big catches and good times that's why i decided to buy another one.

This is my first foray into St Croix products. I have been mainly a Shimano / Diawa spinning / casting and Penn (boat) man all my life and primarily fish in the Northeast and occasionally Florida. So with St Croix's recent sale, I thought I would see for myself what others had been raving about and ended up buying the 7'6" MHF combo.

Here are some initial thoughts:

1. Although the shipping was quick, the packaging was very light - basically two of those small plastic "air pillows" inside an oversized box. Needless to say, UPS had some fun and I received a box that was torn, bent, cut (in half) and had one end "accordianed". Luckily the contents arrived in decent shape so a potential return may not be necessary.

2. My combo had a 3500 series Sole reel rather than the 4500 indicated. This actually may work better for me, since the 3500 is larger than what you might expect for that size.

3. The rod itself is light, responsive, nicely built, and more or less what you might expect; the reel seems to be where St Croix cut corners (I would compare the reel to others in the $60 +/- range). I'll probably end up putting a Stradic or similar on the rod and use the reel as a back-up or lighter action / smaller fish set.

If I had to do it again, I would have bought just the rod as an experiment rather than the combo. Like many combos out there, either you get a decent reel OR a decent rod, but not both; that seems to be the case here. Time will tell if I become one of the St. Croix faithful or chalk this up to a learning experience.

Bought the 7' Heavy Fast w/ the 3500 reel prior to an inshore trip. The combo was shipped with the reel and the reel handle installed. When the combo arrived, I opened it to find the reel handle snapped in half... possibly due to shipping?. Luckily, the rod was not damaged. Does call into question the durability of other St Croix reels, especially Reels used for St. Croix combos.

I ended up putting a Florida Fishing Company Salos Reel on the rod from the Sole combo, and I would say the two work pretty well together. However, if i was intending on spending $245 on, what now appears to be, just a rod, I would have purchased a different model, and I would not pay $245 for the rod from the Sole combo alone. Being said, the rod is nice and the cork handle feels great I like the closed hook keeper; the doubled design is cool. Beautiful color on the rod and I really dont have much to critique about the rod itself. It is a Good Rod.

The reel is also visually appealing, but seems to be made of less than stellar/cheap and easily breakable parts. (That happens to be the exact opposite of what I want)

Upon discovering the damaged reel upon unboxing, I called Customer Service and, after about 25 minutes on hold, I was instructed to fill out a ticket through the St. Croix online system. I got an email confirming my ticket submission on the 12th of June that specified the Customer service department at St. Croix would need about 10 business days to get back to me. I am still awaiting further correspondence.

When ordering reels or parts from other companies, like FFC, I usually have a customer service rep reply within 24 hours or less when ordering parts/asking questions/etc. I have made several transactions online with other companies/outfitters that have transpired from start to finish, including shipping /arrival of the purchased product(s), in the time it has taken to receive any further explanation on any kind of resolution for this reel handle situation.

TL;DR:
Out of 5 Stars:
4.3-star rod,
0.1-star reel, didn't even make it out the bag
1.0-star warranty program/ ticket correspondence time (call center receptionist was nice on the phone though)

=1.8
~ 2 star Rating.