Made in the USA?

[Cheetam]

I am not sure.  Kissler and GLoomis are I am told.

Kistlers used to be made in the US.  Now they are all made in China.  Even the LTAs and LTX rods.

I'm not sure about that
I know the IM7 that I bought from Kistler was made in China
But all the others say made in the USA
But I'll e-mail them and post what they have to say
If they are now made in China I've bought my last Kistler

I'll throw out McCoy line
There a Made in the USA product

Used to be the LTA and LTX were made here.  Not anymore...

Taken directly from their website:

"Unfortunately, we are not able to obtain all materials and components for these rods in the U.S., either because they are not available, or because economic or quality considerations dictate foreign sourcing. So therefore, our Helium LTX rods are "hand crafted" by our factory trained and experienced technicians at our partnering facility in China."

"The Helium LTA rods are designed, engineered and inspected at our shop in the USA, by Americans. Unfortunately, we are not able to obtain all materials and components for these rods in the U.S., either because they are not available, or because economic or quality considerations dictate foreign sourcing. So therefore, our Helium LTA rods are "hand crafted" by our factory trained and experienced technicians at our partnering facility in China."

[Cheetam]

I should say all current models are made in China.  I don't know about the Z-Bone rod they will be coming out with.  That may be assembled in the US.

[Bender]

I believe Falcon rods are still made in the U.S. too. I wish they had more dealers, I'm hunting for a specific one and can only find it at full retail price. Hopefully I'll come across a sale somewhere.

[bassassasin88]

If the first number in a barcode starts with a "0" it is made in the USA.

[t-bone]

I should say all current models are made in China.  I don't know about the Z-Bone rod they will be coming out with.  That may be assembled in the US.

I've got a z-bone on order (I tried to convince them to name those t-bone but they didn't listen). The guy I talked to said he made the z-bone for Alton Jones and was excited to be able to see him fish with it in the upcoming classic. Now I don't know if that meant, I took his order over the phone or I put the components together. I'm assuming they are assembled in their U.S. shop and probably most of the components are foreign sourced.

[Cheetam]

I should say all current models are made in China.  I don't know about the Z-Bone rod they will be coming out with.  That may be assembled in the US.

I've got a z-bone on order (I tried to convince them to name those t-bone but they didn't listen). The guy I talked to said he made the z-bone for Alton Jones and was excited to be able to see him fish with it in the upcoming classic. Now I don't know if that meant, I took his order over the phone or I put the components together. I'm assuming they are assembled in their U.S. shop and probably most of the components are foreign sourced.

The blanks are made by Gary Loomis' new company in the US.  I'm guessing most of the other components are from overseas.

[Lightningboy]

 Where's them hot new four stroke yammies being made?



Sorry, just couldn't resist...

When you look at the reality of the world, it's darn hard to buy strictly US made products.  Global outsourcing of nearly everything has lots of foreign made parts inside "US made" products. 

At one time I owned an Isuzu Trooper.  Had to use US wrenches to work on it, since there was a Buick V6 under the hood.  Meanwhile my 95 Mustang has lots of metric fasteners.  Makes it darn hard to take a stand when you really don't know what you're standing by.

I say we revolt; enough of this "litre" stuff, Cubic Inches rule!

[mikesmiph]

Unless you ride a bicycle, you are buying foreign. Foreign products are sold in the US, by US employees. They still create jobs here. We are stuck with buying things from companies that are owned overseas. There are just as many foreign parts in a Harley nowdays as there are in a Yamaha, and Yamaha is put together in the states. How would it even be remotely possible to say you will NOT buy anything foreign? Its a great concept, but impossible.

[Big dreams]

I imagine myself in my Champion and I look around.  I see all this nice shiny stuff.  To my surprise, most of the nice shiny stuff comes from another country.  At this point I would be surprised if my Champion was made here in the states.  Pretty soon I am going to pull a bass out of the water with "Made in China" stamped on his forehead!

[Manxfishing]

I haven't heard back from Kistler

But today I recieved 2 Kistler Mag. Alton Jones football jig rods
There's a sticker right on the bottom that say's made in China
Well at least I didn't pay retail for them

On the 3 Helium LTA rods that I do have
There is a sticker saying that there made in the USA
But they are the 08's ands 07's with the full cork grip

It's kind of funny thou
When I went with the Kistlers
2 of the main reasons were
one it was made in the USA and two they had a full grip
And today neither of those are true

Falcon was on the short list before and I'll be looking at the
Grandt rods next time.

[Big dreams]

I purchased a Grandt rod today!  I called Jim up and it was a lot easier than I thought.  I bought a 7' medium Eglass for cranking.  It has a large mouth bass insignia on it.  I think the price was close to $260 but with the Great Lakes Bass member discount (30%) it came to $159!  That is an awesome deal!  The unconditional warranty is worth that alone not to mention the USA quality.  I will never buy another rod, it just isn't worth it to me.  I was paying $169 for Johnny Morris Sig rods made in China.  USA is the way to go boys.

[MadWags]

BD,

Thank you for purchasing a Lifetime Grandt Product and supporting GreatLakesBass.com
I have that same rod and love it. This year it will be throwing a tournament winning custom painted C-Flash by Jeff Cheetam. I call it the twoeyeddeepdivecustompurplesmalliecatcher.

[champion_206]

I imagine myself in my Champion and I look around.  I see all this nice shiny stuff.  To my surprise, most of the nice shiny stuff comes from another country.  At this point I would be surprised if my Champion was made here in the states.  Pretty soon I am going to pull a bass out of the water with "Made in China" stamped on his forehead!

You could be right cause champion boats is  mothballed, could be the end of a great boat, as for parts, rods etc. being made overseas, our goverment has let this happen, jobs and Co.'s moving out of the US for cheap labor,we have no fair trade, I do whatever I can to buy american as a retired Union member, I would rather keep an american working than a Chinese worker.

[champion_206]

BD,

Thank you for purchasing a Lifetime Grandt Product and supporting GreatLakesBass.com
I have that same rod and love it. This year it will be throwing a tournament winning custom painted C-Flash by Jeff Cheetam. I call it the twoeyeddeepdivecustompurplesmalliecatcher.

I would like to see some Grandt rods, Is there a show coming up that they will be at ?

[MadWags]

This is the next closest show.

Cleveland Sportsman Show
I X CENTER
March 18 thru 21
Cleveland, OH

[djkimmel]

I imagine myself in my Champion and I look around.  I see all this nice shiny stuff.  To my surprise, most of the nice shiny stuff comes from another country.  At this point I would be surprised if my Champion was made here in the states.  Pretty soon I am going to pull a bass out of the water with "Made in China" stamped on his forehead!

You could be right cause champion boats is  mothballed, could be the end of a great boat, as for parts, rods etc. being made overseas, our goverment has let this happen, jobs and Co.'s moving out of the US for cheap labor,we have no fair trade, I do whatever I can to buy american as a retired Union member, I would rather keep an american working than a Chinese worker.

To my knowledge, the fate of Champion Boats has still not been decided.

Thanks to those of you who give Grandt a try. My last 4 rod purchases have all be Grandt.

[Big dreams]

I did not know Champion boats are on the edge.  What is going on with them? 

[djkimmel]

Champion Boats is part of the deal with the company - Platinum Equity - that bought a number of the Genmar brands during the bankruptcy sale including Ranger and Stratos.

All of Stratos manufacturing is moving to Flippin Arkansas. There's been no final public decision I'm aware of yet on the fate of Champion, which should mean anything is still possible.

[champion_206]

Champion Boats is part of the deal with the company - Platinum Equity - that bought a number of the Genmar brands during the bankruptcy sale including Ranger and Stratos.

All of Stratos manufacturing is moving to Flippin Arkansas. There's been no final public decision I'm aware of yet on the fate of Champion, which should mean anything is still possible.

And now that Hopper has Ranger and who has never been a fan of Champion, I can't even predict whats gonna happen, he aways has thought of champs as a threat to his ranger line, not sure he feels theres a market out there for so many bass boats anymore, and now that he has ranger and stratos selling at dealerships together, champion may be squeezed out, Don Wood is gone also, and Genmar has not spent much money in the last few yrs advertising champs, I can only hope champion is sold, and someone buys it and continues to build champs

[BryanP]

The latest rumor is that Irwin Jacobs is poised to buy Champion. 

Fact is, Champion sales have been on a steady decline since well before Genmar acquired them.  They've never really been a strong brand anywhere except out west, and for a short time up here.  They build a nice boat though.