So to your eye which one is best? I'm curious.

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2013 10:44PM by Steve Hartzell.

Ken you have a valid point but not on a BLIND test, that the lab has no idea of which product they are testing.

I have first hand experience of tests being paid for by manufactures although not rod building. For over forty years I sold Heavy Equipment in the condtruction industry. It was fashionable some years back to have a dig off to see who had the fastest and most powerful Loader/Backhoe. I sold Case Tractors and was constantly reminded by my customers that brand X out dug my machine. So after a while I cut out all of the adds in the trade journals, as to who won the test and carried those results around with me. When asked again I pulled out the magazine ads with the test results. I showed them to my customers with the following results:
Whoever paid for the test Won My tractor, America's number one seller, the Case 580, always came in second. And the John Deere always came in Last. It generally got a chuckle and I got the order for the tractor !!!

Tom

I have done my own test on both ProKote and TM and ProKote Wins hands down over TM The test was done simply by mixing the two and letting both dry at room temp and after 6 Months the ProKote that dried in a cup was still water clear but the TM that dried in a mixing cup is more of a milky clear nothing to cheer about. As for the remaining ProKote still in the bottle it is still clear as water and I would have no problem using it today but as for the TM it has turned to a dark brown yellow and Flex Coat does just the same as TM in turning to a brown yellow in color.

Glenn McMurrian

I have not done any tests blind or otherwise. There were at least two and maybe three "blind" epoxy tests done in the past few years and each one turned up a different winner. I believe the test samples for at least two were posted on the photo page at the time the "tests" were done.

Ken,

You seem to be a bit of a “Doubting Thomas”, we respect your opinion.

We would like to address some points made above as best we can. Yes we paid for the tests, we did our blind tests as fair as we could because we were seeking the best epoxy to offer custom rod builders. If you or a competitor would like to pay for test we’ll be happy to supply samples and even chip in for some of the costs – we are that confident ProKote epoxy finish is that good. We have no idea how any other company tested their finish, we sent ours out as a blind test to an independent laboratory. Other epoxy manufactures can chime in with their test if they like – we have posted our test results below. We will say that Thread Master is a very good finish – in some respects better than ProKote, in some respects not as good. What is the “best” finish is relative to the scale which is used to measure “best”. We think ProKote is the best finish when we look at the complete needs of the user and life of the finish.

For your edification and others on this forum, we have gone ahead and posted our test results on the photo page:
[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]

It is only though testing and experimentation we can achieve better products for everyone.

Thank you for your time.

Regards.
Team Mud Hole Custom Tackle
Web: [www.mudhole.com]
Email: sales@mudhole.com
Toll Free Phone #: 1-866-790-RODS (7637)

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I'm pro consumer so I see where some are coming from but I gotta give Mudhole some props on what they just said and provided. I'm in an industry where testing and label claims rule the dollar and very seldom does a company open themselves up like that. If and only if they are 100% confident their product stands up.

I don't use ProKote but want to now! What a response.....love the confidence!!

I'm not affiliated with any products, but I do sell some of them. I've tested most of the finishes on the market - for myself. I am skeptical about everything anyone says and want to prove to myself what is best for me. It's disappointing that so many don't do this for themselves.

I have settled on ThreadMaster and the new UV Flex Coat
After a while it gets tiring to keep doing tests cause ya can not believe what is said
Such is life

Bill - willierods.com

Do your own test but mixing TM in a cup let it dry and then mix ProKote in the same cup on top of the TM and see for yourself mu personal choice is ProKote by a mile over all the rest but thats just my choice.

Try it yourself and see.

Glenn McMurrian

This is all very interesting to me. I want to thank the folks at Mudhole for reposting the results for us to see. It is unfortunately that I don't have the eyesight I once did to able to read the links that were posted, but the color samples were visible.

I use to work in the color industry in my past life before retirement and measuring color and gloss was a big part of that so the terms they were using I'm familiar with.

There is always a big question when doing accelerated aging as was done during this test. That is how does it relate to the real world use that we put our rods through? I mean lets look at the 1500 hours sample, what does that equate to in real life, 1 year of nature exposure, 5 years, 10 years or 20 years. I would guess that no one knows because some of these products weren't around that long. And then again 1 year of use in most cases will not be even close to 1 year of nature exposure.

I have a question for those doing the testing and for those that set the testing up. What do the samples look like that were not exposed to the weather testing? How would the samples age (color change) when stored in the darkest of conditions compared to those samples stored in the weather testing machine and to nature aging?

As you can see, generally with testing comes more questions that need to be answered before more one can make statements about one's product. I'm not saying it wasn't done, just that this is what was shared with the general public.

I have no association with any manufacture of these products.

Chester

May your line be tight and your beverages be cold!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2013 05:03PM by Chester Kiekhafer.

I am German and don't mind warm beer

But it has been said many times here Epoxy finish -- they all yellow in time It is just how much and how much time

Bill - willierods.com