It’s not often someone improves on a good, basic design, and you wouldn’t think that there was much that could be done to make a rod-pod better than the well-tried and tested conventional, triangular-legged pod. But Fox have.
They’ve taken rod-pods by the throat, shook the life out of them, and come up with a new design that is so good it is breath-taking in its concept. It is one of those major innovations that make you think, ‘why the hell hasn’t someone thought of that before?’ Such thoughts are always a good indication that something good has happened. First glance has always been important to me, and if I have to study a product to try to find the good points then I know it’s probably a loser. First glance at the Quattro Pod left me in no doubt at all that this will be a huge seller.
The problem with a conventional pod is that the buzzer bar is held on a central stem, which is not too bad when there are three rods in position at the same time, one in the centre and one on each end. But remove one rod from either end and there is a tendency for the pod to tip over. Only a good spread on the legs, and shear weight, prevents it from happening, which is why stainless-steel as a pod material became popular in the first place, long before it became a fashionable material.
Then came the goal-post design, where the legs are directly underneath each corner. But the trouble was, you needed a degree in engineering to assemble most of them, and there were so many odd bits and pieces keeping track was a nightmare. The fact that the stainless-steel package was one hell of a burden when you had to walk to a swim on the far bank didn’t help matters either. The Quattro is made from a lightweight, anodised material and has beaten the assembly problem with a double ‘Y’ design where the legs on the ‘Y’ fold out from the main body and lock at the appropriate angle to suit the length of the buzzer bar. However, you are not restricted to a straightforward double ‘Y’ shape. If the swim is not flat (and few are) each arm of the ‘Y’ can be extended, each leg can be extended within the end of each tip of the ‘Y’, and each leg can be telescopically adjusted and locked with Fox’s Cam Lok system. One way or another it is easily possible to find the perfect adjustment to suit any position.
The basic pod costs £ 94.99, the three rod Quattro Pod Kit, which comes complete with ‘Rod Lok’ goal post style buzzer bars, all packed in a very classy padded carrying case that will also hold bite alarms and indicators, is priced at £ 124.99. Then there is the four rod kit, as above, but with extra length and width to accommodate up to four 13ft rods positioned with the butt ring behind the bite alarms. This one costs £ 129.99.
