Stay away from the Browning combos at BPS.

[G.Gordon]

My birthday was last weekend. Fishing friend got me a combo since I lost one a week earlier. It was a decent rig, Browning combo ultralight. $49.95 at Bass Pro.

I loaded it with line, tied on a jig head, went out on back deck. First cast it gets tangled in the dry grass, I try to simply pop the jig loose... SNAP! The rod broke just below the third eye. Hummm.... must have been a defect or damaged rod.

To BPS I go, exchange for the same combo. Go fishing yesterday morning, catch a bass about a foot long. Go to lift it into the boat with the rod... SNAP! It broke in exactly the same spot. Just below the third eye.

Back to BPS... no Browning crap this time. I exchange it for a rod by Crappie Max. I have spare UL reels. It is a nice one piece carbon rod, 6'6". I think it should hold up better.

[PIGINTHEPIGPEN]

I have a Browning Citori spinning reel. On a 10' 6" Browning Six Rivers steelhead rod, that I vertical jig with. Of course this set up is no combo special. I have fished with it for about 7 years now with no problems.

[BigRiverMarine]

My birthday was last weekend. Fishing friend got me a combo since I lost one a week earlier. It was a decent rig, Browning combo ultralight. $49.95 at Bass Pro.

I loaded it with line, tied on a jig head, went out on back deck. First cast it gets tangled in the dry grass, I try to simply pop the jig loose... SNAP! The rod broke just below the third eye. Hummm.... must have been a defect or damaged rod.

To BPS I go, exchange for the same combo. Go fishing yesterday morning, catch a bass about a foot long. Go to lift it into the boat with the rod... SNAP! It broke in exactly the same spot. Just below the third eye.

Back to BPS... no Browning crap this time. I exchange it for a rod by Crappie Max. I have spare UL reels. It is a nice one piece carbon rod, 6'6". I think it should hold up better.

I've had this same outfit for 4-5 years and haven't had a problem. I have a 5'er I shoot docks and cypress trees with it.

[G.Gordon]

This is the one I'm talking about:
Browning Fishing Superlight Spinning Rod and Reel Combo

If you have Browning stuff that works, great, my experience is otherwise.

[kingkrappie]

if it broke in the same place, the box was probably jammed at some point, I had the same thing happen with a 7ft esp, took it back to the rep, he pulled out another from the same box and handed it to me and said "don't break this one", I grabbed the tip and began to bend it in front of him and snap, same place, the whole box was like that. He sent me another one from a different box and it's the best 7 fter I've ever used.

[huntinslabs]

if it broke in the same place, the box was probably jammed at some point, I had the same thing happen with a 7ft esp, took it back to the rep, he pulled out another from the same box and handed it to me and said "don't break this one", I grabbed the tip and began to bend it in front of him and snap, same place, the whole box was like that. He sent me another one from a different box and it's the best 7 fter I've ever used.

Agreed! I have 4 Browning combo's that are workhorses in saltwater and freshwater. They are the AggressorXL combo's.

[Bronson]

When you see the same problem occuring over and over, it usually means something happened. It could be a bad run while they were being built or something happened to them in packing or shipping.

You have to be careful lifting fish in the boat. Holding the rod upright while swinging in a fish can break the tips on a good rod. Been there, done that.

[skeetbum]

I have a couple of Browning rods, and have had a couple of others in the past and have had good results with them all. From 4'6"ul to a 8' 7wt fly rod. All I can say is to not turn your back on them, they're usually of good quality. I was told a year or so back that the newer graphite rods were designed to bend 90 degrees and going past that puts hard stress on them and will cause them to break. Fiberglass and mixed fibers were a different story. I don't know if this is true or not but I try to remember not to treat them like glass rods.

[olduckhunter]

kc, from reading how you broke both rods and what you said about "popping" the hung lure/jig free is the wrong way to get a lure free and will put stress on the rod and not the line. and when lifting a fish up into the boat using the rod puts too much stress on the rod no matter how good or weak the rod is made. and it is possible that you got faulty rods but two of them? both ways you broke the rods were not the way to fish or practice. use the rod to fight the fish not to lift it into the boat especially when it is an ultra-lite rod.

[karlg]

We were down at Pickwick last summer. I had just bought my son the same combo at BPS. He was out in the boat with his cousins and broke his in the same place you described, just below the third eye from the tip. Before you all criticize, go to BPS online and read the reviews under durability on this rod. There were 19 people who had the same problem.