choppedliver

<UL><LI>Some of you have seen my sand spike, well I wanted to see what the "competition" had to offer, so I found one of the major manufacturers that sells to the big companies, and bought one. It was $18, plus 5$ shipping, for a total of $23. I won't tell who it is, just show you pictures. After looking at the pictures, I need your input.</LI>[/list]


Here is "mine vs theirs"







Mine spike has a longer shaft, longer tube, and hasa foot peg. The peg isa new addition to my previous sand spike.







My tube is twice as thick. My tube has no little rod at the end to bottom out the rod. To me this is a useless feature in a sand spike. The vinyl cap protects the reel from scratches. You aren't trolling for wahoo. Mine can be used to hold a beach umbrella. Theirs cannot.







Theirs has shorter tube by about 4 inches.



Theirs has a mill finish. Mine has had a brushed look applied by hand,and is very time consuming.







Theirs has less weld on a thinner tube which means less strength. You can't see it here, but their ends are jagged like it was right off the chop saw. I've filed and brushed mine.







Theirs is narrower. Mine is a full 1.5 inches on each leg. Here you can kind of see their jagged edges where mine have been filed.







Theirs has a 90 degree cut...Potentially a KNUCKLE BUSTER. Mine is a smooth 45.



Theirs has a mill finish along with all the scratches from handling, transportation,etc. Mine has a hand applied brushed finish.







My new model has a foot peg. Just put your heel in it and push while wiggling the spike back and forth.



Theirs has no peg. In this pic I left the mill finish on mine to show you what it would look like if I didnt apply a brushed look to it.



The only pro I can see to theirs is that it is half the weight, but what do you expect when it is smaller and thinner? Mine weighs about 2.3 pounds, which is not a lot of weight, and it will pretty much last forever unless you run over it with your truck or something.



So my question is this.<UL><LI>Theirs is $23 shipped. I'm asking $29.95 for mine at hot spots, and I will sell it the same price online and ship it for $5. </LI><LI>Is mine worth the extra few bucks to you for a higher quality spike in every aspect? </LI><LI>Is the foot peg of any interest to you? Or should I leave it off.</LI><LI>Is the brushed finish of any interest to you? Or should I not bother. It takes much longer to put the finish on than to make the spike!</LI><LI>Do you really think you need that little shaft at the bottom of the tube to keep your reel from bottoming out? Or would you just be fine with the reel resting on the heavy vinyl cap?</LI>[/list]


I'm sure I'll get lots of varying opinions from the Walmart group to the Van Staal group and every where in between. I want all opinions! Mine is hand made with pride. Theirs is mass produced and it shows. But what is important?



Thanks in advance!



CL

Splittine

Im sorry Im a pervert but read all that back and say "Thats What She Said"

But seriously you have a better product at a fair price. I wouldnt look to much into the brushed part. You could sell the brushed ones for $29 and knock of a couple bucks for just a regular mill looking one. I think you would do fine at $29.

choppedliver

LMAO. Damn I need to reword that. At least Im not the one with the smaller one!! I appreciate the input!

Telum Pisces

More heavy duty and thicker/stonger is good. I think you should forget about the aspects that make it look pretty (smoothing out welds). It's a sand spike, not something that needs to when a looks contest. As long as the weld is strong and does not look like a 2 year old did it, I would consider that fine. But do de-burr the edges. The foot peg is a nice touch as well.

Looks good.

I would be worried if people can tell the differnce by a quick look though. Make sure people know that they are buying a superior product. Some people may simply take a quick glance and wonder why yours is more expensive.

choppedliver

Thanks for the input. I kinda agree with you about aesthetics. It would allow me to spend less time making them and maybe reduce the price some. I don't have the purchasing power to buy thousands of feet at a time at a steep discount.



By the way, I don't smooth welds. None of those are smoothed, they look that good right off the bench. When I'm applying the brushed look the weld gets brushed too every so slightly, but the brush does not remove any metal, just gives it a uniform appearance. If you look at the picture of the foot peg, where I did not brush the red factory writing off the aluminum, you can see that weld is not brushed, thats the way it came right off the TIG welder.

Inn Deep

I Do Prefer the little rod in the bottom of the tube. I do surf fish quite a bit and have all my life. I prefer it because I have some log butts on my rods. Getting the rod out of the rod holder is much easier when I am in a hurry. Good looking spikes though!!

konz

I agree that yours look much stronger! I also would prefere the rod at the bottom of the holder.....especially for those that fish for some of the larger fish and have a gimble rod seat on their rod. I also like the foot peg....it's actually the first thing I thought of when I saw the other spike. foot pegs are a must on metal spikes in my book.

I think yours is great and I would buy yours before the others.

Pass Time

Looks great. Seems priced right for quality too. Heel bracket a good idea and I prefer the cross pin myself. Only thing it needs is a place to put your beer when you get a strike:letsdrink

dsar592

Yours is top notch and well priced. I like the changes you made.

choppedliver

Thanks for all your input. So I guess I might consider putting the pin at the bottom. I would be willing to put the pin in ( extra labor ) and not polish it ( extra labor ). I would still come out ahead time wise. I just like the fact that you can use it for a beach umbrella spike, without the pin, but not sure how many people would actually use it for that.