Well, FINALLY got my hands on a Villain

[STEEZMAN2]

Was it worth the wait....nope
My brother showed up at the door with a new 7MH Villain and T3 Ballistic combo.

The rod looks very nice, build quaility was perfect. But, for a 7'MH it was much heavier than anticipated....balance wasn't bad but just heavy. Felt like it had a good amount of backbone and power to it.

The biggest problem is that within 1 minute of "jigging" the combo in my kitchen, my pinky finger that was sitting on the "extra" exposed blank area under the trigger started to hurt. I don't have big hands and my pinky was far from fitting into that groove behind the trigger. My finger was only fitting half way into that groove. Hope that makes sense. At any rate, as your gripping the combo, your constantly pushing the pinky halfway into that groove and its very uncomfortable for me. Glad he bought the rod first

Strapped the Ballistic onto an 8' compile X with the air beam seat and that was a match made it heaven ergonomically and cosmetically. Didn't get to cast the Ballistic yet, but if I like it, one's going on the compile X.

[smalljaw]

I don't have a Villian but were you trying it out with the reel attached? I ask because the T3 Ballistic is a good bit heavier than the MGX which I think the rod was designed for. Working a worm or a jig for me with a Fuji ECS reel seat is fine but forget moving lures like spinnerbaits as the trigger really rubs between my middle two fingers and after a full day my hand is swollen and sore so I stay away from rods with that seat for moving lures. I said that because the Villian has a completely different design and maybe jigging doesn't feel right but maybe using it for a moving lure it might be great but only you would know. The funny thing is there are a lot of others complaining about the weight of these rods and I don't remember Abu Garcia saying that these are going to be amazing light or any other catch phrase touting the rod as light weight as the selling point.

[21farms]

I don't have a Villian but were you trying it out with the reel attached? I ask because the T3 Ballistic is a good bit heavier than the MGX which I think the rod was designed for.

i think the opposite is true. my 7'0" MH/F villian without a reel attached balances at 8-inches in front of the mid-line of the rod's reel seat. with my porkiest baitcaster attached, the daiwa zillion CC at 8.8 ounces, it balances at just under 3 inches in front of the mid-line of the reel seat. with the 6.7 ounce lew's TPSS attached, the combo balances at 5-inches in front of the mid-line of the reel seat. the MGX's super light 5.4 ounce weight would only push the balance point further down toward the tip.

The funny thing is there are a lot of others complaining about the weight of these rods and I don't remember Abu Garcia saying that these are going to be amazing light or any other catch phrase touting the rod as light weight as the selling point.

below are some cut and pastes from the abu garcia villain webpage before the villains were actually released (http://www.abugarcia.com/products/rod/villain) with the relevant points highlighted. after they were released, this is the new page: http://www.abugarcia.com/products/rods/villain...it is nearly the same except they removed the rod weights from the table:

"The advancement of cutting edge, ultra-lightweight technology is built into the core of the Villain rod. By using our unique low resin content graphite, the Villain takes on a jaw dropping balanced and lightweight feel."

"Low Resin Content graphite utilizes advanced resins that allow less resin to be used in the construction of the graphite rod. This allows the construction of a rod that is lighter in the hand and more sensitive than traditional graphite rods, without sacrificing strength."

"Titanium alloy guides with Ti inserts allow for a super lightweight guide giving the ultimate in rod performance"

"Carbon wrapped guides reduces weight"

they then listed the weights of all the rods in the villain series in a table.

i specifically bought my 7'0" MH/F villain because of the above claims. i was surprised and disappointed that my rod came in at 5.2 ounces, not the 4.7 ounces abu garcia had previously stated. i have plenty of "traditional graphite rods" of similar length, power and action that weigh the same or are lighter than the villains contrary to their claim. i emailed abu garcia about this discrepancy 1.5 weeks ago and never heard back which was another disappointment because they had responded within a day or two to two previous queries. fortunately, my 6'9" ML/MF villian is pretty much right at their 4.1 ounce advertised weight.

[cumara]

. The funny thing is there are a lot of others complaining about the weight of these rods and I don't remember Abu Garcia saying that these are going to be amazing light or any other catch phrase touting the rod as light weight as the selling point.

Regarding the Villain being touted as a light rod, Abu actually makes multiple references describing it as a lightweight rod.

If you go to the Villain page on the Abu website, the headline says "The Next Generation of Lightweight Design and Sensitivity".

The first sentence of copy says "The advancement of cutting edge, ultra-lightweight technology is built into the core of the Villain rod. By using our unique low resin content graphite, the Villain takes on a jaw dropping balanced and lightweight feel.

"Low Resin Content graphite utilizes advanced resins that allow less resin to be used in the construction of the graphite rod. This allows the construction of a rod that is lighter in the hand and more sensitive than traditional graphite rods, without sacrificing strength."

"Carbon wrapped guides reduces weight"

"Titanium alloy guides with Ti inserts allow for a super lightweight guide giving the ultimate in rod performance"

And if you watch the video on that page there is yet another reference to it being light weight..."If you're looking for the ultimate in light weight outfits, try matching the Villain with the new MGX."

I don't think any company should list product weights if they are not even close to being accurate. A small variance in weight is understandable, but when the difference is this significant it is false advertising. I've got the 7'1" Spinning claimed at 4.0 and it is 4.7 oz.

[crank-beta]

If you have to pay retail it sounds like these rods are not worth while. Considering you can get a recon for the same amount of money. If you can grab them for around $120 it is probably a good rod for the price. They definitely dropped the ball on this one considering it was supposed to be paired with the mgx.

[dcorp]

I have a 6'6" MH rod and I like it, but I got it for $101 from amazon. If I paid retail I would be a bit dissapointed. It weighs 4.2 oz, for a 6'6" rod I would not consider that ultra-light weight. Like all Abu's the MH is very stout and I am using it for fishing plastics in an near cover. The thing I do like about the rod is the sensitivity is great. I have a Revo SX on it with powerpro braid. It's not a light combo by any means but it has tons of power to get large fish out of any structure. It balances less than an inch from the top of the reel seat, again that is with a SX that weighs over 9 oz with braid in it...

[NYBASSIN]

I had my mgx mounted on a cumara while waiting for the release of the villain. I loved the combo,and knew it would be hard to split up but i really wanted to comete the abu combo. When the villains were released I was a little underwhelmed and left them on the shelf. A few weeks later i figured what the hell I wanna buy a villain so.i boaght the 7'1 MH and brought it home. Comparing the two side by side the cumara combo felt so much nicer. I returned the villain within one hour of buying it. Needless to say I was very dissapointed because it looked great together and I really wanted it to work out but i just couldn't do it.
Z
As for the recon comment i have the 714 and 764 and would also much prefer the recon.

If they would have.actually made them light like were talking about for months and put.ceramic inserts instead of metal they wojld be nice rods but they didnt so i will most likely never own a villain.

[smalljaw]

I apologize, I didn't really pay attention to all the hype, the rod looked like a winner and a little heavier isn't bad but a half ounce heavier than advertised is a bit much, it makes me appreciate my 6'10" MH Fenwicks 3.83oz. a whole lot more. So what is causing the added weight, is it the guides or the wraps or both? If the balance point is too far forward it would have to be something with the guides wouldn't it?

[KCL655321]

I'm rather disappointed in them as well, much more impressed with the 7' MH Veritas Micro(to be mounted with TP1SH) I just got the other day than the 7'1" MH Villain. Maybe it will blow me away when I hook into some fish, but the Villain is about as thick as some of my flipping sticks in the butt with not much tip & the balance with the MGX is subpar IMO too. Seems like they asked Hank Parker about balancing their rods, since if you hold the rod above the reel instead of palming, it balances a lot better, just like he fishes. I wish someone would just put built in balancing kits on their rods so people could balance out their rods how they want, not rely on someone else who might like a rod balanced differently or is using a very different reel from what you are using. It cast pretty well, even with lighter weight(1/4oz plug) stuff, but with how stout it is, it's gonna be exclusively a single hook(no trebles, unless they're really thick wire) rod.

I had planned on using the Villain as my primary jigs/plastics rod & the Veritas as my swim jig/chatter/buzzbait rod, but I'm almost thinking of switching them. On the water will be my make or break my decision on the rod, but first impressions haven't been that great, especially is I had paid full MSRP(or even close to it), which I didn't.

[21farms]

oops, i just realized i stated the rod length wrong...i have the 7'1" MH/F villain, there is no 7'0" MH/F.

anyway, my 7'2" MH/F cumara weighs 4.3 ounces and balances at 9" in front of the mid-line of the reel seat with no reel so the villain is only a little bit more tip heavy. my powell 723MHCEF actually weighs 0.2 ounces more than the villain but i can hardly notice the extra weight. as i theorized in my villain first impressions post, i think the reason the villain feels a lot heavier to me is because of the size and shape of the short, skinny, tapered handles...i don't get as good a grip on them so i think i'm squeezing them harder which tires out my hand/arms more...kind of the same effect of driving a car on a windy road with a nice, fat leather-wrapped steering wheel compared to a car with a skinny, hard steering wheel

i noticed that the blank on my 7'1" villain is quite a bit thicker than my other 7'0"-7'3" rods, leading me to believe that perhaps abu at the last minute added another layer to the blank core in an effort to strengthen the rod if they were experiencing problems with breakage during the field testing. this would explain the change in weight and the long gestation period/delay before the rods actually hit the market. of course, that's just a WAG

[Johnny A]

...
Seems like they asked Hank Parker about balancing their rods, since if you hold the rod above the reel instead of palming, it balances a lot better, just like he fishes.

....

I hold the rod above my reel for 2 reasons:

Line between my index finger and thumb
Blank resting on my middle finger

Better sensitivity for strike detection.

That being said, I'm wondering how much of this is related to learning baitcasting on a round reel then switching to low profile as opposed to starting out with low profile.

[agggh]

Ive played with them at the store, but I didnt like the reel seat on them. They're just not for me.

I recently broke my verdict and was wondering if abu would let me upgrade to a villian, but honestly, I dont think its worth upgrading after feeling the villian.

On a side note, I emailed abu about a week ago on how to go about their warranty service and I never got a response.

[KCL655321]

On a side note, I emailed abu about a week ago on how to go about their warranty service and I never got a response.

I'd call. I've emailed Wiley X twice about getting a new nose piece & they never responded. I would've called them, but I can't find the glasses now, so I bought a new pair. Pure has a great rep for CS & they've been great the few times I've had to deal with them, although I always called, not emailed.

I finally got out to fish with my MGX/Villain combo. It was not very forgiving casting a 1/8oz t-rigged speed worm, which is a pretty heavy, castable soft plastic yesterday, but it worked great today throwing paddletails on a 3/8oz head. Hooked into a 4lber & the rod performed really well, plenty of muscle as expected, but the tip was a bit better than I was expecting, as she was pretty hot & surged a couple of times & it gave just enough while maintaining good control. Pretty sensitive too, as it was more of a slurp bite than a slam when she took it. Downside is I just got the Powell TW paddletail rod for that duty on Black Friday, so redundancy attained. I'm sure I'll find a purpose for it, but I don't see it being my 1/4-1/2oz t-rig/jig rod like I was planning on it being.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j209/ ... M_0233.jpg

[smalliesteve]

Handled the Villians in-store and didn't like the reel seat at all. Trigger flexes with little pressure and the lock nut is sloppy as all-get-out on the seat threads. Never liked the lock nuts on Abus anyway. My money's staying in home-builts.

I will say the thread work I saw looked much better than the verdicts do.