I build primarily freshwater, medium light to heavy spinning and casting rods for bass and musky, so I'll give my opinion for what it's worth.

Alconites - Best bang for the buck and never had a problem with wear or breakage.
SiC - Nice if the person paying for them has the $$$
TiSiC - For those with more money then they know what to do with and I don't know too many of those folks.
Gold Cermet - Maybe on that special rod of a life-time, but not one that I'd be using on a daily basis.
Baston H rings - Nice alternative to Alconites.
Baston "plated" zirconium rings - Lots of bling for those into that sort of thing.
AmTackle Titans - Light weight at a reasonable price.

I've always been a Fuji guy until just the last couple years. Having used some of the Baston and AmTackle guides, I can say without reservation that I'd put any of the guides mentioned above on a rod I am building without giving it a 2nd thought. My own personal rods pretty much have the alconites or titans, as that's what I consider the best trade off between "quality" and price. In the end, the person actually paying for the guides will be the one who must decide if they are "expensive" and/or worth the price.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2007 01:59PM by Joe Hepp.

I have pretty much setled on the Baston guides for all the rods I build (that zircinium ring comes in black too Joe! for less "bling" LOL) The H ring is VERY comparable to the Alconite if value is required. The Zirconium rings are priced right, they hold up to braided lines and abuse well, and I can even bling them up in colors to match certain rod builds creating a true CUSTOM look that have rings you can't buy off the rack-lets face it, us builders cant do a LOT with guides!

I also like the SIC, but I see NO advantage over the Zirconium at all.

DR

I think it comes down to wow factor. SIC and rollers might make a diff in big hardrunning game like tuna, just from heat dissipation or lack or heat build up. Braids are plastics and the easiest way to cut them is with heat. Alconites may actually be at a disadvantage in that respect because of their smaller mass... less heat sink action.

My bottom rods run only braid, and I think each time out I'd estimate over 10,000 feet of line goes thru the guides, and over 1/2 of that under tension. Plain old Fuji Hardloys have been on them. Rings show no wear, except that they are a bit more polished where the line runs. I see more drag and bearing wear on the reels, by far, than on the guides.

Billy V makes a good point on Ti frames. I am quite good about rinsing off salt each outting, but after some years I've seen rust in the guide feet when replacing guides. Usually where they were prepped by a factory somewhere, meaning ground and unpainted. Ti frames would certainly avoid that.

BTW, one thing I've noticed on my stainless guides is that the black coating on guides is fairly thin and easily removed. That could well be why/how some rust creeps in over time. My own little experiment will be to powder epoxy coat primer them and then overcoat with black powdercoat. I like to tinker.

Weight comes in on the UL rods, and there are some extreme apps out there. But it sure seems like customer demand, bragging rights, and pocket depth determines most of the usage of the pricey guides.

Unless for special usage, Salt, or confidance, ego trip. The Hard, Hia- loy's will do. Alconites are the next step up in VHS hardness and offer desirable frame styles without breaking the bank like SiCs or other high end fany guides can (1/2 again as much) But if your out for lightness..... like we all want and preech and say is the goal way out on a longer tip section, SF coated (TiCh TiGold) wire fly guides are harder, slicker and much lighter, with a larger I.D. per comparable ceramic ring size than any other alternative and I have not heard an good argument against using them yet. The SF wire fly guides might not take the abuse, but as the ceramic rings get harder they break with less impact and are more suseptable to cold, so it 6 of 1 in that regard, if you have to replace a guide due to abuse/impact both can happen just as easily

Chris....I'll add a caveat. The Ti coatings may well not hold up. I've forstner and drill bits where the coating worn thru. The shops that do TiCH even advertise that it is removable for replating, which industrial guys apparently need to do. More than tough enough for fishing? Perhaps. A coarser braid like fireline, and or decent pressure applied and I would certainly wonder. Even the industrial guys go ceramics over TiCH when cost or shock is not a factor,

Would be interesting to actually test the different rings and coatings. Really, what you get now is largely marketing hype and a few random experiences.

from what I have heard most the ceramic and coatings you can't remove with a file, like the gold cermet coated guides, and I think fireline is the tamer of the two types of super lines, in that pure braids can flaten out and fine sediment can get into the braid and then grind away at a surface. They fused and coat fireline so it does not do this, so I think it would have a less detrimental effect on the guide. All I have basically ever used is TiGold, even with spider wire braid they only cost about 4 cents more than Tich which I figured the difference was the gold content. I expected the Tich to be just as strong because they use those guides on high end fly rods alot and some high end fly line microscopically has regular indentations to reduce friction, the trouble is... dirt gets into those crevises or coats the line making it sink after a while (and need cleaning) just like the sediment being trapped in the braided spiderwire, that fine one and two micron sediment is used polish diamonds!

I'd also like to know how well Tich coatings hold up. I usually have to build theme rods and Tich coated framed guides are pretty expensive, if they would offer them, so I haven't had a rod themed with all Tich as a matching highlight theme, finding met. Tich thread to highlight threads isn't possible so I stick to gold, SS , or blk. Haven't had trouble with wear on TiGold. You'd think if Tich coating wore off SF wire fly guides then St Croix who see a huge amount of returns eventually as that is not operator error, and why would you put on guides that would wear off the protective coating over time and then cut the underlying weaker metal? thinking that your company would be protected under the normal wear and tear clause in a warranty, to me it would not apply. Good point about the machine tools wish I knew if it applied here, put up a thread