I've been fly fishing since the mid 1970s but am fairly new to Tenkara. In 2017 initial amusement evolved to being impressed how well a Tenkara rod was working for my longtime fishing buddy. Without every really trying it myself I purchased a moderately low priced DRAGONTail Hydra zoom rod that I got on their very low introductory pricing that is a moderate step up from my friend's rod. I was amazed and astonished how different and fun it is compared to my western graphite and bamboo rods when I hooked and landed my first good sized fish. Later on I purchased a much more expensive Tenkara Times zoom rod for use on smaller streams; both of which I've written about here. I had read the
I like this rod! -
I really like this rod! reviews from Tom Davis at
Teton Tenkara before both purchases. What's more important is that they cast and fish very well for me on similar streams, so it lends me to believe that Davis' reviews do reflect my own desires/tastes.
I haven't seen or fished the Goture so I can only go by the reviews on Amazon and YT, and try to discern how credible they really are. There is one very positive review from someone who has had a couple of moderately-priced Tenkara rods but may have mishandled or otherwise didn't take good care of them. There are a couple of bad reviews from buyers who discovered them broken out of the box and several more that may have been mishandled.
The Gribley YT review kind of sums it up. It depends on your attitude. You won't feel bad when you break a $20 rod if you mishandle it. However, I highly doubt that they would cast and fish as well as either one of my rods.
So here is a similar personal reflection. I have been a guitarist for 55 years. These days I play in a jazz big band and couple of local theater orchestras. I don't have a very large collection but have some very nice instruments that do what I want them to do (what the director needs) on the dates I play. If someone asks me how much they should spend on a guitar, I tell them they should play a bunch of guitars including high end stuff they cannot possibly afford. Then they know what fine instruments sound and play like vs the inexpensive ones and can make a real cost vs. value and priorities judgement based on what they hear, feel, and see (in that order).
After reading Davis' review of the Suntech GM Suikei Keiryu Special 53 I am interested in getting one from Chris Stewart at TenkaraBum but can't afford it right now in retirement. Fortunately I recently met a guy who has that rod and should be able to try it out this coming summer to help make that value and priorities judgement for myself. Perhaps there is someone or there will be a "Tenkara" gathering nearby where you can cast and fish some rods.