Hi folks. I´m about to build a 9´ med. action spinning rod for seatrout. I´m gonna use Kirkmans new guide concept (of course) and everything is clear exept for one thing, I´m on a budget and my customer is going to use braided line with the rod. My conserne is will the cheap hialoy´s hold up to the braided line? I dont want to do the wrapping again after a season or two becouse the guides didn´t hold up to the braided line. Will the hialoy´s hold up or should I pay the extra bucks for a set of zirkonium or silicone carbide guides, what do you folks think? They should probably do the job right but they will cost about three times the price of the hialoy´s. Your thoughts will be mutch appreciated, as allways. THANKS.
-Kim-

I've not had any problem with braided lines cutting my hardloys or alconite, but those are Fuji rings and I don't know the hardness or quality of other companies rings. I really don't think the braided line will cut any good quality ceramic ring.

I'm with William! I know charter captains on Lake Erie that troll for walleye & steelhead all day using cheap Shakespeare rods with Hialoy guides and braided line. The only guides that I have ever had to repair were bent/crushed from abuse

Mike

I'm with William and Mike. Have sturgeon rods that are twenty years old that have had nothing but superlines on them since they invented the stuff. Zero guide failures. There is nothing abrasive about these lines unless you fill them full of dirt and sand, and that's not your problem.

Agree with the comments above. I'll add that you can use Fuji Hardloys, but I'd spend just a bit more and get Fuji Alconites - these are high frame guides that go especially well with the new concept system.

I'm strictly freshwater and I've never seen a guide faillure due to line abrasion. Even on my early rods of 20 years ago used for pike, muskey and lake trout not only in clear lakes but muddy rivers with braided nylon, they are still being used. The only guides that have ever needed replacement were because they were broken/cracked, not worn. Just my .02 but I think that there has been way too much bruhaha over guide resistance to abrasion. Not saying that it can't happen, just that if anything it is the exception, not the rule.

So just curious, why then bother with more expensive guides? If the lower end Hialoy or Alconites will do just fine then why spend upwards of $200 for a set of the Fuji Cermet?

Granted they may be smoother hence making them cast better, but does that $180+ price difference matter that much?

Correction on my last post. The Cermet is a bad example, they are 60-65% lighter than the steel rings, so those will make a much lighter rod. But how about compared to SIC or other higher priced steel guides?

Is everybody just paying for the name and "prestige"?