I know pretty much all of the black fuji SS guides were discontinued due to supposed environmental concerns of the manufacturing. Has anyone heard if they are ever planning on retooling and offering black guides again? It seems like having a line of black (non titanium) guides would be in their best interest as a company.

From what I can tell Fuji doesn't seem to care what we want like Titanium Alkonite guides that they discontinued also. I would look at Seaguide from Rod Builders Warehouse, they have a black line that is very comparable to Fuji. They are good quality guides and I have been using them since they first became available (about 3 years).

I noticed St. Croix is using SeaGuide guides and reel seats on their new Seage Surf series rods.

Alps XN’s for the win

I really appreciate the performance advantages of lightweight guides. Paradoxically, a fair proportion of my fishing is in remote places where durability and reliability is critical. On a few applicable rods, that I use the most, I am hesitantly willing to cough up Torzite money. On the rest, the durability and snag-proof qualities of the SeaGuide offerings with silicon nitride rings is a perfect choice. That material is very crack resistant and slick.

Kendall,
The two ring materials you mentioned are the same, Torzite is SiN, it's been around being used in guides for decades.

As far as we know, Fuji has no plans to reintroduce black guides.

Jim, I hope you don't mind my saying, but I find that very disappointing. The BC grey is a nice color and goes very well on a blank with a natural finish, but black goes with everything !!!

Spencer Phipps Wrote:
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> Kendall,
> The two ring materials you mentioned are the same,
> Torzite is SiN, it's been around being used in
> guides for decades.


Yes, I know that. The SeaGuides cost less in titanium than do Torzites, and their SiN rings are sold for even less mounted in SS frames.

David, you are not the only one disappointed about black. It was very popular. Fortunately, the vast majority of builders and factories have moved to BC without too much trouble. Fuji spent almost 2 years trying to locate a DURABLE black finish that could match the original finish without violating pending environmental regulations. When none measured up to the original they developed the CC, BC and GM treatment.

And by the way, we have never been told the formulation for TORZITE® (so it's interesting that someone outside the company would know) but we can look at the chart and know it's substantially better than SiN. While TORZITE® and SiN are roughly equal in hardness and specific gravity, TORZITE® dissipates heat considerably better than SiN and blows SiN away on Bending Strength (how much the ring will flex before breaking - almost double SiN). Also, TORZITE® durability is achieved in a slimmer, lighter ring, and polished to a higher level of smoothness than any ring available. In my experience, TORZITE® is slippery, light, and tough.

I like the new BC finish better than the old black finish. I also think it is more durable, I.e. it doesn’t wear off as easily as the black finish did. I’ve been quite happy with BC finish. Just my opinion.
Norm

I also favor the BC finish, to me it looks more elegant than plain black.

American Tackle offers black frame guides. MicroWave, MicroWave Air, Vortex Air, TiForged, TiForged Air, Titanium Pentalite, Delta, Virtus XHD, lots of options with black finish.

Derek Beamer Wrote:
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> American Tackle offers black frame guides.
> MicroWave, MicroWave Air, Vortex Air, TiForged,
> TiForged Air, Titanium Pentalite, Delta, Virtus
> XHD, lots of options with black finish.

This is true. I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I don't like how American Tackle doesn't list guide measurements for each model of guide. If they listed the guide heights for their Tiforged line, I would try them out over Fuji. But I don't have extra money to buy one of each size to plan a layout.

American Tackle has all of the guide specs (including height) listed in their catalog, pages 87-103 in the 2021 catalog.

Richard Bowers Wrote:
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> American Tackle has all of the guide specs
> (including height) listed in their catalog, pages
> 87-103 in the 2021...

How did I miss that? I browsed through the guides at the beginning of the catalog and never saw the guide spec in the index. That's my fault. Thanks for showing me that

Also remember Zachary you can just give us a call! Between Austin, Alex, and Don they know pretty much all of it by heart!