Orvis has released the fourth generation of its popular Helios line of fly rods — and claims the new Helios is a whopping four times more accurate than the Helios 3.
In addition, it’s 25% stronger with a “dramatically increased hoop strength,” which is handy when you’re fighting large fish. And yet it’s also 10% lighter.
Unlike the previous Helios 3 generation, the new Orvis Helios fly rods drop the generation number from the official name.There are a lot of great premium fly rods on the market, and all of them will cast easily and catch fish, but this will likely be the biggest fly rod news of 2024. Orvis has had great success with its Made-in-America Helios 3 — and a new and improved version certainly won’t hurt.
Helios Distance and Finesse
The Orvis Helios line has two variants, one tuned for Distance (D) and another tuned for Finesse (F).To be fair, the Helios line is really two separate fly rods that benefit from the same name and design cues. You can choose the Distance (D) or the Finesse (F) versions.
The Helios D-series prioritizes casting ease at longer distances, giving you a stiffer rod with more lifting power and line speed. It’s available in 4-weight to 14-weight versions.
The F-Series is optimized with a softer tip for better short-distance casting and presentations using light tippets and small flies. It’s available in 2-weight to 8-weight versions. You might choose the F-Series if you’re fishing for skittish fish in clear water or smaller streams.
Most Accurate Fly Rod Ever Manufactured?
According to Orvis, this graphic shows tip displacement movement of four competing fly rods (black) compared to the new Orvis Helios F 9-foot, 5-weight fly rod (green).Orvis is claiming that the new Helios is the most accurate fly rod ever manufactured. That’s a bold claim that seems to be backed up by a big drop in rod tip displacement while casting. What’s rod tip displacement? That’s the amount of wiggle you get at the end of a fly rod as it comes under load and then rebounds. In a controlled circumstance, a rod can bend mostly straight and return mostly straight. But in the real world while casting, nothing is perfectly straight and the fibers within the rod don’t uniformly bend and return, resulting in variations as you cast. Orvis says it has a created a method to test tip displacement in its Rod Lab in Manchester, Vermont.
“Four times more accurate than the industry-benchmark H3 is not hyperbole,” says Shawn Combs, director of fishing design and development at Orvis. “We’ve built the tools to quantify what’s been measured historically in our industry through feel. This rod is where instinct and innovation meet. The result is the most accurate rod in the world. We know it when we cast it, and we see it in the data.”
Check out the NEW Helios — including combo options — direct from Orvis!
The White Label Remains
The new Helios sports a half-white, half-gray label above the handle.For the Helios 3, Orvis choose to buck industry style conventions by adding a bold white label to the butt of each fly rod above the cork. This distinctive mark makes it easy to recognize an Orvis Helios 3 rod out in the wild. It’s a bit of marketing genius, but a lot of traditional fly fishing purists and gray beards aren’t fans of the white, even if they love the performance in the rods.
If you were hoping for something more traditional, you’re not getting it in the fourth-generation Helios: The white remains, this time with a bit of gray added in.
The Orvis Helios pricing is pretty stout, as expected from Orvis — and for a premium rod made in the USA: $1098 to $1198. If you have the budget for the new Helios but are on the fence, consider that Orvis commits 5% of its pretax profits each year to nature conservation.
