Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased the 6'6" 1 piece Medium spinning rod with lure range from 1/4-5/8, but as all of these ugly sticks are made with the same guides, this unfortunately apply to all of their rods. I had this rod for 2 months before the tip and 3 guides were so heavily grooved from light weight 8lb monofilament fishing line that the line was frayed to the point that it could not hold a knot. I lost quite a few fish and lures before it got so bad that the line instantly snapped from the fraying from the sharply grooved guides when forming a knot. The extremely low quality stainless steel guides will absolutely not hold up to even occasional use. My wife fishes much less than I do, and hers (6ft 2 piece Medium) are showing grooves in 3 months and it will only be a couple more months before her guides are sharp enough to cut her line as well, and she has been using 8lb fluorocarbon line. This should absolutely not happen with even a basic low grade insert but Shakespeare Ugly stiks are using complete bottom of the barrel guides which can not hold up to even light use. After paying $27 to have my tip replaced (on a $43.00 rod...) the others were grooved to the point where again, the line was too frayed to not snap when forming a knot. Completely unimpressed and disappointed. Get a quality rod with quality inserts or you'll be spending more, not even in the long term, but the short term... The rod itself is still basically a flexible indestructible fiberglass rod, but with the guides being so soft and quick to groove, it doesn't matter how strong the rod is if your line frays the second it passes through.