Have to agree, my dad decided to replace his Shimano Antares with the new Super Ultegra.

After all the advertising in every fishing mag you pick up and endorsed by a world champ and a brill commercial angler he couldn’t find anywhere to try one out before buying one.

In the end after calls to 15-20 tackle shops advertising them he gave up the option to try one and took a flyer to buy one blind – braver man than me, but he has had 3 Shimano’s over the years!!

Same response though, can’t even get one to order until the autumn at the earliest!!

Whats the point Shimano advertising these when no one can a)try them b)buy them, god knows what happens if you break a section!

I know its all about the supply and demand equation but seems to be a tad unbalanced here!

Interestingly 50% of the shops recommended the same alternative Daiwa pole for the same price.

went in to my local to order a feeder rod again by shimano….
earliest i can get it is end of august!!!
i wanted it for my hols end of july!
WTF!

I was interested in buying a Fireblood when I was in the market for a new pole back in February, was told it would be released ‘sometime’ in March, that comes and goes then its ‘sometime’ in April however come release date and nobody had them….in the end I got fed up of waiting and bought a Maver 501 instead.

You would think in the current economic climate any company would be jumping through hoops for customers especially with a guaranteed sale of over £2k but I was sadly mistaken.

i was gunna buy a shimano pole , that was until i realised i would have to re mortgage my house and sell a kidney if i needed to replace a section!!!
absolutley shockin prices!!!

@Leaky Lloyd wrote:

i was gunna buy a shimano pole , that was until i realised i would have to re mortgage my house and sell a kidney if i needed to replace a section!!!
absolutley shockin prices!!!

Yeah me too…I read somewhere prices of £750 for a number 8 for an Aspire Pro ????!!!

Leaky Lloyd the spares prices on the new models are nothing like what you mention. Yes in the past spares prices on Shimano poles have been high but that is no longer the case.

steve have you any idea regarding there queries about pole times though.????

No sorry mate, i will endeavour to get an answer though.

cheers steve.

I wanted one. I drove all the way to Bobco in Leeds to try one. I tried one and I was underwhelmed. It felt a bit heavy and unbalanced. I kept trying it because I had convinced myself that this was the pole for me but it just didn’t feel right. I then tried a Garbo Gmax 1000. This seemed much stiffer but also felt heavy. I kept comparing the two but I just wasn’t blown away by them.
I was all ready to go home dissapointed when the nice chap in the shop suggested I pick up the Sensas 774 which for whatever reason I reluctantly did.
My first words were “Wow!” it felt so much lighter. I picked it up put it down picked up the other two then picked it up again.
The Sensas just felt right for me. I had no intention of buying a Sensas pole and I have seen very few on the bank but I just couldnt put it down.
The Fireblood is probably stronger and the Garbo was a bit stiffer but the Sensas FELT right. Add to this an amazing package I bought it.
Used it for the first time today and loved it, even managed to win the open at Lindholme using it. Maybe you will feel totally different when you eventually try one.Sorry for the ramble and good luck choosing.

I was in the market for a new pole & since i was using a shimano i wanted to see the new shimano poles before i bought another pole, i did have to wait but managed to get 1 the first wk in May, i had it up in the shop against a Daiwa pro x, to be honest they are very closely matched, the pro x is a tiny bit stiffer at 16m but a bit heavier, the deciding factor was the tops on the shimano, 9 in total all rated to a 20’s elastic & all the same length, the long multi bore tops on the daiwa seemed to unbalance the pole & you then have different length tops which would of done my head in!!!
Got a better deal on the fireblood to.
Had it 2 months & the only complaint is the sections still stick when its raining, my last shimano pole did this & i thought they had solved the problem, it has only rained once though since i have had it so maybe this problem will pass.

Red, do the section joints stick or do the sections stick to your hands when shipping in the wet?~think

Grayshott Tackle in Surrey has one in stock – standard package. Call Chris or Ben on 01428 606122.

Cutnut, its only rained once since iv had it, 3 sections stuck together, think it was 13m,11.5m & 10m.