Lifetime? Whose Lifetime?

Read a great article in Fly Rod & Reel magazine over the weekend. The discussion centered on lifetime guarantees on fly rods. They argued that the cost is built in to the initial purchase price as the manufacturer has a history on warranty costs and can factor in this cost when setting the selling price. As a marketer, I completely understand this logic. Your costs are covered, but now you also have the added marketing benefit of a lifetime warranty.

As a buyer, I own several rods with lifetime (or 25 year -- hope that's not a lifetime for me!) warranties. And, I'll quickly admit that this warranty was an influencing factor in their purchase. I own a couple of TFO rods that were purchased both for their price/performance ratio as well as their lifetime no-hassle policy. Break a rod? Send it back with $25 and you get it repaired or replaced. Period. Ditto my Orvis Clearwater 8 wt. steelhead rod.

Initially I thought this mostly applied to lower-cost rods like TFO, Redington, lower-end Orvis rods. But then I remembered Scott has a similar guarantee. Unfortunately, both of my Scott rods were purchased used from a friend and the warranty is only for the original buyer. Oh well, small price to pay for my two favorite rods!

I will say the article was thought-provoking - and not just for fly rods, for anything with a lifetime guarantee. If you take good care of your gear, your odds of needing a replacement go down (unlike the clumsy fellow ... you all know one...). Would you prefer to pay less and forgo anything beyond the standard year or so?

-Sean-