Are the Titan guides heavyer then the Fuji Titanium

Doing a search and finding people say the Fuji's are lighter ?
Confused - what else is new



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2005 04:20PM by bill boettcher.

Single foot spin Fuji TYSG/American NIA
Size 20 1.75 / 2.03
Size 16 1.15 / 1.29
Size 12 0.70 / 0.75
Size 10 0.46 / 0.56
Size 8 0.28 / 0.37

Single foot fly Fuji TLSG/American NIF
Size 6 0.12 / 0.21

All weights measured in grams on a laboratory balance accurate to 0.0001 gram.

Fuji are lighter across the board. I've used the Titans for one rod and I'm not real impressed. The poor quality of the pre-ground guide feet and overall cosmetics have been addressed here before. I bent a NIA-6 slightly when I was getting a rod out of the boat. Instead of the ring tilting slightly towards the tip it was perpendicular to the blank. The flexibility of the frames has been touted as an advantage. When I tried to bend the guide back it went flush to the blank with almost no effort and both of the legs of the "A" frame broke. I replaced it with a single foot fly; those feet and legs are substantial.

Of course, the Fuji guides will leave your wallet lighter, LOL.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2005 08:28PM by Mike Kosiba.

Thanks for the info Mike
I know now. darn shame, I thought they had a seller there. Oh well.

Is size 10 a boo boo ?

Oops . . . fixed it!

Odd. I know the fuji's are good, but so are the titans. I've used two sets and what Mike says has not been my experience in any way with the Titans. They don't bend that easily. Maybe he got a bad set or something. The ones I got are much stouter but very light. I can't see having any problems with them and have more on order.

To my knowledge I've never gotten a bad set of guides from any manufacturer, so if that were the case here it would reinforce my questions about product quality. More than likely the break was due to the fact that the design of the NIA-6 is different than the rest of the single foot spin guides. the NIA-6 does not have the "vector angle base" shown in the American Tackle advertisements. The "V" frame starts right at the upturn from the guide foot and the metal in the "V" is very thin. Next time I try Titan guides I'll use fly guides for ring sizes below 8.

The fly guides I've gotten have all been of good quality. I just need to get them on the water with my test rods!

Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]

Maybe that is what they need? More time on the water and with more people using them . I'm just a little nervious now on using them for a customer

I did think they were pretty darn good?? And ya can't beat the price.

Use the search feature. It's a fact that they do bend, as noted in March: [www.rodbuilding.org]

What really makes me skeptical about reading the boards is you don't know who to believe.

That's what I like about you Billy
You shoot from the hip !!

The Fuji GOLD CERMET guides are lighter, stronger, slicker & cost four times as much as TITAN guides.
I always recommend Gold Cermet guides for top quality fly rods.
If a customer has to save money, I will use Titans. The performance difference due to weight & slickness is very slight, but noticeable.
All guides need some work on the feet, so the sloppy grinding on Titan feet is no big deal.
Just my oponion,
Gil

Mike,

I guess you missed the obvious difference in the looks of the the Fuji TYSG and the American Tackle NIA. The ATC frame has an additional cross brace in the middle of the legs it to give additional support. So any comparison of weight between the two is likened to comparing and an apple and an orange.

Even with that apparent difference in ignored in your comparison, I only see a 0.46 gram difference in weight and as pointed out in the last issue of Rod Maker, that is about the equivalent of the weight of a wrap done with size D thread and epoxy on a SINGLE guide. Further, the size 20 frame contains more than 50% of this weight difference. This guide will be located down on the blank in the butt section and will not affect the performance as great as guides located in near the tip. I would argue these guides are equal in weight for all practical purposes.

I have used many of the ATC NIA guides, I really like the appearance and cosmetics of them, I want my customers to see a difference in a titanium frame guides verse a chrome or TiChrome guide. Concerning the frame breaking, maybe you should take better care of your rods – who is to say the Fuji would not have broken under the same circumstances?

At least ATC preps the feet, I only need to dress then slightly. Fuji does not do anything, which as pointed out on this board, has led to people breaking the feet in preparation of them.

Further, a set of the Fuji TYSG are about $59 while the ATC NIA are about $28 – less than HALF the price. Makes me wonder why we have been paying so much for titanium guides for so long.

Nick.

Nick
You make me feel better about them Looking at the posts i say there are more Pro's then Con's on them.
The reason I buy Fuji is because of the Concept guide. They seem or are the only one with a guide that fits nice when doing a spin rod. With the Titans i figured some one is trying to give fuji a run at concept guides. Another thing I like about them

I only hope that if people do have any problems with them that they are not afraid to post ??

Apples to Oranges? The guides are for the same exact purpose - regardless of the reason the brace is there, it is there and if that makes them heavier than that makes them heavier. Mike just posted the weights of the guides.

If you fish, regardless of how careful you may be, crap happens. Especially if you fish on a boat, where everything is strewn about and thrown here and there. I don't know why or if the guide broke when bent back into place, but I do know when I handled one of them and bent it, then bent it back to shape - tehre was no problem, just like a regular stainless guide. I did bend a larger guide though, since these guides are new, maybe there is an actual problem with the smaller guides breaking when bent back and forth, I don' t know, I honestly don't care - but if there are other people having this problem, I'm sure AMTAK would like to know so they can make adjustments for future runs of these guides.

Why we pay double for Titanium Fuji's over Amtaks? The same reason we pay double for a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt and an LL Bean shirt. Both great products, but one is Polo, and the other is not.

I think it is because of the name and that yes they do make a great product, and have been around for a long time. But I also think some one has to give them some compatition

Nick,

How Mike takes care of his rods is something that you have no way of knowing! IMO, that comment might have been a little out of line and an assumption. I have no idea how he (or anyone) treats their tackle, but he is a long time, knowledgeable builder and is giving HIS opinion/experience with a product.

I am a fan of American Tackle products but I have yet to see a guide from ANYONE that can get by with "slightly dressing"!

Let's stick to giving honest opinions/experiences without questioning the poster's skills. It won't take much to have someone quit posting because of comments and then we all lose another opinion.

Mike

Bill asked for some weights and I provided some measurements I had made and stated the obvious . . . the Fuji guides are lighter. As for the frame breaking, I reported my experience and took a stab at identifying the cause.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2005 12:11PM by Mike Kosiba.

I think that I have tryed just about every guide on the market and Fuji and American tackle are not the only alternatives. I have gone to Forecast guides exclusively and am very happy with them, particularly the zerconium guides. They are a high quality guide and much less expensive than Fuji.

I am sure no one means any thing bad about you Mike. Hay I some times break quality fly rod tips ?? Things happen. Keep giving info. I for one want to know if any thing happens. They are new and may just have some bugs in them yet. Heck I still thin out my epoxy

If I recall from a previous thread, the Fuji's also stand a little higher off the blank. If you're trying to use a New Concept-type concept (sorry, :)) then that can be an advantage too.

As to the price advantage of the Amtaks, it's predominantly in the larger ring sizes normally located away from the tip, where the extra weight doesn't make as much difference.