I ordered Amtak titan ringlocks to use on my 9 wt that's in process and I'm so underwhelmed with the quality that i'm sending them all back.

The "pre ground" feet look like a wood chipper hit them, some feet are considerably shorter than others from excessive grinding not to mention the vast amount of discoloration from overheating, the rings are not 90 degrees to the feet on 1/2 of them and the standing angles vary about 20 degrees between guides... and that's just comparing the running guides. The casting guides had issues of their own. >

Just a waste of time and money, having to eat shipping and wait for new stuff to arrive.

I should have gone with my first choice which was the Fuji Ti SiC's, but wanted to try something new. I had heard good things about these guides... I guess I got a run that was manufactured on a friday afternoon at about 4:56 pm.

Had to vent.

I have used the Ringlock A-frames non Titan along with some ringlock fly guides both with nanolite rings on my RX8.  I did not have any major issues with mine, but I did notice that the preground feet were a joke.  If I had to do it over I would probably just go Alconite.

flechero have you ever wrapped your rods with Fuji's Gold cermet guides with titanium frames? They claim it's smoother than the Sic's.

No, haven't used the gold cermets yet...  I will at some point but that will be a higher dollar build so it will need to be something "special" for me.  I have a few utility rods left to build to fill gaps.  Plus, I'm not really a fan of the color gold so I'll have to take the time to spec something out to color coordinate.  

flechero,

Hey bud.....

Lesson learned, stick with the proven Fuji®...

The only thing American Tackle that I allowed on my bench is my power wrapper...

Tight Wraps!  

flechero,

Hey bud.....

Lesson learned, stick with the proven Fuji®...

The only thing American Tackle that I allowed on my bench is my power wrapper...

Tight Wraps!

They make some cool fly 'window' reel seats also.

Sadly, I read a bunch of good things about the titans at RBO.. I can only assume I got into a bad batch.  BUT since my mistake batch consisted of 3 guide types and 5 different sizes, I think I'll stay away from now on.  

Here is the rub- I "saved" about $30 by going with titans...  but now I've given back $15 in shipping charges, and time spent working on the feet, plus the re pack and ship and now the new layout with Fuji's once they arrive.  So if you count time, and I do, I've lost money and build time.

I can only say one thing.............

Standardize, Standardize, Standardize..

Oops thats 3.....

You are right, but since this build is a "one-off" for me, I had to order some stuff anyway and thought I might try something new.   :-/

All is well- I'm going to like it even better now, knowing I used the better components.

flechero,

Hey bud.....

Lesson learned, stick with the proven Fuji®...

Take a look at RBO and the post somewhat relative to this thread... http://rodbuilding.org/read.php?2,304662

You are right, but since this build is a "one-off" for me, I had to order some stuff anyway and thought I might try something new.   :-/

All is well- I'm going to like it even better now, knowing I used the better components.

I hear that, good to have those kind of backups....

I'm waiting on a couple of UL blanks (6' and 7') right know, been turning my TN grips for the 7' blank while waiting.

Coming in from Karen @ binghams...

Tight Wraps!!!