infinity-coming to a store near you.

[garyatstealth]

I said i would post a comment on this new range we will be launching soon.

But first some history.
Stealth was started as David levene, who at the time was importing several american brands.Scott,redington,bauer etc. He saw that the rand was beginning to take a slide. At the time the rand was around the 3:1 range. He went to korea and began buying direct from the same factories as the brand names.

Thus stealth offers a range of exellent quality tackle at lower prices.What this did was to develop the idea that stealth is a good entry to medium priced rod range. For the most part that's been fine with us.
But over the last couple of years we have noticed a trend. Guys buy our rods and then for various reasons then leave the stealth range and buy other names.
(this next part is touchy so please bear this in mind, i'm not making any direct comments about various brands)
A common thread via comments from various points reveals a perception that you buy stealth while you are learning and then you upgrade to a better outfit or brand.
we have tried to fight this perception buy telling you who makes their rods in the same factories as ourselves.We hoped that would spread the message of our quality versus price issue. Its debatable wheter the message has got through.
Aain there are no bad brands in SA, just a wide range of rods at an everwidening price range. i have been trolling through various mags from around the world and i'm convinced that we possibly have more brands on offer here than NZ and AUS combined. Pick a brand we will have it availabe here in some form.wholesaler importing or retailers bringing in the brand for their exclusive rights.

At the beginning of this year we took a looong look at our range and decided to kill some ranges and introduce 3 new models to meet spesific price points.


The first one will be the Adventure range which will retail at the R500-R700 range. The cost of making a 2pce rod is now the same as a 4pce and the market wants 4pce rods.So that will take the place of the old black 2pce and the stealth travel. One year unconditional warrentee.

The next one will be the NANOTEC. this will retail at R1000.00. One year warrentee.We will doing something really special with this one when we launch it,so watch out for it.

Finally Infinity.
We figure it's time to begin challenging the more expensive price points with a range that can hold its own in terms of action, fittings and the like.

we have gone all in with this range. The best blank material we can get, the latest manufacuring process and then really good fittings from REC,like nickel titianium snake guides. The reel seat for instance is a REC silver nickel uplock with a california buckeye burl wood spacer.
Models will be a 10' 3 and 4wts specifially for the cape. then the rest are 9' 4/5/6wts.The jury is still out on bringing a 106 through.
Actions are fast. The rods are very light and so far the testers haven't broken them. One of them has tried(you know who are!)having said this the testers are all good fisherman who know how to bend rods correctly.
What we are very chuffed with, is that we have a line spesific rod if its says a 5wt ,its a 5wt. We have found that by overloading it changes the feel and it feels off.( thats not just me saying this as a marketing bumf)
The rods will all come with aliminium tubes and a new feature, a tube sock to prevent scratches.
Price R2500.00
warrentee on the rod. one year unconditional provided you produce the till slip with the broken section.There after parts can be bought at R250.00 a section.
lifetime warrentee's are a myth!!

There you have it. i'm hoping to have them available late october early november and will let you all know when and where you can see them.

[GrahamS]

lifetime warrentee's are a myth!!

Care to elaborate on this? What leads you to believe this?

The rods I own have lifetime warranties, and I have (unfortunately) used the warranties on a few occasions. It is definitely not a myth. the fact that I have 2 brand new rods is testment to that.

[Michael]

Ouch...nothing like free advertising, hey Gary?

What about the ferrules on the infinity...will they be internal sleeve ferrules, or male-female ferrules?

[garyatstealth]

Care to elaborate on this? What leads you to believe this?

The rods I own have lifetime warranties, and I have (unfortunately) used the warranties on a few occasions. It is definitely not a myth. the fact that I have 2 brand new rods is testment to that.

we have spoken about this before.
Lifetime warrantee's came about from the redington brand offering an over the counter replacement on any of their rods. Before them Orvis had a 25 year replacement deal. the rest all all had to offer a warrentee to remain competitive.
Go to the Sage website today and read their lifetime warrentee and tell me what they actually cover. Sage is on record as saying if they could drop the policy they would but as long as the indusry has this, then they will continue.Granted they do replace sections and and possibly have the best turn-around in the industry.
however sections cost money and somewhere some how they need to be paid for.either you pay a higher initial price for the rod and the repairs are offsett against that or a lower buying price with sections for sale.
today's lifetime warrantees offer to replace the damaged section for a small handling fee or postage fee or what ever its called. In effect you are still paying for the part just under a different name.these fees range from R75.00 through to R1000.00 depending on the rod.
I say its a myth because you get nothing for free.

[vanderw]

I agree with you Gary,

I had a specific rod snapped a little while ago and it was also sold with a life time warranty. When the piece broke, I had to send it to the country of origin and this cost me nearly R900.00. I suppose this is in the fine print of the warranty but I think the perception out there is that a life time warranty means you can have pieces replaced with no cost for the rest of your life.

[garyatstealth]

Ouch...nothing like free advertising, hey Gary?

What about the ferrules on the infinity...will they be internal sleeve ferrules, or male-female ferrules?

mike
i was worried about this, and if i have offended, i appologise right now. i posted because of a comment about a new rod that we are testing. it was the thread on a 10' 3wt. It's not my intention to use the forum to advertise and if there is consensus that i have, please let me know. i find this to be a fine line on where to tread.

as for the ferrules they are std male-female design.

[KevinC]

Yeah Gary

Thanks for posting. It was me who started the 10ft 3wt thread and I found this info pretty informative.

Cheers

Kevin

[MaXiMuM]

Guys, if you would like to listen to Dave talk about the organization, its founding’s and some of its future, please feel free to down load the Pod Cast, its free...

Dave Levene


On the life time guarantee story… FACT – break a Sage and they will replace it…

You pay for the postage, that’s it… I don’t care if they have said that they would like to do away with it, or weather some other brands offer a 25 year limited warranty, Sage will replace what you broke… and by the way, so will Scott, as Dave has proved to me twice.

[rols]

I don't see why you guys can't have a thread and post new things? I found it very informative. As long as the guys don't knock each others product. Im just talking of Joe Soap saying..."New range of wading boots arrived, latest hand held gps / fishfinder blah blah. " At least we, who don't frequent tackle shops all that often, now know "hey I'm looking at a new waterproof jacket...wonder what theirs is like? "

[MaXiMuM]

True, I like the fact that Gary is bringing new stuff to the market, and that he is prepared to advertise that fact, thus having confidence in the product... my concern is that he is questioning the reputation of a competitive brand, and thus opening himself up for abuse...

Note that Dave has replace 2 of my Scott's... Gary chose to say Sage... Idiot... LOL