A friend of mine recommended these rods telling me they're good for the money. I was skeptical because of the buy 3 for $99. I should have trusted my gut. First rod broke after 2nd use. Set the hook and it snapped using a drop shot. It was a 7' MLFS-Spinning. Exchanged it through warranty for a new rod, but of course I was responsible for shipping. And yesterday I had another one of my rods snap after the first time using it throwing a 3/8oz weight with a sweet beaver plastic. This time it was a 7'3" MHFC-Casting. So now I have to file another warranty claim and pay for shipping again. Maybe I'll get lucky and the 2 replacement rods will hold up. I have requested a refund for the remaining 4 rods. I don't recommend these and won't be purchasing any ARK products in the future.
I saw the closeout special on Facebook. Be honest with you I was skeptical because I’ve never really heard of these reels before. The last 30 years I’ve only purchase nothing but Shimano, now that I’ve fished with them I’m quite pleased with their performance. I’m actually going to purchase more reels in different gear ratios. I would recommend these to anyone that fishes for fun or fishes tournament.
I am truly amazed by how light these rods are. After using one for half an hour I picked up one of my other rods and it felt like a truck. The catalzer also is very sensitive and has the back bone ti handle big fish. I am glad I finally tried ARK.
I haven’t used much like the lite weight of it !!
My Ark Catalyzer rods have proven to be worth the investment. The rods are light yet very effective and I’m quite impressed with the sensitivity. I’d have gladly given a 5 star review but I’m a bit put off by the very small eyelets. I use braid-to-fluorocarbon line on a few applications. However, even with the small diameter FG knot the eyelets noticeably restricted the smooth passing of the line. My simple adjustment was to use these rods with straight fluorocarbon applications. No worries.
Suggestion… slightly increase the inside diameter of the eyelets toward the tips of the Catalyzer Series.