What exactly are Am Tak's Halide ring? Are they suitable for heavy duty tuna rods (80 to 100# class). From other posts, it seems the hardness issue shouldn't be a problem, even with braided lines at high drag settings. Just thinking heat build-up could be an issue?? I have some extra ones lying around and wanted to build a heavy stand-up rod with them. I know Sic's would be the best but should it really make any performance difference??

The AmTac HALIDE ceramic GUIDE RING should be as hard and durable as the other typical Aluminum Oxide guides in the industry (Hardloy, Hialoy: Vickers Hardness ~ 1200). I do not have a VH value for AmTac's Halide ring, but I imagine an e-mail to AmTac (Joe Meehan, Darrin Heim, etc) could give you an actual value if you really needed one. ... There should be no way that super- braid line will groove that Halide ring.

As far as HEAT DISSIPATION goes, when under the gun of 80-100# TUNA rods, I'll let the tuna fisherman speak for themselves. ...

But as far as the STRENGTH of the FRAMES of these AmTac Halide-ring Guides go, unless you are using the braced 6-leg BOAT Guides Series, you may find that the Tri-Leg Double-Foot frames are not as rugged for 80-100# Tuna tackle. I think the Tri-Leg Double-Foot guides are rated up to 30# tackle.

Some guys are using heavy-duty, Tri-Leg framed, SINGLE-FOOT guides in the tip section (Fuji BLBLG-[AlOx] or LBSG-[SIC]), so, think about that as well.

The TURBO-style “folded-frame” guides are another alternative to the stiff & heavy, six-leg boat guides.

As far as the COST of (Halide or Hardloy) rings verse (SiC rings), or the cost of buying a new Series of line guides is concerned, just think about the expense of even a modest fishing trip for tuna for you. … And see if saving a few dollars on the rod components is really worth it. …
Good Luck, -Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA

Joe Meehan <[email protected]>
Darrin Heim <[email protected]>