Does anyone use EVA grips on higher end rods ($150 and up) - primarily freshwater spinning and casting. I have started using them more, and the more I use them the more I like them.

The only higher end production rods I have seen them on are some Shimano's.

Any thoughts welcome!

Thanks,
Marc

I myself think eva looks like a store cheep rod.

I think cork gives a rod a - look of class

Bill - willierods.com

Good quality EVA has its place and in some applications is superior to cork. It all depends on what the criteria for a particular rod is.

...........

Many bass rods from Japan use EVA and they are obscenely expensive. It makes sense for the manufacturer since you don’t have to deal with the inconsistent quality of cork.

yes. there are plenty of things you can do with EVA that is not "store bought" in appearance and actually adds to a rod's performance, durability, and value.

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In the custom rod biz. a 150 dollar rod is no high end rod but even still I do not like EVA.

Rolly Beenen
Rovic Custom Rods

There are many things that can be done with cork also

I still like the look of cork I will put whatever on a rod. And now with Pit Past that matches cork color very well it looks very good.

Eva is also VERY cheep in price ?????

Bill - willierods.com

I use EVA on lots of my high end rods. As Mike stated lots of Japanese manufacturers use EVA on their rods and they sell for anywhere from 400.00 up to 900.00 per rod. EVA DOES NOT make them look CHEAP. If you ask me they have a classier look, especially when aluminum trim rings are added. As a matter of fact I'm having some new EVA grips made that'll have the look of the high end Japanese JDM style rods.

Lance

I don't care what some one else likes !
I will put what ever a - Paying Customer - wants.

I prefer cork -- if that is OK with you

Bill - willierods.com

"There are many things that can be done with cork also"

And at the end of the day the cork can be beat up, chipped, worn out, etc and the EVA won't.

and EVA doesn't need any pit paste or wood filler - that just adds weight and eventually falls out.

If you always do what the paying customer wants - you might end up putting guides that are too small to do the job on a rod because they asked for them.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2010 04:27PM by Alex Dziengielewski.

You use want you want my personal rods - cork Sealed.

Bill - willierods.com

a lot of the young guys in my circles like EVA. Black EVA allows use of most any color thread with it, and the same holds for color trim rings. When using cork with burls etc, there are some color combinations that I don't think work very well but you can use them with EVA.

I think cork and use of burnt or burl rings or spliced rings can create a fancy traditional look, but that doesn't exlcude use of EVA for a custom look. I like both and don't think EVA looks cheap, and I have both on my own rods and on the few rods I have built for others.

I have seen a lot of combined cork and wood grips I just flat did not care for, but that was me. So I think the same holds like so much that each to his own. So I like simple looking grips with more complex wraps and or color winding checks for an upscale look, and with anything beyond plain cork grips, I usually am not trying to build as fancy of a wrap and often prefer the grip accent wraps to be just a single color wrap or at most a very small accent.

It is very simple - if it is your rod - what do you like - if a customer show them and let them decide what they like

look at the things Billy V. does very nice !!

Bill - willierods.com

I have started using EVA and am loving it. In the heat in deep south texas it also seem to keep a better grip for me. I also like the look with colored winding checks, an easy way to class up a rod. My friends and kids are loving their new rods with eva split grips from swampland, aero reel seats, amtak micros, and the show blanks they offered for a while. Makes an economical and high performing rod for fishing for slot reds.

I want to go to carbon skinned grips for my fly rods though. Cork is nice, but I am really in to the black stealthy looking rods right now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2010 04:44PM by Mike Carter.

Bill B, we get your point!! Personally, I NEVER use regular cork unless someone insists (no one has yet)! With the quality/consistency/price, I use Burl/Burn/Rod Dancer, etc. I think it looks and feels MUCH nicer and gives much more of an opportunity for personalization (the last thing that I want is to have a rod I build look like a cheap production rod). I also use a LOT of wood/acrylic in my grips. I also like CUSTOM EVA grips. To me, most regular cork just looks like preformed, low end Wally World rods.

I'm NOT trying to start any kind of a FORM vs FUNCTION debate, so don't jump on me to hard LOL!!!

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

It is all a matter of prespective. The right tool for the job and all.

I could say, "when I see cork handles I think "inshore" rod". An inshore rod is typically lower in cost than an "offshore" rod. So eva doesn't equate to cheap for me. It equates to the only reasonable choice for the majority of the rods I fish with.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

I don’t use EVA and with the exception of top water rods hardly ever use cork
IMO;
They both look good and are easy to work with but rob “feel sensitivity” from the blank.

And in my book feeling what is going on at the other end of the line is more important then the convenience of using them.

Once you get away from rod building you find the major use of cork is used in residential, Commercial, and industrial applications is for sound proofing, noise control, to stop vibrations between components and equipment or surrounding areas.
It is basically a dead material used to kill vibrations; it’s even used in sound studios for the same purpose.
Same with EVA materials; we use different grades of in plumbing to stop water hammer (noise caused by vibrations in pipes), and thermal loss. Other industries use it for the same purposes as cork.

But when it comes to rods; it’s the latest greatest most sensitive product on earth?
We should at least be honest with our selves and our clients by telling them. “It’s light, easy to work with, is relatively durable, comfortable, and looks good, but lesions a rods performance by dampening vibration from the blank to the hand.

How bite detection or feel is dampened by anything on a rod that is mounted below the reel seat. It seems to me that as the vibration resonates down the rod, if you don't feel it by the ttime it hits the cork, eva, balance device etc, that you are hosed and have missed the bite anyway. All my rods are built where I have a finger in contact with the blank above the reel seat. Never took physics so I don't totally understand the the concept that stuff below my hand is going to dampen sensitivity.

Aren't most of Kevin VanDam's rods equipped with eva handles?

Rick;
Simple test to illustrate;
Take a bare blank and hold it vertical about mid point between thumb and fore finger a few inches above a carpet.
Now lightly thump the blank with your other hands finger like you were flicking a fly and see how long you can feel the vibrations between your two supporting fingers.

Now thump again and lower onto a carpet and see how quickly the vibrations disappear.
Or thump while it is on carpet and feel how little if any vibration you feel.
You can thump above or below your supporting hand. Results will be similar.

In this test you see that even having the deadening material several inches from your supporting hand you still feel the lessening effects. Doesn’t even mater which direction vibrations coming from, whether between fingers and handle area or above fingers before it gets to handle area, results are the same.
Even though to a lesser degree, this is exactly what happens when using cork or EVA.

In your case building so you can touch the blank helps, but as you have just seen it does not eliminate.
Lessoning effects are even worse when using foregrips.

Ellis;
Couple of things
1-Just because Kevin is good fisherman doesn’t mean he knows squat about what can be accomplished with a custom build.

2- As long as his sponsor pays him ½ a million a year to use their product he probably doesn’t care either

3- Kevin uses the rods his sponsors pay him to use. Yes he has input into design, but they still need to be built to sell to the general public. If they custom built Kevin’s rods they would have a hard time promoting them for sale unless they wanted to build them all custom.

4-Just think how good he would be if he used some really good custom rods.

5- To think those rods even come close to comparing to a good custom build is a joke.