On Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:39:47 -0400, "Wayne Knight"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .

Oh, **** you.

You wish. But if you have to swing that way, there's this train station in
the fatherland.......

but Sage's marketing,
like many other companies, FFing and otherwise, borders on deceptive IMO

I generally don't buy new rods anymore, much less Sage rods but Sage does
push the envelope with various plastics and tapers. As I understand it, once
a rod's sales drop below a certain percentage, they essentially figure most
folks who want one already have one and come up with something else. Their
business model seems to work for them and alas, the Sage XP is not the Xi2
is not an LL much less an RPL. Their models do change but new and improved
is in the feel of the person doing the casting and fishing. That's why I
like the LL series, damn thing is so senstitive you can feel the fish fart.

I've fished and hunted with a wide range of gear, and IMO, once a
certain level is reached, everything beyond is mere preference or folks
buying into sales hype. If you say Sage pushes the envelope, I tend to
believe it, but I have to wonder if it's an envelope that needs pushing
as far as the vast number of FFers are objectively concerned. Those two
20USD set-ups I mentioned would do the vast majority of fishers who
needed a mid-ish weight rod and reel just dandy, and I'd bet huge sums
that they were made in China and were about "cutting edge" as 1972 Ford
pickup. OTOH, if you break down in Possum Holler at 8:30 on a Saturday
night, chances are you'll be able to find the baling wire to fix the
Ford, even some actual parts and several folks who can help.

However, if you break down in a 2008 Range Rover, and the
titanium-reenforced computer-controlled envelope-pushing cross-linked
OnStarGPS button, when pushed, will explain that you'll be required to
airfreight a team of mechanics over from England to lovingly hand-carry
the thing to a sterile clean room in East Rockaway, NJ where they'll
give it a sedative before getting to work on it with autoclaved Metric
wrenches...all for a mere 27 grand or so...I know what you're thinking -
"Naw, you say, it'd be under warranty..." The warranties on such items
don't apply when the product is subjected to a Possum Holler Saturday
night...

And it's nice to know the Dean family doesn't do New and Improved just to
increase market share.

Shoot, no - we make money the really old-fashioned way...beat it out of
the serfs...

TC,
R