Technical characteristics of the spinning rod
- Favorite Variant 702ML:
- Length: 210 cm
- Test range: 5-18 g.
- Line test: 8-15lb
- Build: Fast
- Weight: 121 grams
- Hardware: SiC
- Material: carbon
- Number of sections: 2
Lightly picking it up from the rack with fishing rods, I examined it for defects; I did not find any scratches or chips.
Then he gave him a banal test of the formation on “shocks”, which, looking ahead a little, he passed perfectly, the formation was quite rigid, confident fast. This was a big plus for me, since I am a fan of fast action and don’t accept “snotty” sticks. After looking at the price tag of this rod, I was even more happy. The stick was at an exorbitantly low price if you compare its price with prices in any online store.
I'll say a few words about the spinning rod's case. The material of the case is not great, they could have done it better, but more importantly, there is a separation for the blank and the whip, which is definitely a plus.
Having carefully taken a closer look at the appearance of this “fighter,” I liked him even more, this is in no way flattery, now I’ll explain why.
Review of spinning rod Favorite Extreme 702MH test 10-45g No. 1
Advantages: I decided to purchase this model for 120-130mm wobblers. I took it as a discounted product because of a torn cover, and even then it turned out to be only worn rather than torn.
Well, okay, it wasn’t that important to me, the good thing is that the spinning rod itself was intact. The cut is hard, but not the stake. The workmanship is not bad. I haven’t tried it in practice yet, but with a ryobi coil the exia slightly outweighs. Based on the first impression of the spaced lever, I thought that the grip would not be comfortable. But the experiences turned out to be wrong! It fits comfortably in the hand. I really liked the frequent arrangement of rings.
Disadvantages: The packaging was good, but one of the rings was poorly glued; upon inspection, the cracked varnish immediately caught my eye.
In general, I didn’t even think about worrying about the case, I knew in advance that it was like that! but it was a shame for the rod!
Accessories, overview of individual parts of the spinning rod
In order not to scratch the blank and damage the rod rings, this spinning rod is equipped with a “hookkeeper”, this is a small plus of this series of spinning rods from Favorite, since recently some manufacturers have forgotten about such an important device.
The handle is made of EVA material, this is a rather nice and practical material, a special advantage of which is the ability to reassemble the handle without affecting the rings, that is, through the butt of the rod.
The reel seat is a classic screw seat from Korea Carbon, made of plastic, but it looks very reliable. The only thing I would like to note is that the nut does not unscrew downwards, as usual, but upwards. This is not important for me, so after a couple of fishing trips I quickly got used to it.
Let's take a closer look at the handle
The foregrip is a component of the handle located in front of the reel seat, made of EVA material, decorated with a decorative ring, which in terminology is referred to as a “winding check”, everything is of high quality, there is nothing to complain about.
The reargrip , a component of the handle located after the reel seat, is also made of EVA material, since the handle is not particularly spaced; there is nothing to complain about here.
Betcap , do you think, is also made of EVA material? No, there is a plastic plug on top of the EVA, which serves as protection in case the betcap comes into contact with any surface, be it fine gravel on the shore of a reservoir or the same sand, this is done in accordance with the principles of EVA protection, on the betcap itself there is a logo of the Favorite company with the name of the series - Variant.
SiC rings, which exact concept is not specified, but on the form they are located evenly and clearly, varnish smudges are minimal.
Series and model range
A whole range of spinning gear is produced under the Favorit brand; some of the most interesting and popular options are discussed in more detail below.
Zander
The Zander series are universal spinning rods with an ultra-fast action, but they are used mainly for jig fishing; their blanks are characterized by increased rigidity and ringing, and the rod tip is a monolithic structure.
All models in the series work equally effectively with light and heavy artificial baits and make it easy to remove caught fish from underwater thickets of vegetation.
The main prey that is caught on the Zander is pike, perch, pike perch; spinning rods are designed for fishing with oscillating spoons, various types of wobblers and small spinners.
The lineup looks like this:
- 792 H – heavy class rod, length 240 cm, weight 162 g, maximum test 60 g.
- 682 M – middle class rod, length 207 cm, weight 133 g, test 32 g.
- 682 H - an analogue of the previous gear, belonging to the heavy class, the permissible test has been increased to 60 g.
- 792 M – middle class rod, length 240 cm, weight 141 g, test 32 g.
- 902 M and 902 H are rods of the medium and heavy class, length 270 and weight 171 and 207 g, respectively, test is 32 and 60 g.
Arena
The Arena series includes highly specialized ultra-light class spinning rods for pond trout fishing. They work great with soft artificial baits equipped with additional weight; small spoons and cranks.
The high sensitivity and information content of the forms are designed to record even minor bites; the tackle provides complete control of the bait when retrieving.
The guide rings are arranged in a special way to increase the casting distance, and a well-chosen slow action minimizes the likelihood of prey disappearing when using hooks without a groove.
The series includes the following modifications:
- 602XUL – rod 180 cm long and weighs 80 g, test 0.6-3 g.
- 632SUL – rod 190 cm long and weighing 79 g, test 0.8-3.5 g.
- 662SUL – rod 198 cm long and weighs 83 g, test 1-4 g.
- 662SUL – rod 198 cm long and weighs 79 g, test 1.5-5 g.
Sentinel
The Sentinel series includes universal spinning rods designed for fishing with various types of wobblers with a variety of fishing. Due to the impressive sensitivity of the blanks, they are sometimes used for jig fishing.
Today the manufacturer has two modifications available:
- 762ML – medium-light class rod, length 228 cm, weight 95 g, test 5-21 g.
- 832M – middle class rod, length 251 cm, weight 98 g, test 7-28 g.
About the set: reel and spinning rod
On all my fishing trips, except for a couple of exceptions, the spinning rod was equipped with the following gear:
Quite a budget diving “meat grinder” Laguna 2000, which, by the way, has been working without interference for the second year, coupled with Power Pro 0.15mm braided line – a classic of the genre
When fishing for a long time, the hand does not get tired, the balance of the spinning rod and reel is not ideal, but it suits me quite well. Better balance can be achieved by placing a reel that weighs less, I intend to implement this idea by next season.
Area of application Favorit Blue Bird 16:
There are a total of 7 spinning rods in the series – 5 with a glued tip (solid tip) and 2 new tubular models. This series of rods is practically created for microjig fishing. With the exception of the BB-732L-S model, which is already a full-fledged light tackle and allows you to work with baits weighing up to 14 grams. Tubular models stand a little apart. In addition to microjig fishing, they are good to use with small spinners, oscillating spoons, and miniature wobblers. They are more universal spinning rods. Also, the model BB-682SUL-S stands out from the entire series - the most popular Blue Bird with a test weight of 0.5 - 5 grams, well suited for fishing with the smallest jig baits.
As a result, the new restyling of the blue bird turned out to be really successful. While retaining the main advantages of the old bluebird, we managed to improve the work on the bottom, and make the new model lighter and more elegant. So, anyone who wants to buy a Blue Bird 16 can count on an elegant spinning rod that is a little meaner than its predecessor.
Spinning range
I caught the entire spring-summer season with this stick, so I can say that my opinion about it has been formed.
The rotating spoon, despite its not the best flight characteristics, flies quite confidently. Mepps Aglia No. 1, coupled with a tungsten leader and 0.15mm braid, flies a good 20-25 meters, and this despite the fact that the spinning rod is far from ultralight. I think this is a pretty good indicator.
A collapsible Cheburashka weighing 5 grams + 2” rubber flies further away from rotator no. 1, here it is clear, the flight qualities of a lead ball will be better, and the overall weight will be a little more.
Last year I spent catching predators with a spinning rod using silicone baits, in particular a little microjig. With this spinning rod I also managed to catch a predator with rubber, but first things first.
A little about the test
The stated test is 15-55 grams, for wobblers the test is overestimated, I threw wobblers from 7.5 grams perfectly, for jigs it is optimal to use from 18-20 grams, I didn’t reach the upper limit, and I didn’t need to, on the Dnieper 30 was enough grams. When trolling, it performs well with wobblers from 10 to 30 grams; if you use something heavier, the blank will be overloaded (when trolling a Jaxon Karaś weighing 39 grams, the rod survived, but in my opinion it was overloaded, I’m not sure it can withstand such trolling every week), but with all this The rod conveys all the movements of the wobbler quite well. It so happened that the first fishing with “Extreme” took place on a lake (even before the trip to the Dnieper I decided to try a spinning rod), a lake with depths of 1.5 to 2 meters, so wobblers were used. I threw minnow wobblers and tried twitching, but because of the length of the spinning rod, it was inconvenient for me: the length of the spinning rod is 2.40 m, and I was not tall enough, but still, when I tried to twitch the Kosadaka Inborn XS 75F (note the weight of the wobbler is 12 grams , but the spinning rod cast it perfectly) and the first pike of this spinning rod, and of the 2012 season, was caught.
Realizing that twitching with this spinning rod was inconvenient for me (and it was too heavy for twitching), I switched to shads and cranks. At that moment I had only three such wobblers in stock: Rapala CountDown Super Shad Rap CDSR08, YO-ZURI F683 3D Flat Crank wobbler weighing 7.5 g, Kosadaka Inborn XS 75F, which I wrote about above. So, the spinning rod coped well with casting these wobblers, despite the fact that the weight of the baits was clearly less than the lower test of the spinning rod. When retrieving these wobblers, the spinning rod regularly conveyed the movements of the wobbler; I could distinguish when the wobbler touched something while retrieving it, and when there was a bite. But I still think that it is more comfortable to use heavier wobblers (in addition, spinning rods are made for heavy lures). YO-ZURI F683 3D Flat Crank brought me my second pike.
And now the time has come to test the spinning rod in big water.
Having arrived on the Dnieper in July, I began testing the rod using a jig (and not only the spinning rod, but also myself). When fishing at depths of 7 to 10 meters, I used a jig head weighing 20-25 grams, casting such a bait was carried out without problems and quite far), the spinning rod clearly conveyed the bait touching the bottom, due to the rigidity of the rod, it easily tore the jig head from the bottom, precisely when In my experiments with jigs, a successful bite occurred, I felt it as a strong blow, when fishing, the spinning rod showed itself to be excellent (as the manufacturer stated, the rod is not only rigid, but also flexible), it was not the tip of the spinning rod itself that worked, but the whole rod, it bent into an arc, evenly distributing the load: they didn’t lie about the extreme fishing and restraining the jerks of the fish. And here it is, the trophy!
And here is also a video on the operation of the rod, you can see how it behaves when casting and retrieving (I cast a jig head with a weight of 20 grams + a 10 cm vibrating tail, the depth of the reservoir is about 3 meters), maybe not so good, but you can still see how The rod works when jigging and casting.
I have repeatedly fished with EXTREME and on the Dniester, so where the fishing conditions are difficult - constantly changing bottom topography, snags, stumps, and even entire flooded trees, why not a testing ground for ESTRIMA? On the Dniester, my arsenal of baits expanded; Castmasters, spinners and spinners were added to the Shads and Krenki. We must pay tribute to EXTREME, with all the hooks, there was almost no loss of bait (hooks either broke or unbent, or a branch rose), although to be honest, there were also cliffs, where would we be without them, but as for the Dniester, it was very little. Let me add that for fishing on the Dniester I use SUNLINE PE 20 lbr cord. On the Dniester, the spinning rod was also noted for a 2 kilo pike, I must say that I boldly lifted the pike from the water and brought it to the shore (there is no other way, the banks are steep, high and steep, I usually take a hook with me to the Dniester, but this time I didn’t take it ).
Jig. Characteristics of the rod's feel
The feel of this spinning rod is in perfect order. I caught it with the same Power Pro braid with a diameter of 0.15 mm, using a collapsible Cheburashka weighing 5 grams + edible 2", the perch bites were not felt very clearly, but this was enough to react and hook the striped bandit at the other end of the spinning rod.
Last year’s sensation was an edible from the Japanese manufacturer Bait Breath, model Microgrub 2”, it simply mowed down the perch on our pond. This season she also “shot” at the striped one, but with slightly less force. The striped ones greedily ate it, and I was pleased to remove them one by one.
I also managed to catch rotan vertically with this stick. A secret puddle was found, but we were unable to catch a large rotan there; we discovered it too late. However, small rotans up to 100 grams constantly delighted us with their bites!
Features of the updated Favorite Blue Bird 2021 series:
The manufacturer deliberately did not change the direction of the rod, keeping the main features of this model unchanged: excellent working “micro-jig” qualities at a low price. However, there are quite a few differences between the new series and the old one. The main differences between Favorite Blue Bird 2021 and the old Blue Bird:
The new model has a thinner and more elegant reel seat; The foregrip (the upper nut of the reel seat) has become almost two times shorter. This is very convenient for those fishermen who, when retrieving, like to place their index finger on the rod blank, thereby increasing the sensitivity of the tackle; The spinning rod is equipped with a removable hookkeeper. This allows those fishermen who do not recognize this element of gear to easily abandon it; a reinforced cross-shaped winding was used in the butt part, which makes the butt more durable; guide rings - an exact copy of KR-Consept - are lighter than those of the “old” bird; The glued top, in comparison with the old model, lacks a white paint coating. She became a little more sensitive and delicate, but at the same time a little more fragile.
In general, we can say that the new blue bird works better in the low end of the dough and is more consistent with the dough. On the other hand, you can no longer overload the form.
