ok, I am new to duck hunting... well "serious" duck hunting anyways. I have jumped ponds and sat around waiting for ducks to fly to a pond for years. So this year I am building blinds, setting out decoys and calling. What makes a call so much better than others? $100+ for some calls and $25 for others? Will the more expensive calls be easier to use (less air flow required)? I ask because I cant get the airflow to do a feed call on the cheaper call that I have. Wondering if a "better" call would take less air to use until I get better at calling.

I blew an echo timber for a while, but the barrel kept coming out on its own. Go to reach for your $140 call a couple times with birds working and only come up with half will make anybody see red. Eventually it happened outside of the boat and was lost for good. I prefer a single loop lanyard to the double, but this is a good case for one. Wrote the company, no response. Lost me as a customer. Shame too, because it sounded great, but just on principle I will never buy another.

Wow, that's not good. I've never heard of any bad press with Rick and the guys at Echo. Always had great customer service with any dealings i've had with em. Maybe a phone call would be more timely during this busy time of the year.

quakhead works for me. I don't call loud, but it has enough volume to carry without using a lot of air. Also has enough "raspiness" to sound natural to me. This is my main call, and its cheap.

I know for sure that they are not like that at Echo calls.... But you can't win'em all. But I will say this, inserts usually come out the barrel, not barrels coming out of inserts, also if you put any call on a lanyard you should loop both insert and barrel, like you said you don't like double loops so that's a chance you take, not companies fault, also if you write a letter to file a complaint then the way words are expressed can be miss leading in the way you feel so try to call sometime and they will talk to you,but know this,that inserts are designed to come out so it's really nothing you can do about that.

You are correct, the insert came out of the barrel. My nomenclature faux pas. While I know that they are made to come apart (to clean, adjust, etc) they should not just be coming apart on their own. Even if I had a double loop lanyard and retained both pieces, if I need it, go to reach for it and come up with two pieces, its just as worthless to me.

Like I said, I wont dog them too hard as I thought it was a great sounding call, and you're right, my fault for not wearing a double loop lanyard. Just dissapointed that I spent that kind $$$ and the time to write them an email regarding it and get nothing in return. Not even a "well sorry, bubba. Shoulda worn a tripple dipple retention lanyard." I wasn't offensive at all in my email, was just looking for solutions.

I ended up buying a call from an old codger up on Sandusky Bay. I was able to talk to him about what I wanted, he went in the back and turned one on the lathe while I waited, then tuned it to my liking as I tested it. $30. IMHO it sounds light years better than any other call I've blown, and has never come apart on its own. Point being, name brands mean exactly squat. The ducks don't seem to care.

Thats a nice little versatile call, Wal. Like the touch of squeak you get on the low end. Ducks get that when they have a crop full of food, pushing on their vocal cords.