Dobyns Quality Issues

[Champion223]

What are your thoughts on Dobyns rods? I own 5 and have been having issues with the ceramics falling out of the guides. I own multiple brands of rods and transport them in sleeves when not in use. The Dobyns are the only rods I am having issues with. I reached out to the factory for support and they were less than helpful.

[dragon1]

What are your thoughts on Dobyns rods? I own 5 and have been having issues with the ceramics falling out of the guides. I own multiple brands of rods and transport them in sleeves when not in use. The Dobyns are the only rods I am having issues with. I reached out to the factory for support and they were less than helpful.

This has been the case for well over a decade...the Kigans they use/used have had known issues, although I don't know what the OEM guides are now. There are plenty of other guide makes out there that are quality, tough, well designed/manufactured, that Dobyns and other manufacturers can use on their lower/mid-tier offerings, so it must be a helluva "OEM provider deal" per their contractual agreement. The Fuji TiTorzites on the Xtasys are likely "bullet-proof" (at least the rods I have owned with them have been, along with all Fuji guides) from a QC stand point however, so if you are having issues with your Xtasys/"Xtasies", that doesn't bode well for Fuji either.

And yeah...this ain't no "conspiracy theory". LMAO.

Good luck with your remedy moving forward.

[krindgen]

Yeah, Powell went through a time period where this was happening frequently. Not sure what they did to fix the issue.

[boatinpete]

Funny I had same problem on my Fury, I beleive I used a tiny amount of marine silicone and it worked fine on ceramic.

[Champion223]

Thanks for the reply’s, you guys have answered my question. I am going to get them repaired and put them on Craigslist. I guess my winter project will be researching and purchasing a different rod brand.

[ECobb91]

If it’s the insert, that’s more on the guide manufacturer than the rod company. But I have heard of plenty of guides coming out of the wraps. I’ve only had two inserts fall out of guides with all of my rods and both were my fault from reeling up too fast and hard or just bumping the guide off stuff.

I’m a St Croix fanboy and much prefer them over Dobyns. I now make my own rods and really only use Fuji or CRB guides

[willwork4fish]

I've replace guides that have lost the inserts on a number of Dobyns. Other than the choice of guides I actually find that Dobyns are some of the better built off the shelf brands across all of their lines.

[Meleagris1]

I've got at least 30 Dobyns rods now and have fished their rods hard for tournaments for the last 8-10 years. I've never had a guide insert pop out to date. The only issue I have had aside from me breaking a couple was the decorative cover on the spinning rod nut coming off, which I had happen on 2 rods. I'm not sponsored just my experience - always been impressed with their quality

[Champion223]

Good to hear, what series do you use the most?

[SteveD]

I’ve been using exclusively Dobyns for over 10 years.Own about 20. In that time I’ve had 2 break that were replaced, one cracked insert and one insert fell out. In both those cases I called and they sent the replacement guides for free. No issues in the last 5 years. I use Champion,Extreme and Xtasy.

[Hollada]

What are your thoughts on Dobyns rods? I own 5 and have been having issues with the ceramics falling out of the guides. I own multiple brands of rods and transport them in sleeves when not in use. The Dobyns are the only rods I am having issues with. I reached out to the factory for support and they were less than helpful.

I broke a guide on my DS rod and lost the ceramic in 2 guides on my 735. Call to Dobyns and new quiches were delivered in a week for free. Had a buddy that builds rods replace them for me. Piece of cake. Not sure what else to expect from the factory? My rods were 5 years old.

[dragon1]

I broke a guide on my DS rod and lost the ceramic in 2 guides on my 735. Call to Dobyns and new quiches were delivered in a week for free. Had a buddy that builds rods replace them for me. Piece of cake. Not sure what else to expect from the factory? My rods were 5 years old.

Ahem...real men don't eat "quiche".

Glad Dobyns stepped up to the plate for you.

[Spot-a-saurus]

I have 14 different models from fury to xtasy with most being champions. Do you mind to tell us which line in the dobyns is having issues? Not affiliated with them I’m more just curious to know

[cidgrad]

This has been the case for well over a decade...the Kigans they use/used have had known issues, although I don't know what the OEM guides are now. There are plenty of other guide makes out there that are quality, tough, well designed/manufactured, that Dobyns and other manufacturers can use on their lower/mid-tier offerings, so it must be a helluva "OEM provider deal" per their contractual agreement. The Fuji TiTorzites on the Xtasys are likely "bullet-proof" (at least the rods I have owned with them have been, along with all Fuji guides) from a QC stand point however, so if you are having issues with your Xtasys/"Xtasies", that doesn't bode well for Fuji either.

And yeah...this ain't no "conspiracy theory". LMAO.

Good luck with your remedy moving forward.

Not 100% accurate. Being the US Kigan dealer and a high volume user of Kigan's guides, I'm pretty familiar with what occurred. Dobyns was the first US company to use Kigan years ago. This is before the 3D guide design that came about maybe 10 years ago now. Kigan was a young company at the time and had issue with their initial guide offerings. That early design had a high failure rate and Dobyns really took it on the chin for it. Kigan redesigned their guides and they did a good job (the 3D concept). The Kigan Z series guides are as good as they come and hold their own against any major brand on the market today. We sell tens of thousands of Kigans a year and issues are extremely rare. All our ALX Rods run Kigan and outside of odd issue, which has happened with any brand, the only thing we see are tips - which have usually been damaged. St Croix switched many models to Kigan maybe about 5 years back because of low warranty claims compared to the previous brand of guide. I believe Croix still runs Kigan on their inshore, eyecon, premier, and mojo lines. You don't see complaints there. If memory serves me right, Dobyns currently runs OEM guides (china made non branded), SeaGuide, and Fuji on all models now. From everything I know, Dobyns has always done a great job standing behind any issues as well.

[dragon1]

Not 100% accurate. Being the US Kigan dealer and a high volume user of Kigan's guides, I'm pretty familiar with what occurred. Dobyns was the first US company to use Kigan years ago. This is before the 3D guide design that came about maybe 10 years ago now. Kigan was a young company at the time and had issue with their initial guide offerings. That early design had a high failure rate and Dobyns really took it on the chin for it. Kigan redesigned their guides and they did a good job (the 3D concept). The Kigan Z series guides are as good as they come and hold their own against any major brand on the market today. We sell tens of thousands of Kigans a year and issues are extremely rare. All our ALX Rods run Kigan and outside of odd issue, which has happened with any brand, the only thing we see are tips - which have usually been damaged. St Croix switched many models to Kigan maybe about 5 years back because of low warranty claims compared to the previous brand of guide. I believe Croix still runs Kigan on their inshore, eyecon, premier, and mojo lines. You don't see complaints there. If memory serves me right, Dobyns currently runs OEM guides (china made non branded), SeaGuide, and Fuji on all models now. From everything I know, Dobyns has always done a great job standing behind any issues as well.

Excellent thanks for sharing and enlightening.

[Meleagris1]

Good to hear, what series do you use the most?

Champion XP mostly for moving baits, Extremes for bottom contact. I have 4 Xtasy models and they are extremely sensitive and well built but do wish they were a touch faster.

[white gambler]

^^^interesting , all my bottom contact xtasy (casting) are borderline to extra fast action for me. Takes some adjusting for me pitching going from champ extreme to xtasy and back