The H3TUA-MBR benefits from some of the same titanium infused blank technology as the H3T-DFCR70 cranking stick only the H3TUA-MBR is a full graphite plus titanium versus graphite and fiberglass with titanium. Its treatment is elevated further by the custom nature of its reel seat and the choice of guides (REC company’s Recoil guides plus custom configured tungsten-carbide insert tip top). But even then, there is something even more intriguing about this stick – it’s adjustable in length from six feet six inches to seven feet two inches (6’-6” – 7’2”) and can be locked into position at any length in between.

The H3TUA-MBR doesn't just telescope from 6'6" - 7'2", it will stop at any point in between.

That’s right, with the H3TUA-MBR, American Rodsmiths takes the concept of a telescopic rod to an entirely new level and a very intriguing one at that. Need a rod for tight quarters? Collapse the H3TUA-MBR to 6’6”. Need just a little more length for distance but want to maintain accuracy? Extend the stick to somewhere around 6’-10”. Want it as long as possible for pinpoint pitching? Fully extend it to 7’-2”. The possibilities within the rod’s adjustable range are endless. But how does this play out in a real world situation?

Rated as a medium powered, fast tapered stick, the H3TUA-MBR tested out on our RoD WRACK as a heavy powered stick.

Before we can go there, of course, we need to strap up the H3TUA-MBR to our RoD WRACK and see just how it stacks up in terms of weight, balance, and deflection to our baseline rod, the G.Loomis GLX2000 (MBR783C GLX).

Fig. 1: This chart illustrates the deflection characteristics of the H3TUA-MBR as it relates to our baseline The Search For One stick, GLX2000 MBR783C GLX. As you can see, the yellow curve of the H3TUA-MBR is quiet a bit lower than that of the GLX2000 suggesting it is at least a full power heavier in power.

As we can see from the deflection chart, despite the H3TUA-MBR’s conservative lure rating of one quarter to half of an ounce, this rod is pretty stout. In fact judging by it’s average RoD number and the deflection chart above, we’d say the H3TUA-MBR is a full power to power and a half more stout than the GLX2000 yet the power rating on the rod is only "medium".

Further, at 5.9 ounces, the H3TUA-MBR is just over an ounce heavier than the GLX2000 and its balancing point, at its fully compressed state, is seven inches in front of the centerline of the reel seat versus the GLX2000’s balancing point of five inches. Balancing torque numbers are 0.21 ftlbs for the H3TUA-MBR versus 0.11 ftlbs for the GLX2000. As expected these numbers are further out of alignment with the H3TUA-MBR in its fully extended state.

Out on the water checking out the adjustability feature of the H3TUA-MBR.

Field Tests: Despite the H3TUA-MBR’s interesting ratings in our lab, we took this stick to the water with an open mind thinking perhaps the blend of materials in the blank contributed to the lab numbers and that out on the water the rod would perform more like its ratings suggest.

This stick is very easy to adjust on the fly.

I initially paired the rod with a Daiwa Ringa SSS spooled with 55lb Daiwa Samurai Braid and later fished it with a Shimano Scorpion 1501XT spooled with 60lb Izorline Hollow and a 30lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon leader for duties on Falcon Lake, Texas.

We tested this stick against the Delta Fall run striper.

It didn’t take long to validate the rod’s performance in the lab for while the H3TUA-MBR can fairly competently handle baits close to one quarter of an ounce in weight, it can also, easily handle baits up to one ounce and really is best with baits somewhere between one half to three quarters of an ounce in weight.

The business end of the adjustable blank.

The foregrip serves as the tightening mechanism for the rod's adjustable length.