Clam Nitinol spring bobbers -Absolute garbage(pics)

[DTro]

There has been a recent history of products from Clam that IMO should have never hit the shelves.   Clam has always been great about replacing a defective item, no questions asked, I have no complaints there, but my problem with that, is replacing an item with another defective item is wasting both of our time and $.   I have no doubt Clam would replace any item I  have that is not working or defective, but I don’t want another non working item, so they just sit there or go in the trash.  
 
I bet Clam will replace those spring bobbers…..but do you want more of the same?  That’s just silly
 
I had the same problem with a Frabill Aqualife Bucket I had.  I went through 3 of them and finally told them to stop sending me them, it was a waste.   They did finally come out with a new version a year later, so I contacted them and they graciously sent me the new version and it works awesome now.  Another example of an item that should have never been sold.
 
I guess my point is if you don’t want criticism, then don’t sell items that don’t work, are missing pieces, or break after a few uses. Spend more time field testing and ask more out of your products.    And IMO the excuse that all companies are in the same boat, is weak one.  There are some great companies in the ice fishing industry that are trusted and when you purchase their items you know what you are getting. Ironically,  most of those companies design, build, and distribute all from within and have very little outsourcing. Sure their price tag is probably higher though too.
 
Admittedly, we consumers are partly to blame because we LOVE cheap Chinese dollar store crap and its great for the company’s bottom line, but eventually your products will define you and it’s a reputation that is hard to earn bac

[Purple Floyd]

Quality control is an ongoing battle with everything you see in today's world.  I bought Cole a burger off the dollar menu at Burger King and the pickle was bigger than the beef patty!  Funniest thing I ever seen!!!

Look at Auto Manufacturers.  I work on cars all day and if I were to buy a new one I don't have any idea which one I'd buy.  All of them have their pro's and con's. 

The fact of the matter is Clam is trying to get to the bottom of this ASAP.  I'm sure Burger King isn't looking into their beef patties for me...   

Keep calm and stay civil.  Things are definitely getting better at Clam.  They have a lot of new people working there that truly care about us!

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

I hear what you are saying but from the outside the viewpoint of Clam as a company has shifted from that of a company that makes the best products and gives the best service to a marketing department that makes little to nothing, spends more time over in Asia looking for low cost, lower quality products to import and on the forums their staff is looking more like company yes men than straight shooting pros who you can trust to tell it like it is.That may or may not be the case but it is what I see and hear from others when talking about the products.

IMHO if Clam wants to make sure they have the highest quality products and if they really want to make things better they would change the format of their internet pro staff marketing strategy so instead of banning guys from posting things they don't want to hear they need to look inward at how they got to the point where they have to have staff say things are getting better rather than saying they are the best in the business and backing it up.

[da man cave shack]

Typical, pass on by anything branded Clam....

X2 they are getting lazy on their quality.

[hnd]

Yes.  While that is not acceptable to us or you, I have forwarded this thread to the R&D team and we will get the bottom of the issue immediately, determine its scope, and get it fixed.

they must be real busy

[filetandrelease]

hey Clam Steve I'm curious ,did clam pull their sponsor ship on IS ? ,If so why ?

[hnd]

they certainly lobbied to get this off the main page as soon as possible.

[walkndude]

I hope this thread was moved in error and not to just burry it. I'm sure clam is happy now that the 5th entry on a google search for "clam nitinol spring bobber" points to a defunct thread.

Edit: It sure seems the intention was to bury it, there is no "thread moved" redirect on the main page, that is flat out underhanded.

[hnd]

naturally....it will die here. 

[3300]

could start a new thread in equipment that has no reason to be moved if the first post is about equipment to continue on OUR conversations

here is where he moved the topic moved question
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=265690.0

[ddlpole]

Last 4-5 years Clam has really went down hill from a quality standpoint.  I won't buy anything from them.  Loved my original FT Scout, that thing was solid.  Now they're all cheap junk.  Clam is no better than HT at this point.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Wow this thread is nothing like it was yesterday............. ......ending up just like my cold snap reel wraps thread

[hnd]

lots of topics in the general forum that should be moved to the proper forum but haven't been. 

[filetandrelease]

could start a new thread in equipment that has no reason to be moved if the first post is about equipment to continue on OUR conversations

X2 but sometimes things get shuffled but the euipment would be a better place indeed , good Idea 3300 spot on

[esox_magnum]

Heres a thought to Clam and all companies. instead of Pro Staff doing your testing give products out to regular everyday fishermen with nothing vested in the company then you will get real world answers and reveiws on a new product....Pretty much what some of use are doing but relying on biased opinions of Pro Staff and wasting our money on products that should not be out on the market...Not only did we spend money on a product that dont work now we need to go buy another product to replace it with and take a chance it works or spend more again to find something else.....Or maybe that is the whole Marketing plan....

[Corey Bechtold]

I am an "every day fisherman".  I have given my tips and ideas to Clam but it takes time for things to get right.  Just like the line guide on their Schooler reels. Just like their new rubber boots. Just like their changes in seat design on their shelters.  I know for a FACT that Clam is moving in the right direction and things are continually improving.  They have the right people in place working for them and only want to make things better for all of us.

I have one question for the guys with the spring bobbers...  Does the wire bend when you are outside in this cold weather?  The personnel at Clam have taken over 40 spring bobbers outside and haven't been able to get any of them to fail. 

Let me know,

Corey Bechtold

[walkndude]

Corey, if you look at my original post(which is now on the second page, second comment) you'll see I used these on the ice the first time and they performed the way I discussed right off the bat. Outside temp was between 17-20 F. The freezer pic was just for convenience, and let me stress I didn't freeze the bobber and then bend it over. I stuck my hand in and did it right off the bat.

Did the clam staff actually put them on a rod and hang a jig from them or did they hold them in their bare, warm hand? If you look in my picture I am carefully holding the bobber by the rubber mount because the warmth of my 99F hand was more than enough to keep the bobber from acting the way it did outside on the tip of a rod. You should check back with your contacts and confirm how they tested. I'm no clam hater and looking through the few posts I have here you can quickly confirm this. The bobbers are the first product I've ever purchased from the company.

If they do actually have non defective models I would happily give out my mailing address in order to receive a replacement and would be more than happy to post a picture of them next to a 15-16 in crappie to show my appreciation and satisfaction.

Thanks for your posts and your pm's. 

[pimplejigger84]

didn't the title to this thread start off something like: "what's a good spring bobber?" or is that just me? 

[pimplejigger84]

Ok, I went back and read the posts. When you make a post about something and you are looking for suggestions and then you buy something to find out it's not what you expected...in your case, "garbage" then it would be a better idea to start a new post rather than changing the name of the existing post.

Now all the posts that everyone posted, trying to be helpful are pretty much obsolete and don't correspond to the current title. It makes it confusing to people reading this for the first time starting from the beginning. I myself answered your first post on a recommendation for a good spring bobber. I saw in my record, "show new replies to your posts" and I know I did not post in this topic. It turns out that the topic was changed.

It went from a post about a guy looking for information on multiple products to a thread about bashing one particular one. Please next time start a new topic. Thank you.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Ok, I went back and read the posts. When you make a post about something and you are looking for suggestions and then you buy something to find out it's not what you expected...in your case, "garbage" then it would be a better idea to start a new post rather than changing the name of the existing post.

Now all the posts that everyone posted, trying to be helpful are pretty much obsolete and don't correspond to the current title. It makes it confusing to people reading this for the first time starting from the beginning. I myself answered your first post on a recommendation for a good spring bobber. I saw in my record, "show new replies to your posts" and I know I did not post in this topic. It turns out that the topic was changed.

It went from a post about a guy looking for information on multiple products to a thread about bashing one particular one. Please next time start a new topic. Thank you.

The OP can tell you more, but the original post/thread was some how combined with another thread. That's why your more then likely confused. How that happened.............. ..

[esox_magnum]

I just feel that the amount of Clam purchases and high failure rate of Clam products that somethings either being missed or it's part of the plan....Of all the Clam branded gear I have bought in the past 5 years only the rod locker and rod slicks are holding up well, the gloves, fan/light, lights, jig box, Kenai ect all have not made it a full season without showing signs of low quality,some only a couple trips...Most have been sent to the landfill and lessons learned....

[hnd]

Ok, I went back and read the posts. When you make a post about something and you are looking for suggestions and then you buy something to find out it's not what you expected...in your case, "garbage" then it would be a better idea to start a new post rather than changing the name of the existing post.

Now all the posts that everyone posted, trying to be helpful are pretty much obsolete and don't correspond to the current title. It makes it confusing to people reading this for the first time starting from the beginning. I myself answered your first post on a recommendation for a good spring bobber. I saw in my record, "show new replies to your posts" and I know I did not post in this topic. It turns out that the topic was changed.

It went from a post about a guy looking for information on multiple products to a thread about bashing one particular one. Please next time start a new topic. Thank you.

pssst the OP and the person complaining about the spring bobber's arent the same people.

[pimplejigger84]

pssst the OP and the person complaining about the spring bobber's arent the same people.

Ok, I see that now. I apologize, but when the guy commented on the Clam spring bobbers, why was the whole thread renamed and the conversation now is focused on Clam spring bobbers and how they are apparently garbage? That is the part that is getting me. I have been on this site nearly five years and I have never seen that happen before. If I just saw this thread now for the first time and started reading from the beginning, the first 20 or so posts are giving the OP suggestions for a spring bobber which have nothing to do with the (renamed) title.

[nodakclam19]

Honestly I think it is nice of walkndude to bring up the defective equipment so that no one else buy's it until it changes. The fact that Clam pro staffers and employees are on here listening to everyone's opinion shows that Clam is listening to what people like us are trying to tell them. I trust that Corey from Clam is making sure that they find out what is happening and when he tell's us that the new staff they have is a step in the right direction I completely believe him. But Clam does need change from the last 3 years and I believe that the company is finally starting to recognize that. In the fact that this post was buried and tried to be covered up is really lame. Thats bs on the half of the mods, because we want our opinions heard and hiding our comments and posts is not what this site is all about, advice for others.

[Piggyn]

In the freezer
(Image removed from quote.)

Nitinol is commonly used in the medical device industry, and does some amazing stuff.  However, this picture does not surprise me.  Nitinol CAN perform well at temps below freezing, but that depends on how it's processed.   

[outlaw5oo]

ill tell ya i read this article after purchasing a dh custom pantom rod with nitinol spring bobber and i was nervous, i spent alot of money on the rod. But after using it at 30 degrees and down to -5 with no change in formation or anything i love it. Maybe its processed different

[esox_magnum]

You are talking 2 totaly different companies, one sells a ton of product at a set profit margin while the other is a custom shop and it's reputation is on the line if they sell a poor product....My Titanium spring bobber on my Thorne Brothers Tripwire is still as it was new whenever they released them and it lives bent over in a rod sleeve when not in use, although I did have a friend who's did fail on him....

[outlaw5oo]

true but still nitinol just a comparison to anothers nitinol spring bobber not titanium

[DTro]

I work with Nitinol (Nickel Titanium) on a daily basis and know quite a bit about it.  It seems in this case that a shape memory alloy might have been used.  I can understand the reasoning behind this when using the material for specially shaped things like rod eyes, but isnt just a straight piece of wire?

I can tell you this.  Some of the medical devices we make can be shaped very easily when dipped into liquid nitrogen so I can totally understand why putting it in a freezer would do that if a shape memory alloy was used and heat treated at a certain temp.

At any rate, Nitinol is really cool stuff and you can shape into almost anything you want just by heat setting it.

Watch this

[eyefishermandt]

I just spent 120$ on three of the dave genz true blue combos with the nitinol bobbers and im having the same problem. As soon as it hits cold air it just bends right down. I contacted clam they wanted pictures so i just sent them pics thus afternoon. Still waiting to hear back. But i hooe they make this right for me cause i use alot of clam products. I for see me having to do some rod shipping. Cause i dont want them with this bobber.i cant believe no one noticed this when they were doing their product testing. Hell i noticed it right when i took it out of my clam rod locker. At first i thought maybe that was the point to be bent down like that till it kept drooping farther and farther till it was useless. Thank god i had one of my 13 wickeds with to save the day. There was no way i could have fished with that rod. Now they sit in my basement till i hear back from clam to see what i can do with them. Sry for the rant but i believe they will make this right to me somehow. Well i hope anyways!!!!!!

[ddlpole]

Maybe you just have the spring bobber on upside down?  Just sayin