Hi!
I recently bought, wrapped and fished a Rainshadow RX8 9' 4wt fly blank. Paired with a fairly heavy Alps reel seat, lite wire snake guides and a 4.5 oz. reel the rod is a superb casting instrument. I also love its delicate tip and the ability handle very fine leaders. Also power in the butt is certainly not lacking.
There is a "but" however. The rod (and naturally the blank itself) is somewhat tip-heavy. I did not measure its swingweight, but would guess it is quite high. Now the big question to those of you, who are familiar with this blank, is: if money were no object, what other blank do you guys think would have similar action, tip and power, but lower swingweight (feeling lighter in the hand when casting)?

Were it not for the tip-heaviness I would not have wanted to look any further.

Cheers,
Michal

I personally have been overjoyed with the performance of the Bingham Ent SHX blanks. May not be quite as fast as the RX8, but a pure joy to cast and fish with.

Ron Weber

Sorry, I do not have experience with that blank though i do have a 9'6" 7 wt RX8. As another possible option, Pacific Bay offers their "new" Quickline. the Quickline 9' 4weight is listed at 1.3 oz vs the new Batson Revelation 9' 4wt at 1.6 oz. Not sure what the Batson RX8 was listed as (discontinued, right?).

eric
fresno, ca.

Hope I am not showing my rear end trying to help but is this the rod you talkin about:

XF904-4 9FT 4PC 4WT 0.332Butt 4.0Tip ExtraFast 1.93oz

1 - Bingham SHX - no 4wt
2 - Quickline - maybe, but I would for sure like to hear about some hands-on experience (thanks for trying to help nevertheless)
3 - yes, that's the blank

Bingham SHX has a 9' 4wt and a 7' 6" 4wt. They are not listed on her website. Both are 4pc blanks.

What is the the Bingham 9' 4wt blank like when compared with the RX8?

I've built 5 or 6 rods on the Quickline blanks this year. From the 9 foot 5 weight to the 11 foot 8 weight. In my opinion, they are the best bang for the buck. Very similar to the Sage One as far as action, speed, and weight in hand. I haven't noticed any balance issues with them at all. Even the switch rods were pretty easy to balance out perfectly with a downlocking reelseat.

This doesn't directly help your RX8 question. I built a few PacBay quicklines, one is a 9' 4wt. He loves it, and his wife just ordered one. I weighed the blank when I got it and it's really 1.3 ounces. I also built one 10' 4wt for another customer that usually nymphs and he loves it. I used burl cork grips and Recoil snakes on these so no problem balancing with a light reel.

Greg
Aptos, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2014 05:48PM by Greg Foy.

Thanks for all the info so far (though it is slightly off-track, given my question ;-))
How about durability of the Quickline series blanks?

Michal Rozycki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi!
> I recently bought, wrapped and fished a Rainshadow
> RX8 9' 4wt fly blank. Paired with a fairly heavy
> Alps reel seat, lite wire snake guides and a 4.5
> oz. reel the rod is a superb casting instrument. I
> also love its delicate tip and the ability handle
> very fine leaders. Also power in the butt is
> certainly not lacking.
> There is a "but" however. The rod (and naturally
> the blank itself) is somewhat tip-heavy. I did not
> measure its swingweight, but would guess it is
> quite high. Now the big question to those of you,
> who are familiar with this blank, is: if money
> were no object, what other blank do you guys think
> would have similar action, tip and power, but
> lower swingweight (feeling lighter in the hand
> when casting)?
>
> Were it not for the tip-heaviness I would not have
> wanted to look any further.
>
> Cheers,
> Michal

Michal Rozycki,
Please call into our office and see what we can do. We haven't had anyone state this problem before. We look forward to hearing from you!

eric
fresno, ca.
Yes the RX8 has been discounted and replaced by the New RainShadow Eternity2 blank. And don't your mean RainShadow Revelation not Batson Revelation? ;)

Thanks Ryan. Will call

Michal,
My experience with rainshadow blanks has been completely positive and the new series should be outstanding.
Regarding PacBay Quickline durability, l built a 9 ft. 7 wt. that has been thrashed at Pyramid lake in Nevada where
constant casting with big flies, fast sink heads, high wind and freezing cold alkaline water will reveal any weakness
in a fly rod (and the fisherman). My Quickline has held up great, ferrules still fit perfect and it's a light weight powerful caster.

Thank you all for your input. FYI I have decided to take the Orvis route and will get a Helios II tip flex blank - should be cool,

however ...
@Ryan McIntosh - I will hold on to the RX8

I can say this much. Try the Eternity2. You will be blown away.

R. McBride

Batson Enterprises
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