Evergreen Kaleido Super Raven RS - Will It Worth To Be the New Core from EG?

The mighty Evergreen Kaleido series this year has came out with so many new line up, and there are rumor with some confirmed that about 4 more coming soon (Grand Cobra, Cobra, Black Raven Revive RS and Velociraptor) for casting, and 2 more spinning (Garnelius and Marshall Eagle), what a year of era transition since we have been knowing the core Kaleido RS/ Limited/ Serpenti series for almost 10 years. On my review today we will see one of the newest product from them, which is the Super Raven RS. 

After a month of carefully seeing how this rod perform, I was surprise a lot, and this is a positive surprise unlike the Daiwa Steez Real Control C611MH-SV post I did couple months ago, which is not a very good "first impression" due to the lack of balance from tip to bottom throughout the whole rod. I will also use these 2 rods (RC 611MH vs. Super Raven RS) to compare together since they match up the purpose, which is versatile side rather than a few technique focus. 

___BALANCE: as usual, Kaleido rod was world famous for the feeling unmatched when compare to most other JDM about this, not tip heavy, not body heavy and definitely not end-heavy, the balance from tip to bottom was nearly perfect, which make me very comfortable throwing baits like jerk bait or pencil all day long without hurting my palms and hands for jerking the rod too much to create action for the lure. The feeling of a balance rod is very important which many of us did not pay attention enough and for me, it is one of the most important key to bring a successful fishing trip with many different technique use for different rod, so have to shout out for Evergreen for keeping this core value for their top of the line series! 

___Weight: with 106 grams totally thanks to the forged carbon (TCH) reel seat and famous T110G blank component, a pretty neat design from Fuji and my first time experience this reel seat, I gotta say my impression was great. This contributed to the rod a lot by lighter handle part, making the main section (body blank) has more crisp feeling, but with a regular fast action (not extra fast or fast) so you will feel very easy rod to work with rather than the RC 611MH with a stiff blank and getting tired for working different baits in this versatile rod criteria.

___Lure range: According to EG, this Super Raven max out of 1oz but as usual I always try it with MIR Jr and Tiny Klash (2oz) and it handle beautifully, even with lighter side lure like freerig at minimum 5gr, making the rod one of the most versatile in my arsenal but you will feel much more detail with T1100G blank and the ±30° narrow-angle high-density (4-axis) cross compare to the blank from Daiwa Steez RC. What I meant by more details is how you move the rod from throwing side cast, overhand, flipping, pitching, skipping is much more precise and easier to control, not even mentioning about bottom contact yet since this rod handle all too well. 

___Bending action: I have use this rod for giant snakehead and grouper, both fresh and saltwater species and the way the rod handle these type of fierce fish is a bit strange for me. Rod's bending action is a bit more than I would expect, making me think that this rod is better for treble hook bait and small G-hook style. Compare to the Black Raven RS, the bending curve is pretty similar with top to main body blank C curve and stiffer by a lot after the middle section, but don't get me wrong about this rod power, it is truly a Medium Heavy feeling and true action and more powerful than you would expect it to be! Just not too overwhelm like the Steez RC 611MH I had experienced, too stiff and too powerful to be a Medium Heavy rod haha. 

___Design: Some series this year from EG have a full cork design which for me is pretty slick, I prefer this way for balance since the weight distribution will focus on the bottom more, making the tip more light, aka more sensitivity. Rather than that, EG did not change much. 

___What I wish: If the handle is a bit more longer, it would be perfect, some species like giant snakehead shoot like a missile when you think the fight is almost over, they hit the "un-do" button and fool you when it get close to the bank/ boat, making it pretty hard to control the rod if the handle is short. Another thing is the guide's system, it would be also better for me if it is Torzite T1 (not T2) since the T2 is too easy to bent, but they go with the regular Titanium Sic this time for top of the line rod, a bit disappointed but with the market nowadays it is what it is, just me feeling it should be more appreciate for an 8-900$ price tag. 

Here are just a few description about this bad boy as it still in early stage in my arsenal, hope I can help everyone out who might curious about this rod, if you have any questions, feel free to let me know and I will try my best to help!