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Aqua Products Endura LuggagePart Three
A lot of anglers will be using Aqua's superb range of luggage already, and the development team at Aqua have tried the impossible and to improve on what was already in the range. Well, we have been surprised and Aqua have done what a lot of people thought never could happen, and improved the luggage range. How have Aqua improved the range? After searching for a material that could supercede the Cordura fabric that has been used for several years for most of Aqua's range, they have sourced a new material called Endura, which has all the properties of Cordura, but is lighter in weight, has a dense weave, has exceptional abrasion resistance from the rigours that anglers put their luggage through as well as being more supple. This is Part Two of our review, you can find the first part HERE and part two HERE.
Aqua Endura RS Quiver SystemRS Large Quiver - 300mm x 1150mm x 80mm RRP: £59.99RS Small Quiver - 230mm x 1150mm x 80mm RRP: £49.99Individual Rod Sleeve - 140mm x 1650mm x 20mm RRP: £19.99
Aqua sent UKCA the Large version of the RS Quiver system for us to take a look at. The main compartment of the large quiver has been designed to hold most of the pramhood or umbrella style bivvy systems available, including the Armo, Pioneer and brolly systems also available from the company. During our testing, we managed to fit any bivvy that we had to hand snugly in the centre section without being too tight of a fit or being too loose. For those that like to simply usea brolly all year round, the Small RS Quiver is the perfect size to house a brolly system in the centre section. Aqua have also included a slim pocket on the edge of the compartment that will house a landing net handle perfectly and also give a little extra support and rigidity when a thinner shelter is placed into the main compartment. On the outer side, the Endura RS Quiver has two pockets placed on top of each other. The first is an open topped pocket that is plenty large enough to house a folded landing net head and a rigid weigh sling, the second being a flapped top pocket that is zipped for easy access to banksticks and other metalware. The flapped pocket hasmore than ample storage space for numerous banksticks - more than most anglers would be taking with them, so the angler should have little problems fitting smaller rod pods into the pocket as well. On the opposite side to the pockets, are a large open pocket at the base of the sling as well as two buckle straps and velcro straps. These components together ensure that your rods are secured to the sling in transit. The velcro straps will hold rods without sleeves securely and stop them rattling about when carried or on a barrow, where the two buckled straps are designed to hold rods in sleeves safely. On the spine of the RS Quiver, Aqua have fitted both a padded shoulder strap and a padded hand strap for comfort. Even fully loaded, the padding on the shoulder strap took the brunt of the weight and was comfortable when carried. The hand strap has been fitted at a point that balances out the fully laden system without tipping over dramatically either end. The Rod Sleeves have been designed to be used with the RS Quiver system, and they are different to the normal sleeves from other manufacturers. The Endura material has been used again with the new sleeves which makes it easier than ever to place rods into. The design of the Rod Sleeves is that of a 3/4 length which saves a little bit of weight for the roving angler without taking away any protection. Placing a rod into the sleeve is childs play - it literally slips over the broken down rod and secures under the reel by means of a toggled drawcord. I actually found it quicker to put a rod away into one of these sleeves than I could in a more traditional full length sleeve. The sleeve also slipped over the 50mm butt rings of my rods with no troubles at all and also housed the big pit reel on the rod comfortably. Due to the sleeve being 3/4 length, it meant that the rod butts fitted easily into the bottom pocket of the sling. I know that in the past I have had no problems fitting the first 3 or 4 rods into a quiver system in full sleeves, but that last rod always needed to be squeezed in and took longer to put away than the others combined! Perfect for those rainy days on packing up! Each of the rod sleeves also has two buckles attached above the reel section. These little buckels allow the angler to join the sleeves together in transit so the rods are not moving about too much. It also allows the angler to connect up as many rods as they need and to place a strap around the sleeves to carry them without need for the main quiver body should a short summer day session be on the cards.
Final ThoughtsThe Aqua RS Quiver System has not lost any of its appeal with the redesign, and if anything, will appeal more to anglers than ever before. The Endura material has made the system feel lighter than the the older styles without losing any of the robustness or features. Any angler that is in the market for a new rod transit system should take a good look at the RS Quiver range before making a decision. The RS system covers all bases that the angler would be looking for and covers them more than adequately. The ultimate in Quiver systems, has just got better! Aqua Endura Tristar400mm x 1900mm x 120mm RRP: £119.99
The Tristar is essentially a full length rod sleeve that can house multiple assembled rods, but still retain the ease of use and protection of individual sleeves. The first thing that you noticed from the Tristar is that it is not as padded as some other similar products are, so a substantial saving of weight is made. The lesser padding of the Tristar also makes it easier to place the maximum amount of rods inside the product and still be easy to zip up without the rods moving around inside. Aqua have decided to remove the padding in the areas where the reels are housed, as it is not really needed as the reels are more robust that the carbon used in rods, and this also removes a lot of the bulk, which will make it easier for those with smaller cars to fit a holdall of this design in to. The Tristar has been designed to hold 3 made up rods internally, and 2 additional rods can be placed on the outside should the angler wish. The internal rods are kept apart by a divider that doubles as the centre rod section. This centre section is zipped to hold the centre rod securely. Aqua have been generous in the material used as we had no problems fitting rods with 50mm butt rings and big pit reels inside securely with no problems such as zips being hard to pull etc. The rods held on the outside are secured by a pocket at the base on each side and two buckled straps. We recommend that if rods are going to be carried on the outside that rod sleeves are used to protect in transit. On the spine of the Tristar, a slim pocket has been fitted to securely hold a landing net handle - which doubles up as a rigid spine in transit taking a lot of pressure off of the rods themselves. As with the RS Quiver, the shoulder strap and hand strap are both padded and placed at optimum points for the best balance.
Final ThoughtsI have used holdalls of this type for a while now and found that most either offer superb protection that can be a little tight to fit the full amount of rods into or not enough protection meaning that the rods can move about inside, but the Tristar fits in the middle perfectly giving more than adequate protection to expensive carbons without sacrificing anything. If you are an angler that uses a barrow and a bivvy system that is too large to fit into other rod transit systems, then the Tristar is perfect for your needs. The Tristar is not cheap, but neither are your rods & reels, and they deserve nothing less if I am to be honest.
Overall ThoughtsOverall Aqua have done the impossible and improved the Cordura material that they used on previous ranges. The Endura material is significantly more supple and the bags feel lighter in weight, without sacrificing durability. The zips used are very robust and did not feel stiff or hard to open, and stood up to being rapidly pulled back and forth a number of times. Using a rounded tag on the puller stops any chance of the zip pullers becoming jammed which can happen with sharp angles between the zip itself and the puller tag - especially when going around corners (this should also alleviate any potential for the pullers to come off the main zip body itself). Any padding used is more than adequate to protect the contents, yet not over the top to create unneeded extra weight. Handles and straps are seriously secure and I doubt that any angler would be able to break these off in normal use. The stitching is aslo very good and any seams are secure. Even though the luggage itself feels very light in weight, you can tell that it is not going to be falling apart after a few sessions or if snagged on brambles. With some of the design tweaks, you can tell that the Endura range has been designed by anglers for functionality, and not to a budget. Aqua call the Endura range "The Ultimate in Session Storage". I cannot disagree with that description! For information on any of the products in the Aqua range, please click the image below.
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The RS Quiver system is nothing new to a lot of anglers, but the Endura revamp has reached the lofty heights of this rod transit system as well. There are a lot of anglers that will use nothing other than the RS system due to the versatility and minimalistic nature of the system. Based around the traditional rod sling, Aqua have made RS the sling system the "standard" by definition.
For the angler that wants full protection for their ready assembled rods or has a bivvy system that will not fit inside a Quiver or other rod transit system, Aqua have developed a multi-rod sleeve system that anglers have been waiting for for a number of years. Enter the Tristar.