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Personally anything that has “bag” in the description or in its design is not the way to go. Hard side gun cases and arrow cases make dandy rod boxes if you don’t find a commercial rod box that you like.

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I would agree with this statement with one caveat, being I mainly fish out of 1-man flipover or run and gun outside. I didnt want to carry or pull a hard sided ‘rifle’ case when weight and space is at a premium in both scenarios. If you have room for it in your tub – it would have been an easier decision for me.

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Look at Striker ICE bag. I bought one and really like it has tubes to hold 5 rods.

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I also have this bag. It is the horseshoe-shaped one that is supposed to go around atv steering column. It is considered a soft case, but it has a lot of rigidity to it and can withstand a reasonable amount of pressure/abuse imo. I love that is lightweight; wish it had a pocket or two though. It doesn’t have ‘tubes’ per say, but it does have rod sleeves built in for 4 rods, and that works very well to keep rods from being tangled as well as accessed easily. Could probably fit 5 total, and maybe a small jig box thrown in. I leave most of the rod handles left open with no problems, but with 5 in there you might have to close one or two of them for zipper to shut easily.

peterson, I cant vouch for the strike force suit (I am sure it is great), but I have the old striker lite suit and it is incredible. I like how the bib legs are able to be rolled up and fastened to accommodate for a broad range of sizes so you get that perfect fit (+ it floats and has a built in beer holder lol). The only downside I have found is that there are so many pockets on the jacket, that I constantly lose items such as my car keys, temporarily. It seems like every time I go out I discover a new pocket! For reference, I am 5’11”, 170 and had to return a large jacket for a medium. Stuck with the large bibs and rolled the pant legs up a bit so they would not drag on ground & the suspenders are maxed out as far as being as cinched as possible. I ‘might’ have gotten away with a medium of those as well.

FWIW, I think Thorne Bros had a demo video on reel wrapping, and they suggested to put a layer of masking tape first to secure the reel to handle, then go over a few passes with electric/silicone tape. I think the masking tape protects the cork handle better from getting chewed up.

Two questions.. Do the eyelets seem fragile when lacing up? Would you recommend ordering a size up?

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I think Skeeter covered most of it but it is also my understanding that the SD models are easier to read under brighter ambient light conditions. Not an issue if your inside a house but they may read easier in brighter light (when your scouting) but I have never had the chance to compare them in outside light conditions.

I do like the 385C screen demensions
Bob

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Bob brought up another point here. The 625 is difficult to hole hop with during the daytime in that the screen is hard to view with the sunlight glare. You have to tilt the screen at the right angle and cup the screen with your hands to block out the sun light, and doing that all the while finessing the camera cord to pan around the bottom structure takes some skill/patience/and practice. Don’t get me wrong, you can still accomplish looking at structure during the daylight, but its difficult and this camera is best suited to be viewed inside a shack/flipover/ etc. where the ambient light is minimal.

I also have the 625sd and it works great. You can get an awesome picture in clearer water. “Night-time” viewing is surprisingly good, but once the sun is almost down you are SOL, and I am sure that is universal with all camera models (the lights on the marcum camera buy you an extra 10 minutes of viewing when the sun is setting imo). My guess is you are going to get the same night-time performance from both models as they use the same manta camera.

As far as the differences between the 625sd and 385c, it looks like they upped the resolution a bit with the newest model (800×480 vs 640×480) but other than that, I am not finding much of a difference. Perhaps like skeeter mentioned, they may have done away with some of the on-screen display features. I have found the camera direction reading to be invaluable; it shows which way your camera is facing in relation to your camera screen, so you can find your jig easily/quickly.