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New Drennan Barbel Rods

J

Jeremy Cronin

Senior Member & Supporter
Good to see Drennan release a new range of Barbel rods I know their previous ones were much sought after second hand. So might be worth checking them out if you’re looking for new rods.
 
They look ok. Shame they didn’t bring out a month or two earlier to give a chance of looking at / reviewing before the season kicked off. They could also have included a keeper ring and maybe a different coloured tip - everyone does white . Having used orange tips all last season they stand out far better than white ones but unless you get custom ones it’s same old same old
 
Mentioned on another thread. I have real issues with Drennan’s specialist range of rods. The green lacquer finish, is supposed to make them look like the original specialist range of rods from 25 years ago i.e. the legendary Super Specialist Duo rods.

In reality I found the lacquer will scratch when placed on a plastic rod rest. The fittings are cheap including the end butt cap, which also scratches with ease. I much preferred the textured cork butt end on previous models.

I bought the 11ft 1.25lb Specialist Duo rod and soon moved it on. Quality wise these rods are no better than Drennan’s basic Red Ranges of rods, with the same finish and cheap fittings.

From what I can see these new Barbel rods, have the same lacquered finish 👎🏻

This is not what I expect from Drennan.
 
Neil Blood said:
Mentioned on another thread. I have real issues with Drennan’s specialist range of rods. The green lacquer finish, is supposed to make them look like the original specialist range of rods from 25 years ago i.e. the legendary Super Specialist Duo rods.

In reality I found the lacquer will scratch when placed on a plastic rod rest. The fittings are cheap including the end butt cap, which also scratches with ease. I much preferred the textured cork butt end on previous models.

I bought the 11ft 1.25lb Specialist Duo rod and soon moved it on. Quality wise these rods are no better than Drennan’s basic Red Ranges of rods, with the same finish and cheap fittings.

From what I can see these new Barbel rods, have the same lacquered finish 👎🏻

This is not what I expect from Drennan.
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Agreed, looks same as the specialist range rods just higher tc, the fitting is cheap. At same price range, there are better choices
 
Must admit the only Drennan rods I have are one of their old Tench Rods which is still a great rod for float fishing for Tench & Crucians and one of their old float rods.
 
I'm going to withdraw my assumed criticism of these rods. Had a waggle in the tackle shop yesterday and on the face of it they appear ok, and especially the heaver version. Drennan seem to have changed the lacquer coating on their specialist rods too, as it appears to be a lot smoother and less prone to scratching, unlike my twin tip duo rod, which I bought a couple of years back.

Compared to the Martin Bowler rods, which these Barbel rods have effectively replaced, there are also two additional line guides, with 9 in total.
 
I picked mine up last week. I don't know, it's been so long these coming I was expecting better for a off the shelf rod, but then I'm quite picky when it comes to rods anyway.

They seem tip heavy to me and the blanks not the slimmest around. I might be moving mine on without using it.
 
Mark Evans 2 said:
I picked mine up last week. I don't know, it's been so long these coming I was expecting better for a off the shelf rod, but then I'm quite picky when it comes to rods anyway.

They seem tip heavy to me and the blanks not the slimmest around. I might be moving mine on without using it.
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I picked mine up last week also, first impressions it reminds me of a korum Barbel rod but in an olive green was expecting more though from drennan ,going to put it threw its paces this week so I’ll give a better review then 👍
 
Neil Blood said:
Drennan seem to have changed the lacquer coating on their specialist rods too, as it appears to be a lot smoother and less prone to scratching, unlike my twin tip duo rod, which I bought a couple of years back.
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That's odd, because the TT Duo I bought in June has exactly the same finish as the new Drennan barbel rod I looked at yesterday.
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Martin Bowler reckoned the Acolyte Distance Feeder was a great barbel rod. I think it's 13ft, which would put me off, but it might suit the Trent. His views might have changed since his apparently acrimonious split with Drennan.

I think at the budget end of barbel rods, the Shimano Purist BX3 looks a good buy - under £90.00 from Uttings - looks nice in the flesh, cosmetically, but you hear very little feedback about them. For a beginner (aka duffer) like me, I'm sure it would be fine and superficially (for what that is worth) I prefer it to the Drennan.

As an aside - I don't want to draw attention to the question with a thread of its own, so please excuse the thread hijack - does anyone have any comments about Free Spirit service... ie. response when something breaks?
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Kevin Steele said:
Free Spirit service... ie. response when something breaks?
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Free spirit won’t deal with you directly
You need to talk to a free spirit dealer like Johnson Ross etc.
failing that you could always give Roger hurst a call. He’s the man that builds all the top end stuff for free spirit.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Free spirit won’t deal with you directly
You need to talk to a free spirit dealer like Johnson Ross etc.
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I know that - I've had experience of their service, via my dealer. I just wanted to know what other people's experience has been, especially if something has broken.
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Kevin Steele said:
That's odd, because the TT Duo I bought in June has exactly the same finish as the new Drennan barbel rod I looked at yesterday.
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I think they’ve improved the lacquer finish on the full range of SS rods?

I bought the Duo rod in Oct 2021 and the finish appears to have changed since then. It was really poor on the rod I had, having an uneven finish and it scratched from being placed on a plastic rod rest!
 
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Kevin Steele said:
I know that - I've had experience of their service, via my dealer. I just wanted to know what other people's experience has been, especially if something has broken.
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I ordered a replacement tip via jack Frosts for a FS Hi S float - then promptly broke that. Both breakages my own fault. They were happy enough to supply half a rod, as it were. Arrived quickly enough. The fact they're so difficult to contact suggests to me they're not fussed about customer service. They're not even prominent on the socials; comms isn't important to them for my money. Contrast that with some other companies who will get back to you via an email within 24hrs - which is all you really ask for.

I've since found a crack on one of my FS Hi S barbel rods that I'm not over the moon about, given the lack of use it's had.

FS Seeker rods are a much hardier blank, but a little unwieldy - especially in 12ft form.
 
Jon Elliott said:
The fact they're so difficult to contact suggests to me they're not fussed about customer service.
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I had a carrier section breakage earlier in the year - or rather my friend had one, on a rod I sold him, and he's not local to the dealerr so I dealt with the replacement. It took about six weeks, but they did agree to replace it. That replacement promptly broke, in exactly the same place, and it's been a month since I sent them photos (via the dealer) and still no news. If anyone from Free Spirit is reading, you know where I am.

I have a FS barbel rod and I was thinking of getting the River Tamer for chub, but their customer service, or lack of, is making me reconsider if I even want to own one of their rods.

On the flip side, I broke a Daiwa reel handle (tripped over the landed badly... very Bob Mortimer), phoned Daiwa and got a replacement two days later, which I paid for of course.

Re. Free Spirit, no criticism of the dealer, an independent, who I won't name anyway. He says other brands are not much better, including Drennan. Not only is it annoying for the customer, but unless you're Angl1ng D1rect, it seems the dealers are treated poorly as well... their margins don't warrant having to do the customer service on behalf of the brands. Who'd be a fishing retailer?
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I only have one Free Spirit Barbel rod. The original Seeker. I was very disappointed with it when it arrived. Too thick in the tip and tip heavy. Not a good rod for the Stour or Avon imo but I've used it on the Severn where it's better. I broke the tip on my Torrix 11' Specialist ( my fault) and Johnson Ross replaced it free of charge. Amazing place! 👍
 
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