HOME | TACKLETOUR FORUMS  | EDITOR'S CHOICE | REVIEW ARCHIVE | ABOUT US | 

Reels | Rods | Lures | SwimbaitsBFS Lines | Term. Tackle | Tools | Storage | Apparel | Enthusiast | Watercraft | Interviews | Events | Autopsy


 


 

 


Rod Review


CB Rod Wars Part 17: American Rodsmiths' Titanium Reinforced H3T-DFCR70
 

Date: 12/12/09
Tackle type: Rod
Manufacturer: American Rodsmiths
Reviewer: Cal






Total Score: 7.50 - GOOD

Introduction: Despite the pending end to our Year of the Crank coverage, entries to our Crankbait Rod Wars continue to trickle in. We recently caught up with American Rodsmiths, a company that’s been building quality sticks for close to ten years, yet a company that up until ICAST 2009, we had yet to meet, and when we shared with them our theme for 2009, they were very anxious to participate. Presenting our review of American Rodsmiths’ H3T-DFCR70 cranking stick.

 

Introducing the H3T-DFCR70 from American Rodsmiths
 

American Rodsmiths H3T-DFCR70 Specifications

Material Graphite/Fiberglass/Titanium
Length 7'-0"
Length of Rear Handle 10"
Line Weight Rating 10-25lbs
Lure Weight Rating 3/8 - 1 1/4 oz
Pieces One
Guides 9+Tip, Pac Bay SS/Zirconia
Power Rating Medium
Taper Moderate
Rod Weight 5.1 oz
Manufacturing Country Blank is rolled in Japan, rod is assembled in the USA
MSRP $199

Impressions: The H3T-DFCR70 comes with a blank built from the combination of three different materials, graphite, fiberglass, and titanium. That’s right, we said titanium. Not since Lamiglas’s Ti2000 blanks had we seen a US rod company build a full line of bass rods with titanium fibers infused into the blank, but that’s just what American Rodsmiths is doing with their H3 series of rods. The H3T-DFCR70 features this reinforcement from the butt of the rod up to the first guide for extra strength and an added degree of sensitivity. The tip of the rod is fiberglass.

Fig 1: This RoD Deflection Chart illustrates the deflection characteristics of the H3T-DFCR70 against our rated averages across the Crankbait Rod Wars lineup. Note that this stick starts out with our "Medium Crank Avg" curve, but then transitions over to the "Deep Crank Avg" as the load increases suggesting this rod has a relatively light tip with a lot of backbone.

Lab Tests: An appointment on our RoD WRACK reveals the H3T-DFCR70 starts out with a deflection curve similar to that of our medium cranking rod average but towards the end of its curve, this stick ends up with deflection values approaching that of the deep cranking rods. Perhaps this soft tip and heavy backbone effect is demonstration of this stick’s glass tip together with its titanium reinforced butt section. Overall, with a RoD Value of 2.06, the H3T-DFCR70 falls right inline with sticks like our Powell 703CB, Lucky Craft Mini-Magic 701MF, and Dobyns 705CBMF Glass cranking sticks.

Lab Results for American Rodsmiths H3T-DFCR70

Model

Avg Rod (2-32 oz)

Taper

Measured Weight (oz)

Balance Point (inches)

Balancing Torque (ftlbs)

H3T-DFCR70

2.06

Moderate

5.1

9

.14

Powell 703CB

2.04

Mod-Fast

6.6

9.5

.34

Lucky Craft 701MF

2.06

Fast

5.9

9.5

.23

Dobyns 705CBMF Glass

2.03

Mod-Fast

5

6.75

.19

The H3T-DFCR70 is a case in point demonstration as to why our relatively new statistic of Balancing Torque is so important. As you can see from the statistics in the above table, this rod shares the same length and a similar weight to that of the Dobyns 705CBMF Glass cranking stick with an balancing point that is two and a quarter inches further up the blank than the Dobyns Rod. Armed with this data alone, one would assume the H3T-DFCR70 is more tip heavy than the Dobyns Rod, but that is not the case. With a balancing torque of point one four (0.14) foot pounds versus point one nine (0.19) foot pounds for the Dobyns Rod, the H3T-DFCR70 actually has a very light tip.

The H3T-DFCR70 is part of American Rodsmith's H3 series of rods that all feature titanium reinforcement in the blank.

Field Tests: I paired the H3T-DFCR70 with superTTuned Daiwa Sol spooled with a hollow braid main line topped off with a fluorocarbon leader and took it with me on one of our field tests out on the California Delta this past fall.

The H3T-DFCR70 is a very good all purpose cranking stick.

Casting: The H3T-DFCR70 casts pretty typical of a glass stick in that its soft tip really loads up during a cast and is a little slow to release this energy. A few practice casts are always recommended if switching back and forth between a graphite stick and a glass stick, otherwise once you’re conscious of the adjustments that need to be made in your motion to cast this, or any other similar stick, it’s all really a moot point.

The guides are custom built by Pac Bay for American Rodsmiths and feature stainless steel frames with Zirconia inserts.

The H3T-DFCR70 is rated between three eighths (3/8ths) and one and one quarter (1 ¼) ounces for lure weight and I stayed pretty much within this rating during our tests. If anything I extended this rod more on the low end with the eighth ounce sized (but quarter ounce in actual weight) Luhr Jensen Speed Trap, and the H3T-DFCR70 was able to handle that bait although casting distance suffered a little due to the bait’s lower than recommended weight. Staying with the rod’s rating, there were no issues.

Moving up the blank from the graphite/titanium butt section reveals the attractively finished fiberglass portion of the rod.

Sensitivity: We’ve said it countless times I am sure during the course of our Year of the Crank coverage, but sensitivity in a cranking stick is not among the most critical attributes though it is certainly a nice characteristic when presented. This is typically not a characteristic with any cranking stick having a large percentage fiberglass component within its blank. Even with the titanium fiber reinforcement at the butt end of its blank, the H3T-DFCR70 is standard fare when it comes to sensitivity meaning it’s not super sensitive, but neither does it feel dead when cranking in your favorite bait.

Ready to go out on the California Delta

Power: The H3T-DFCR70’s behavior on our RoD WRACK indeed translates onto the water as I was able to feel the transition from the rod’s soft tip to its backbone when we switched over from bass to striper mode on the Delta. I’m a bit reluctant to state unequivocally that the rod’s good power performance is due in large part to the titanium reinforcement in its butt section since I’ve felt similar performance from blanks that are built with a glass tip and graphite back section, but at the same time, I did not notice any detriment to this added bit of reinforcement either.

The H3T-DFCR70 features a full rear grip and foregrip made of good quality cork...

 

Next Section: Power continued and more features

 

   

Google
  Web
  TackleTour

 

 

 
 





 

 



Copyright 2000-2024 TackleTour LLC All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy information