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IMPORTANT
SITE UPDATE:
Visit the relaunched
Fish & Fly at fishandfly.com
Mid Price Rod Review
Make:
Loop
Model: Black Line
Length: 8' 8"
Line weight: 4/5
Number of sections: 3
Price: £140
Description
Matt black blank, black wrappings and all-black metal reel seat with single locking rings. Single stripping ring and sensibly-sized American chrome snake rings. Smart silver-trimmed graphics. Cigar handle.
Guarantee
One
year warranty for material and production faults. Spare parts are priced
very affordably, for example about £15-20 for a tip section. In
Scandinavia customers can buy insurance that covers five years no questions
asked, but that system is not yet in operation in the UK.
E-mail: info@looptackle.se
Web site: www.looptackle.se
Testers' comments
Richard Slaughter: A nice looking, well made rod which felt smooth with a middle to tip action. Short casts seemed to be no problem, mid-range casting was effortless and long casts were made very easily using the rod's crisp action to generate high line speed and tight loops. I found it much harder to load the rod with a 4# line.
In
summary I thought that it was a nice rod with a good action for a three
piece. It was much better with a 5# line. It was the nicer of the two
Loop rods that we tested.
Simon
Lewin: This is an interesting rod. I think that the three of us were
not overly impressed with this rod with the first few casts - but as the
day progressed and we moved back and forward between rods, the character
of the Loop became apparent. I thought the action was very forgiving and
cast well at all ranges and I felt that the line was presented very well.
I
like the build quality - the reel seat is good and I like the matt black
blank - and the cork handle is very comfortable in use.
Terry Lawton: We were all expecting something special from the
Loop rods. Initially both rods were disappointing. But when I tried them
again the next day: what a revelation. The line flew, high speed casting
wasn't a problem. A cracking rod, in fact.
The rod is very well damped and I was able to cast plenty of line with just one false cast. It is very accurate and casts well at short distances. Roll casting performance left something to be desired. This rod needed pushing with a 4# line and was very much better with a 5#. I think that the forgiving, progressive action could be a little crisper: perhaps this comes with one of Loop's more expensive rods. Having said that, I found that I could cast as fast as I was able without any problems.
The lesson from this rod is that any prospective purchaser should be prepared to try this rod more than once. A second session with it will bring out its real qualities. Build quality is very good and the three-piece construction makes life so much easier. The stripping ring looked a bit smaller but it did not seem to reduce the performance of this rod.
This rod performed very well against the Vision 3-Zone but it did not have the immediate wonderful feel and "wow" factor of the Vision.