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The Orvis Helios 3 is one in all my favourite rods for throwing every part from bugs to large streamers. I caught my first musky on an 11-weight 3D, in order that signature white label and blue-highlighted 3D will at all times be particular to me. However after seven years it is likely to be time to place down the outdated sticks in favor of the brand new Helios.
Orvis’ new line of rods isn’t referred to as the Helios 4; it’s simply referred to as the Helios. I assume like Drake, Seal, and Rosenbauer, it acquired well-known sufficient that it solely wants one identify now. It is available in 29 fashions, from small stream to large recreation rods. I acquired my fingers on an 8-weight a couple of days earlier than the launch and put it by means of a casting check. I additionally interviewed Orvis’ director of product design and growth, Shawn Combs, to study what went into engineering the brand new rod line.
Helios Specs and Options
- 29 fashions (8-weight Helios D examined)
- Two Rod Households: Distance and Finesse
- Finesse has 2- to 8-weight rods
- Distance has 4- to 14-weight rods
- Made within the USA
- MSRP: $1098-$1198
Casting the Orvis Helios
Orvis says the Helios is 4 occasions extra correct than the Helios 3 in addition to extra correct than the competitors (extra on that later). I’m skeptical of daring claims like that from a producer as a result of, all too typically, they find yourself being a advertising technique somewhat than product innovation. But, I contained my skepticism till after I put the Helios by means of the identical casting check accomplished for the Best Saltwater Fly Rods.
Accuracy
I solid to 30-by-20-inch targets at 45 and 60 ft. Three testers took 5 pictures at every distance on the fly rod check, however I used to be solo for this evaluate and took 15 pictures at each targets. I didn’t miss at 45 and missed as soon as at 60 ft. I’m not normally that good, and it’s been an extended winter.
I then grabbed my trusty Scott Sector for comparability and hit the 60-foot goal 12 occasions, which is extra on par with what I’m used to. Not happy that I’m really a ok caster to go 14 for 15 at 60 ft, I saved casting the Helios to see if I might induce misses by making frequent errors. I attempted to overpower the rod, and it was nonetheless correct. I attempted casting large loops, and it was nonetheless correct. Any solid that wasn’t a tailing loop landed on or very near the 60-foot goal.
On the fly rod check, the Helios 3D scored a 4.5 out of 5 for accuracy, and it produced probably the most constant lengthy casts. Not surprisingly, it was among the many finest rods we examined. However, I do suppose the brand new Helios is extra correct and extra forgiving. I can’t quantify if it’s 4 occasions higher with a easy casting check, however you possibly can actually really feel that it’s extra secure and simpler to solid nicely.
Distance
At our rod check we get 5 tries to bomb a solid and measure the longest. I couldn’t muster a 90 footer and needed to accept 74 ft with the burden ahead floating line. It’s price noting all 5 of my casts have been over 70 ft. That’s fairly constant to what I’ve seen in rod testing. Rods don’t usually add ft to your longest solid, however the good ones show you how to persistently hit your max potential.
Ease of Casting
I believe the largest energy of the Helios is that it makes fly casting simpler. I discovered that after I tousled a solid it nonetheless went fairly far, and it was nonetheless correct. I additionally did a number of backhand casting and the Helios was nonetheless a laser beam. Then, I replicated needing to shortly change casting instructions in addition to choosing up a solid and capturing with one haul. The Helios remained constant by means of all of it.
Placing that right into a fishing context, if you’re exhausted on the finish of an eight-hour day and your kind is not crisp, the Helios helps you land a fly on a fish’s nostril.
The New Design
So perhaps Orvis’ efficiency claims aren’t all advertising, and so they really discovered a solution to higher an already superb rod. How’d they do it?
How They Made it Correct
Combs says they began by constructing testing gear that will objectively measure fly rod accuracy.
“We might consult with it as dampometer, which is basically an infrared digicam and machine imaginative and prescient system that measures the displacement of a fly rod’s tip in a laboratory,” says Combs.
They place an IR glow dot on the tip of a fly rod, and so they file the tip’s motion utilizing a digicam that information IR mild. All they see is the glowing dot on a black display screen. What they’re on the lookout for is how a lot that dot strikes round and the path of its motion. The purpose is to construct a rod that has little or no oscillation.
“An ideal instance of an excellent correct monitoring fly rod could be that if you solid it has no lateral motion as regards to the path of your goal, and all of the vitality goes into placing the fly line to that focus on as effectively as potential,” Combs says.
With these recordings, they have been capable of check prototypes and examine them with fly rods from earlier generations.
“A Helios 3 would monitor left and proper, a complete threshold of 1.6 to 2 inches relying on the mannequin,” Combs says. “And we’re down now to 0.4 [inches], which is concerning the width of a tip-top information.”
As a gear editor, I’m inquisitive about how I can get my fingers on a kind of fly rod testers. However I’m positive you’re extra fascinated by how they constructed a clean that dramatically diminished oscillation.
“We’ve actually targeted on hoop energy, which is the resistance to ovalization of the cross part of this skinny tube through the casting vitality switch of load and unload,” says Combs.
He used the analogy of bending a straw. It’ll flatten out and grow to be an oval then buckle. A fly rod can try this too, which causes your fly line to shoot barely left on one solid or barely proper on one other. Along with your fly line releasing in an unpredictable path, the ovalization robs vitality.
Growing the Helios Rod Design
Combs says they started superior idea work on the Helios in 2020, and he was already catching fish on it that summer time. The next 12 months that they had area testing prototypes prepared. That’s extremely quick product growth, however it wasn’t with out its challenges.
“It’s actually difficult to attain a softness that you’d need in a small stream 2 or 3 weight or 4-weight for that matter in a brief rod,” Combs says. A comfortable rod that also tracks nicely for surgical precision is one problem, however so was designing a flexible large recreation rod that may throw lengthy leaders for laid-up tarpon and large musky flies.
“You attempt to make them so there are not any compromises in any respect,” says Combs. That’s feels like telemarketing, proper? However legitimately, one of many coolest issues concerning the Helios line is we’ve acquired these advanced springs that we put cork, guides, and reel seats on. We’ve developed them in a manner that once they have the identical displacement worth, no matter how a lot you load them. So they’re very adaptive to completely different line setups, fly setups, fishing situations, and casting kinds.”
Sturdiness
Along with being extra correct than the Helios 3, Orvis says the brand new rods are extra sturdy. Combs says the important thing to growing sturdiness was within the clean materials, together with patented proprietary thermoplastic resins. He mentioned it was a matter of discovering a clean that casts nicely, attempting to interrupt it, after which refining the development once more.
Really useful Rods
I ended my interview with Combs by asking him to choose his favourite of the 29 rods. Naturally, he gave me his 5 favorites.
The Upshot
In my brief time with the Helios I can safely say that it’s an enchancment over the Helios 3D. It’s actually price attempting one at a seller to see for those who prefer it. The accuracy is spectacular, as is the general low swing weight and ease of casting. Will it obtain the legendary standing of its predecessor? Ask me once more in seven years.
