I just received 2 x Matchcatch Extreme 8'6" #4wt's for my nephews Christmas presents, accompanied by the maxcatch plastic reel (7/8 unfortunately, 5/6 not available). They came with the budget WF4F's, but I haven't setup the lines yet.
Rods look fine, reel seat is possibly the most budget I've ever seen, really cheap.
The reels are very basic, a few sharp edges, but appear to function OK, definitely beginners only, a used rimfly would be the wiser buy.
I just tested in the garden with a variety of lines, Hardy premium's in WF4 and WF5 and an old Orvis entry level WF5 (name escapes me, but it's really a 5.5).
I have to say I'm absolutely astounded by the casting performance for a rod less than 20 quid. They handle the WF4 beautifully, mid action yes, but perfectly acceptable tight loops and accuracy. Totally effortless, not the mid section heavy rod I was expecting. A blind test of on casting alone and I'd have said it's in the 60-100 quid range (although looking at the reel seat, I'd say 10 quid)
They feel responsive and no feeling of running out of steam when trying to throw a line as far as beginners will need (although my garden limits me to approx 20m of fly line). Double hauling the maximum line I could have outside the tip did max the rod out, no real surprise though, that would max out many 4 weights.
Handled the Hardy WF5 well too, slight slower obviously. I think I'll set them up with WF5's to start with, I have some old ones about.
The rod started to wane slightly with the Orvis WF5, but it is over weight and I wasn't really surprised.
I always advised beginners to look at a known brands mid range selection and pick something up second hand that's the previous model, such as a Greys G50, anything from Daiwa, or even a Orvis clearwater, they should last a few years and are known entities and fairly robust. That's probably still my advice if your budget is 60-100 quid, but if someone was unsure if they would continue fishing or if budget was tight I'd say go to maxcatch and upgrade when you need to.
Absolute belting rods for beginners - perfect actions to learn on and good performance. Way better in my humble opinion than a shakey agility (I've cast 2 models and both felt disjointed/imbalanced), but I'm in the minority on the agility I believe.
I've no idea how robust they will be, but if they are, they are a steal.