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Bringing storage and discipline to the world of crankbaits,
Falcon's FTO tackle organizers
| Date: |
1/02/05 |
| Tackle type: |
Storage |
| Manufacturer: |
Falcon Rods |
| Reviewer: |
Cal |
Total Score: 8.50
Introduction:
Happy New Year!
Have you declared your own angling new year resolution yet? Perhaps it is to
make extra time to fish, practice more catch and release, or something as simple
as to take better care of your tackle....and why not? Serious anglers spend
plenty of hard earned
money on fancy lures, and up-market crankbaits are among the most expensive.
Look in most any avid crank bait fisherman’s bag or tackle box and you’re likely
to find a mess of baits stacked two to four deep with treble hooks fully
engaged, twisted around, and tangled. If not this situation, then baits are
likely stored inefficiently with one or two to a tray and trebles hooked over
the edges of the utility box and between dividers in an effort to keep them from
tangling. Crank baits are a favorite amongst artificial lure anglers, yet, up
‘til now, storage and transport of these wonderful lures has always been, at
best, a complicated, inefficient chore. Falcon Graphite Rods, has developed a
set of tackle organizers that help address the messy and cumbersome chore of
storing these precious baits. We acquired a few of these boxes to test just how
well they suited our purposes here at TT headquarters.
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Falcon FTO
700 Specifications |
|
Type |
Small Cranks |
Medium Cranks |
Large Cranks |
Lipless Cranks |
|
Model |
FT0704 |
FT0705 |
FT0706 |
FT0707 |
|
Width |
8-7/8” |
8-7/8” |
8-7/8” |
8-7/8” |
|
Length |
12-3/8” |
12-3/8” |
12-3/8” |
12-3/8” |
|
Height |
1-1/4” |
1-1/2” |
1-1/2” |
1-1/4” |
|
Rated
Capacity |
28 |
20 |
12 |
30 |
|
MSRP |
10.99 |
10.99 |
10.99 |
10.99 |
Impressions:
For those accustomed to
the standard utility box configuration of either fixed or adjustable width,
square bottom compartments, the Falcon FTO organizers are a bit of a departure.
The crankbait storage boxes are split in half, and instead of individual
adjustable compartments, the patented v-groove trays in these boxes can be
removed and adjusted in either full width or half length sections. The 704 and
707 boxes are actually the exact same dimension but are differentiated by the
configuration of the internal v-groove trays. The same is true of the 705 and
706 models. In the hand, all four boxes feel solid and sturdy and are very easy
to grasp thanks to their shallow height.
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Introducing the extremely
versatile Falcon FTO organizer |
The Real World Test:
We gathered our
miscellaneous crank bait collections and had at these boxes filling each to
capacity with a variety of lures then headed out on several trips with our newly
organized cranks to see what difference Falcon’s FTO crank bait boxes would make
in our fishing routine.
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Top Left: the patented v-groove trays are adjustable. Top Right
and Bottom Left: Each FTO box comes with a wiry plastic handle that are
intended to facilitate retail display of the boxes. It’s a natural to yank
on these handles to pull the boxes out of your tackle bag, but they do not
stand up well to this use. Bottom Right: A close-up of the plastic hinges. |
Bait
Accessibility:
Falcon’s patented v-groove trays really work well to virtually eliminate the
hassle of storing treble hook hard bodied baits. The lures sit securely in these
v-groove trays with their hooks easily tucked at the bottom and out of the way
from other lures and trebles. This design gives the angler clear view of each
lure in the box enabling easy selection and access to their lure of choice. The
only difficulties we ran into were in the very last trays where the v-groove
does not exist because there isn’t another tray following to lock down the
lures. In these trays, the treble hooks do have a tendency to sneak down under
the tray requiring you to pull both the lure and the tray out of the box in
order to free the bait you want to use. This was the only difficulty we found in
this design.
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The Falcon FTO boxes will fit
nicely in a variety of existing tackle bags |
Compatibility: The FTO
boxes fall somewhere between the Plano 3600 and 3700 boxes in size and easily
fit into any number of tackle bags. However, we recommend, cross referencing
their dimensions for compatibility with enclosed tackle compartments on your
boats before making a commitment to this system. It seems each manufacturer of
these plastic utility boxes enjoys tweaking the dimensions ever so slightly in
such a way that standardization of organizers to universally house them is
virtually impossible. That having been said, we experienced no problems fitting
these boxes in most of our non-rigid tackle bags.
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Top Left:
the FTO706 for large bodied cranks. Top Right: the FTO704 for small cranks.
Bottom Left: the FTO707 for lipless cranks. Bottom Right: the FTO705 for
medium sized cranks. |
Latches: We
found the latches of our FTO utility boxes very well made and easy to open and
close. Each of the four latches on every box we had shared a positive,
reassuring “click” to let you know you achieved your goal of opening or securely
closing them. While we enjoyed the added security of having 4 latches instead of
two, we did grow frustrated, at times, opening these boxes while on the boat
fishing. The four latches make it difficult for quick changes and switching
between boxes while on the hunt for a specific lure. Those frustrations are
mitigated, to a point, by the added security of having something to hold the
boxes shut on all four sides and keeping the lids from warping in the sun.
Unfortunately, at the end of the day, this frustration manifested itself in
baits that were thrown into open boxes without regard to where they belong
because we were in too much of a hurry to tie up and continue fishing rather
than diligently opening and closing the proper boxes to insert baits in their
proper locations.
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While the
Falcon FTO’s are great for small and many medium sized cranks, the challenge
of storing away many large bodied and large billed cranks is not as easily
met. Bottom Right: note in the bottom tray how the lack of the v-groove
security has the lure sitting at a funny angle – the back treble had
actually slid beneath the tray. |
Hinges:
All hinges and pivot points for the latches on these boxes are plastic. This is
good in a sense there is no metal to rust, but the eventual question of hinge
durability comes into play. Each of our boxes had three sets of hinges along the
back that seemed to distribute opening and closing stresses evenly. We
experienced no warping or misalignment issues. A nice touch on these hinges is a
snap to hold the lid out in full open position. This feature came in handy when
at home organizing the boxes more so than when we were on the boat quickly
opening and closing boxes to get at our baits but it’s a nice refinement
nonetheless.
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We used our eight FTO700 series boxes for everything from large
to small bodied cranks, top water baits, jerk baits, and lipless cranks. |
Capacity: There’s
no doubt these FTO utility boxes are excellent at storing medium and small
cranks. Where we ran into less than satisfying results was with large bodied or
large billed cranks. To be fair, the literature for the FTO706 clearly states up
to 12 large body cranks, and this box holds true to this rating, however, we
found ourselves wishing these particular boxes were just a little wider or
longer to enable double stacking or even just one more column of larger cranks
because one box for 12 lures just isn’t very much. Regardless of this point, we
found the patented v-groove system very effective at storing treble hooked baits
in a fashion as to not have them tangle during transport.
Durability:
The Falcon FTO boxes are fairly durable save for the wiry plastic handles on the
left side of the boxes. These handles are most likely intended to facilitate
retail display, but they are a natural point from which to grab hold of the
boxes while trying to pull them out of your tackle bag. The angler is probably
better served cutting these handles off with a wire cutter to avoid accidents
while on the boat. Of the eight boxes we purchased for our tests, only one had
any signs of visible cracking and chipping after two months of use.
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The
FTO707, intended for lipless cranks is perhaps, the most versatile box in
this series. |
Versatility:
While there is a Falcon FTO 700 series box made for just about any hardbodied
bait made, we found the four different boxes we tested to be quite versatile in
the range of baits each as able to store. Aside from the FTO704 and FTO707
having a quarter inch height difference from the FTO705 and FTO706, the only
distinguishing characteristic between these four boxes is the configuration of
the internal trays. Of these four, the FTO707, intended for lipless cranks, is
particularly versatile since it’s the only box to come with both vertical and
horizontal trays. The other three boxes either come with all horizontal or all
vertical trays. Overall, we were quite pleased with the versatility these four
boxes afforded us.
Ratings:
|
Falcon FTO 700
Ratings (?/10) |
|
Construction / Quality |
A lot
of thought and detailing went into the production of this offering and the
result is a solid line of tackle storage boxes |
9 |
|
Performance |
Great
for storing cranks, our only issues came with lures that were larger and
longer than normal and with the last tray where the lures are not sitting in
a true v-groove configuration. |
8 |
|
Price |
The
FTO 700 series of boxes is on the upper end of similar products. |
7.5 |
|
Features |
Four
latch lid security, patented v-groove tray design, three locking hinges on
the back. |
9.0 |
|
Design / Ergonomics |
The
four latch system, though great for ensuring the boxes do not accidentally
fall open are a little cumbersome to operate when in a hurry to access baits
on the water. |
8 |
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Application |
There
might not be a better system out there for storing cranks and other hard
bodied lures. |
9.5 |
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Total Score |
8.50 |
Pluses and Minuses:
|
Plus |
Minus |
|
J
Solidly crafted |
L
A little pricey |
|
J
Patented
v-groove trays are very effective |
L
Boxes fill up
quick! |
|
J
Four latches
lock lids down securely and help mitigate against warping |
L
Four latches
make it slightly cumbersome to access baits when out on the water |
|
J
A specific box
for practically every type of hard bodied treble hook bait |
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Conclusions:
Anglers needing assistance with the organization and storage of their cranks
would do well to invest in the FTO700 series of tackle storage boxes from Falcon
Graphite Rods. Cranks stored in these boxes are for the most part, easily
accessible, tangle free, and securely stowed. The only oddity we found was that
the boxes seemed to fill up a lot more quickly than anticipated expanding the
number of actual crankbait dedicated boxes we had almost two to three fold.
Given the ease of use and visibility of the lures, it was well worth this
trouble, but for anglers with a lot of cranks to carry, this could cause you to
second think the number of cranks actually brought out on each fishing
adventure. Keep in mind, as your number of crankbait boxes grow, the number of
boxes for other lures that will fit in your tackle bag for a particular trip
decreases. If one of your new year's resolutions is to take better care of those
expensive fish catching cranks then the Falcon FTO should fit the bill nicely,
just make sure the FTO 700 boxes fit your current tackle bag, box, or boat,
before committing entirely.
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