
retrotrout |
Orvis rods, present or past? | #5 | ||
|
Posts: 43 04/05/2008 16:01 |
Quite honestly, I can't afford to purchase a new Orvis bamboo rod, and particularly not one of those inscribed, limited edition ones. But when I was a kid,
I got the Orvis catalog every Spring, and drooled over the bamboo rods. Of course I did the same thing with the Heddon, Shakespeare, Payne, catalogs. Now that
I'm 67, I can afford to buy the Battenkills I saw in those 50's and 60's catalogs, and I own three of them. And you know what?.....they're just
as thrilling to fish now as I thought they would be when I was 13! I second the comment about the professionalism and skill in the Orvis repair shop. They do
fine work!
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
DrakeBob |
#6 | |||
|
Posts: 1294 04/05/2008 17:10 Formerly Drake |
It seems to me that there are two questions being asked here. The first is Would you purchase Orvis's latest products? For me, the answer to
that is "no" given my bias, affinity actually, for their older rods.
The answer to the second question, Is it worth Buying for $1900? (presumably referring specifcally to the Adirondack) is the same as it is for any "Is it worth it?" question... It depends. To an Orvis collector looking to complete his one-of-each set, $1900 may not seem all that bad.
Piscator Non Solum Piscatur
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
BlackHillsBill |
#7 | |||
|
Posts: 2559 04/06/2008 19:01 |
I'm not sure that older is better than new with Orvis bamboo rods. Yet I do know, with careful shopping, I can find three very good older Orvises for the
nineteen hundred. I got my first Orvis in 1967 (a present from my wife for my escaping graduate school and finding gainful employment). It was a Midge and it
came with a Hardy Princess reel. She bought the combo on time payments. I am proud to say that I wrung out all of the fishing contained in them: the
Princess went with a fish on in the Madison; the Midge finished its career with honor on Henry's Fork. Doing them both in took almost thirty-five years of
hard use, and even then I couldn't have brought it off without natural-born klutziness. Because I am sentimental, I paid more than my wife had for the
original combo just to replace the Midge in my rod rack with a Midge/Nymph, which I fish rarely, but still often enough to show respect. For me the older
Orvises win the game by at least 3-1, not exactly a blowout I suppose, but a convincing victory nonetheless. I voted accordingly.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
Flyman615 |
The question of being Orvis | #8 | ||
|
Posts: 2642 04/06/2008 19:51 |
OK, I'll admit it. I'm a big Orvis fan and have been for a long time. Rods, reels, vests, lines, leaders, tippet material, flies, zingers, clippers,
fly dope, fly boxes, dog beds, dog grave markers...I've bought'em all. And rarely, if ever, have I been displeased.
They've fixed my rods and reels and stood behind their guarantees, practically without question. Between the plastic rods and my recent affection for their 60's and 70's bamboo, I own or have owned more Orvis rods than almost anyone, with the possible exception of Wes Jordan, or the similarly maligned Ernest Schwiebert. I do however, tend to agree with my friend, BlackHillsBill. I like the older, "traditional" Orvis bamboo rods and yes, I do like the "supply side" pricing as well. But look out, Bill...and not to start another "Summers" thread, but when Orvis finally pulls the plug on bamboo rods altogether, you may even see inflation to rival that experienced by Grangers.  Yikes!
Regards, Flyman |
|||
|
|
||||
|
kimk |
#9 | |||
|
Posts: 549 04/06/2008 21:03 |
There are two kinds of tackle buyers- those with the gun and those with a shovel.-- Wrong movie-- Anyway two kinds. One is the kind that studies up, searches
the net, goes to trade shows and auctions. He invests his time before he invests his money and enjoys every bit of the chase. You meet these kind of folks on
this board. The other kind of buyer just wants to be assured of a certain level of quality with out a lot of research and shopping. He doesn't mind paying
for it but he doesn't want disappointment. This is the Orvis customer, or Thomas and Thomas, or formerly Winston.
Both mindsets have their advantages and neither are wrong, but us folks who buy used equipment owe a debt of gratitude to the folks who bought it new. AgMD |
|||
|
|
||||
|
bulldog1935 |
#10 | |||
|
Posts: 5438 04/07/2008 12:04 Bulldog1935 |
price sailboats sometime...
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
JPMarci |
Thank you for the insight. | #11 | ||
|
Posts: 93 04/10/2008 19:24 |
John |
|||
|
|
||||
 Short Tip |
#12 | |||
|
Posts: 869 04/11/2008 11:29 Moderator |
It may be interesting to note that Orvis is in a constant state of backorder on new cane rods. This also led to a policy change on repairing/restoring
non-Orvis rods. (They stopped doing it, last I knew - diverts manpower from manufacturing) Whatever the reasons, they have a product where demand outstrips
supply. This would indicate that their pricing is correct, or too low. Also, the newer Orvis rods have significantly different tapers and generally lighter
line weights than the older models. In other words, it is something of an apples to oranges comparison.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
teter |
#13 | |||
|
Posts: 891 04/13/2008 22:48 |
I have an Adirondack that was given to me as a gift by a generous relative who knows nothing about fly fishing or fly rods, let alone bamboo rods. It's a
nicely crafted rod with good action -- in short, a perfectly adequate rod. For the price, you would expect something better than perfectly adequate. But those
who purchase an Orvis bamboo rod nowadays are buying the company's history and reputation. It's not the fault of the current bamboo rod makers at Orvis
that there are so many high-quality older Orvis rods available at a fraction of what the new bamboo rods cost. And those older rods, incidentally, are probably
not of any interest to most of the people who are buying the new models, any more than the fine rods being made by expert craftsmen whose names are well-known
to us but unknown to even most fly fishermen.
Charlie Hisey (not the builder of my rod, by the way) is a nice guy and I'm sure he will do a fine job running the Orvis bamboo operation. I believe Orvis is to be commended for hanging on to the tradition of building bamboo rods in the U.S., even if it's now just a niche product for them. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
NealPod |
#14 | |||
|
Posts: 4 05/01/2008 22:49 |
Dear all,
I am a relatively new member here but have been studying and reading about bamboo for over a year now. In regards to this post about Orvis Bamboo and the Adirondac line of new bamboo . . . what if I had the chance to get a new Orvis bamboo rod at about 50% off the sticker price? With this deal in mind, would this be a good "first" bamboo rod for a guy that is looking to start out? I understand (at least as a rookie) that there are a vast range of differences in old vs new Orvis bamboo rods but this is a what-if kind of scenario. For less than $1,000 I could get a "good" quality rod. Would you recommend the 4 or 5wt?
Last Edited By: NealPod 05/01/2008 22:54.
Edited 1 time.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
GrsdLnr |
#15 | |||
|
Posts: 152 05/02/2008 00:47 |
For half off, a new Orvis bamboo rod would be tempting. I'd never pay full retail for one, for less $$$$ there are many better options - independent
builders who will make one to order, or a good used rod.
It's just my educated guess, but a lot of the rods Orvis sells at retail are probably going to well-off noobs who don't know where to start with bamboo, and they trust the Orvis name. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
teter |
#16 | |||
|
Posts: 940 05/02/2008 23:13 |
GrsdLnr wrote: I suspect you're right about that -- "noobs" to bamboo, at the very least.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
bluejayee |
#17 | |||
|
Posts: 448 05/06/2008 13:45 |
Hi guys, This may be a little 'off thread.' I just bought a copy of 'The Orvis Story' by Paul Shullery at the local Orvis shop here in
Walden, Co. It's a good book by a guy who is a good historian/
 . Lots of inside info and pictures talking about just what you're talking about.
Check it out. Jay Edwards
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
bluejayee |
#18 | |||
|
Posts: 449 05/06/2008 13:50 |
Hi Guys, I sold two of the Adirondack 7 1/2' rods on the advice of my Orvis rep. He said, "They're a Leonard taper." Jay Edwards
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
WatercolorMan |
#19 | |||
|
Posts: 776 05/07/2008 04:10 |
Teter I was just talking to Charlie about 2 rods I have in the repair shop, He was saying they have at least 40 rods going through at a time.
They have a quick turnaround time, and great pricing on the there repairs. I like my Battenkills from the 60's, great value. I haven't cast the new rods yet. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
GRASSNGLASS |
#20 | |||
|
Posts: 524 05/07/2008 15:19 |
I have about eighteen Orvis Bamboo at last count and could probably get by just fine with three of them. I buy the used rods at what seems like a fair price,
but when you consider time and expense of attending about fifty or more fishing shows , loss of work and fishing time to attend shows and hunt these rods I
would have been better off to buy new ones from Orvis and spent remainder of money and time fishing.
Rods age from mid 1940's through the 1990's and I think they are all wonderful fishing tools. Regards--Barry P.S.--New rods are much nicer. Not many people really like those dark rich chocolate blanks of the 40's and 50's, so if rest of you would just buy new and forget about the older rods it would be much appreciated.
Last Edited By: GRASSNGLASS 05/09/2008 11:07.
Edited 1 time.
|
|||
|
|
||||
Yes
- Members Corner
- Forum Announcements
- Collecting Bamboo Fly Rods
- Fishing Bamboo Fly Rods
- Rod making, restoration, repairs and discussion on those related topics concerning bamboo rods.
- Rod and Reel Makers Forum
- Information About Makers & Manufacturers
- Taper Exchange
- Appraisals & Identification of Bamboo Fly Rods
- Ephemera, empherma and Ephemerella.....
- Book Talk
- Photos, paintings, written stories and talents.
- Classic Reels
- Collecting and Tying Classic Flies
- The Cooks Kitchen
- The Classic Fly Rod Classifieds
- Technical Support
The Orvis database by Greg Reynolds Finally available again!!
Check out the Paul Young Rod Co. database which is owned and maintained by member Robert Golder (quashnet).
Paul Young Rod Co. database by quashnet
DISCLAIMER:The views, and opinions, posted here are the sole responsibility of the poster. Negative comments, when directed at individuals, or other private concerns, will not be tolerated, posters should treat this media no differently than any other media source, in other words, if you would not submit what you are going to post in the newspaper, or a magazine, and sign your name as the author, kindly refrain from doing so here. The Classic Fly Rod Forum is not an open air forum for vendor/maker complaints. If you seek resolution, it is recommended you talk to the vendor/maker. If you seek an audience, it is recommended you go elsewhere. The admin and the Moderators reserve the right to remove any items deemed inappropriate according to the rules of conduct prominently displayed on each forum. If you have any questions or concerns you are free to email us at
send email to the Classic Fly Rod Forum
Posting to sell Domain names and the like, i.e. SPAM, is against YUKU Policy, if you post these types of posts here you will be banned from this board and YUKU will more than likely ban you from the site entirely. Thank you..........
The Fly Fishing Loop is sponsored by flydepot.com
[ Home Waters | Next | Random | List | Search ]
