Was thinking of using the new Titan spinning guides. Has anybody had a chance to make a solid review of the guides? And what is the ring comparable to...i.e. Sic, Hardloy ...etc?

Thanks,
Steve

I haven't noticed any improvement over the Alconite material which holds up very well, but they haven't been out long. The guides are a little shorter than the Alconites. A #20 Alconite is 1 45/64" tall, the Tiatan 1 34/64 ", the standard Am Tack and Fuji BLVLG are about 1 1/4 inches tall in a #20.

I have a set sitting in the shop waiting to get put on a ST Croix 4S70MLF but its been way too hot in my basement shop the past few days to spend more than a few minutes at a time down there.

I will post my opinions once I get them wrapped on.

I will say one thing.................The feet on these guides have been ground and Amtak left some really bad burrs on the undersides of the feet in the process?? Obviously most builders will notice this but for the ones who skip the little things.......................Make sure you check or your gonna have some blank failures in the future!!

All guides should be preped no matter who makes them. At least there is some compatition for Fuji

I recently purchased a set of Titan guides that will be used on one of the new AT Matrix crankbait blanks. Unfortunately, I was more impressed with the blank then the guides. As already mentioned the "pre-grinding" leaves a lot to be desired. The taper is blunt, there are noticable burrs both on top and bottom and judging by the color, the guide feet got very hot while grinding. All in all, I wish they'd just left them alone, as it is going to take longer for me to fix the problems then it would have taken to properly prep the guides if they hadn't come pre-grinded. And there is nothing I can do about the heat build up that may or may not have weakend the frame. The color of the guide frames is also slightly less then what is depicted in AT's ads, being more of a matt or brushed aluminum look and not nearly as glossy/shiny as the ads would lead you to believe. Unless I see some very amazing numbers when I place them on the scale early next week, it is likely these will be the last Titans that I'll purchase.

But the Matrix CB looks to be a really sweet blank!

I've wrapped a couple sets of Titan spinning guides and I love them. I see no reason to use anything else at the moment. They are light, attractive and above all affordable! The pre-ground feet were not perfect, but I prep the feet of all guides prior to wrapping so this made no difference to me whatsoever.

Wrapped up on a 3S66MLF2 and a Vetre seat assembly, they built into a very light and responsive rod. Amazing when you consider the price, and anyone that has seen it or fished with it wants one. Very eye catching. I would still like to see a smaller sized seat option on the Vetre handle though.

I personally could never justify the price of Fuji Ti/Sic guides. The Titans fit perfectly in my wallet.

Mark Janeck
Custom Rods, Campbellville, Ontario

I just wrapped a rod with the Titan Guides and have three other sets. I've got to admit, although a die-hard Fuji fan for years, these seem like a pretty high quality product from AmTack. The guides are very lightweight, lighter than Alconites of the same size. They are Titanium, so I didn't expect them to be a shiny chrome-like silver, Titanium never is that I've seen.

I think the Fuji's have a place, especially when a set of Alconite's is like $19, but for saltwater use and lightweight, I'm trying to use these Titans till I find a reason not too. And Mr. Meehan, if you read this, I'd like to see 1. A titanium top. 2. Arbors that fit the inside diameter of the Vetrix seat included in the package, even if it meant a dollar increase in price. (I just wrapped a XL blank and couldn't find a arbor with a small enough hole to fit the blank that was still big enough to fit the handle... or as Mark said a smaller handle), and 3. Black carbon tube option to match any blank.

Thanks,
Phil

The TItans are lighter than the Alconites. I don't think of them in the class of the Alconites at all. I think of them in the class of the Fuji solid TItanium Frame SIC. But at 1/3 to 1/2 the price. Great deal.

For example to weight:
Size 6 fly is .021 grams. Size 5 fly is .013 grams.

So, takse a hundred or more of these to make one ounce. Definitely quite light although not as light as Recoils which are about 1/3 to half of the above in the size 6 spin.

Personally, I won't be using the titaniums SICs due to the TItans.

Mo

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback.

The factory needed some ramp up time regarding the foot grinding. The process is totally different from grinding stainless steel. The next batch will be better.

As for a comparison to the Alconite ring we believe Nanolite is a dramatic step up in performance. The hardness, weight and highly polished surface and most importantly the strength make them the better choice.

The titanium frame was left natural by design. We polled several buyers and they liked the raw titanium look. There are methods of anodizing or electro polishing that may be an option down the road but for now people for the most part like the look.

Phil we are working on getting titanium top. It is a very different animal than stainless steel. The welding is tricky and just finding titanium in tube form has been very difficult. But we shall persevere. We haven't been aware of any problems with arbors until now. We will keep it in mind. Look for black Matrix tubes down the road. We're already working on that.

We believe despite the flaws, these guides are a phenomenal option for rodbuilders looking for the ultimate in performance without a prohibitive price tag


Warmest regards, Joe Meehan, ATC

Mo, I think you slipped a decimal. The weight I have for the NIF-6 Titan fly guide is 0.21 gram which is actually slightly heavier than the NIA-6 Titan SF guide at 0.20 gram. In comparison, Fuji Alconite size 6 fly guides weigh 0.19 gram and Fuji size 6 titanium frame fly guides are 0.12 gram. IMHO the feet on the Titan fly guides are way too big.

I've used a set of the Titan guides on a spinning rod for redfish and I'm pleased with the performance. Have to give them some time to see how they hold up in the long run. The flexibility of the frames may help them stand up to the normal wear and tear a little better.

In addition to sharing the prevailing view that the feet are poorly prepped, I found several "burrs" on the frames that actually turned out to be excess from the cement holding the rings in. They were easily removed with a razor blade. Joe seems to be committed to improving the quality, so I would expect these problems to go away.

Mike,

You are absolutely right. I was going by memory and moved the decimal one point too far left. The size 5 is .13 and the size 6 is .21 grams by my scale. THANKS for catching that.

I was going by the larger ring sizes to indicate that the Titans are lighter than the Alconites. (Using someone else's Alconite weight.)

However, given your measurement, in the SMALLER TItans, apparently the Fuji titaniums are considerably lighter for the same ring size. Do you or anyone have the Fuji titanium frame size 5 or 5.5 fly weight? Given that size 6 is .12 gram, wonder what size 5 would be. (Do they even make it that small?)

Thanks,
Mo

Joe
Are you or do you think any one is going to give fuji a run on concept guides? Seems the fuji's and your Titans are the only concept thats out?

Hi Bill,

Really you can set up a concept style guide train with any casting/spinning and single foot fly guides from a number of different manufacturers. Fuji markets the system we don't but we do offer guides that can allow the builder to use the design if he so chooses.

The foot length on our single foot fly guides is longer than Fuji's and this may be where the weight difference may be. We were told by a number of manufacturers that the foot on the Fuji single foot fly guides was too short. The guides were pulling out of the guide wraps despite a locking wrap in place. We lengthened the foot and eliminated the problem for the most part. They are also much easier to wrap on the rod which is important to production rod builders.

Warmest regards, Joe Meehan, ATC

For those that might be interested, here are the #s on the set of Titans I will be selecting from for use on AMCB782 Matrix blank;

NIC 12 = 0.9601g
NIC 10 = 0.6129g
NIC 8 = 0.4314g

NIF 6 = 0.1943g

NHLT 6-5 = 0.3842g

All the NIC and the NHLT #s are based on a single guide. The NIF # is based on the average of 6 guides. It is interesting to note that the individual NIF 6 guides ranged from 0.1865g to 0.2084g. Don't have any idea how these weights compare to similar SiC or TiSiC guides, but they are certainly lighter then alconites I've weighed before.

If AT gets a handle on the grinding (maybe even offer them un-ground?) I will probably take another look at them in the future. Personally, I do prefer the "matt" finish over what's depicted in the ads ..............

Joe,

Curious what kind of scale you have that masures down to 1/10,000th of a gram??!! Wow. Our $18 scale only goes down to 1/100th which I thought was already pretty remarkable.

Mo

The guides were not weighed on a scale that I own and to be honest I don't think there are many individuals who could afford to purchase one. It is frequently calibrated and certified and is indeed accutate to +/- 0.0001 grams. If you really want info on the brand and the cost, I will look into it and let you know.

Anyone caught a fish with them? Any performance reviews?