5 piece Rplxi vs 4 piece Xi2

[gammarus]

I am planning to buy 4 Sage saltwater travel rods this spring. My old rods were 3 piece and I want to scale down for travel purposes. Are 5 piece rods the way to go or are 4 piece rods good enough? I have the opportunity to get some 5 piece rplxi's at a decent price but not much less than 4 piece xi2's.

[lemaymiami]

I've had a few of my anglers show up with 5 piece Sage rods as well as the usual 4 piece travel models. They seem to perform just as well as the 4 section models. The big difference, if any will be how the newer ones cast since they're improving their offerings almost yearly. I'd give some thought as to whether your packing needs the 5 piece instead of the slightly longer 4 piece model... For my needs, since I'm not traveling, the standard two section models are all I ever order. Matter of fact, once assembled, they're rarely if ever taken apart...

[gammarus]

Thanks Bob. It does seem kind of sensless to pay almost as much for a discontinued rod anyhow. Plus the 5 piece can't be broken into two equal lengths in a boat.

[mctrout]

The 5 piece RPLXI is a totally different graphite than the regular RPLXI and I suggest you find an expert to tell you the difference. I know for sure they are much faster than the 3 piece. I had my RPLXI's very briefly as I did not like them. (The 10 was fine but the rest were too soft) I have 8 XI2s really think they are super. (9,10s, and 12s) no experience with 8s. 7s I cast and liked. They are a bit fragile if you dont keep the ferrules tight at all times. Still have my RPLX 10 as they were really great, but heavier than XI2's. TCR is very nice in 8 and 9.

[backwater]

Hello,

I've used both and I very much prefer the Xi2. I just got rid of my RPLXI-5 piece "collection" 12, 10, 9, 8, 7 and went with Xi2's. First, there is a big difference in the feel of the rods. The Xi2 7 and 8wt are much faster than the RPLXi -5s, but that isn't saying much, the older 5pc 7 and 8 were pretty slow. I was finding that the 5 piece rods seemed a lot more prone to breakage that I hope the Xi2's will prove to be. I'm not talking about carelessly breaking a rod at the tip, my 9wt RPLXi-5 broke twice on very small fish at the thickest butt section! I call that a design defect. I think McTrout's point about different graphite being used could be the reason. In addition, Sage seems to be pretty slow at repairing the RPLXi-5's. They take about a month to rebuild the sections and they act like they haven't made that rod in a hundred years. I've heard the rumor that Sage has repaired bunches of broken RPLXi-5's and that that why they went to four pieces on the Xi2's. The RPKXi-5's were a dream to carry around, but the Xi2 isn't much bigger. My vote would be for the Xi2.

Tom