Query for the esteemed panel of experts on board.

When should a roller tip rod be used vs a normal tip ?

Is it related to line weight - if so which ?

Pland

AC put it perfectly.

I use a roller tip on my 15kg. I know plenty of people though that are dead against rollers as they need to be lubed regularly and many people don't.

no too ways about it, roller tips are good when straylining as well. almost no drag at all, but I wouldnt go out of my way to get them if I prefered another rod

I dont use rollers or roller tips on anything under 37kg
main reason is 24 kg and under line can fairly easily (ultra easy if running braid) go between the roller and the frame - mainly on the tip
and even more so on cheap factory roller tip rods, some of those have a hideous gap between the frame and roller, some what a kin to the 'Grand Canyon'

2 -When the line loops around the tip (mainly when trolling) especially light lines it gets factured pretty quickly against the frame as the edges on the top side of a roller frame are a lot sharper than a good quality guide frame, which generally have a flared support laying flat side not edge on.

Dig into your pocket and go for Gold Cermets on 24 kg and down - for some reason a lot of people can handle paying the bucks for a quality international or Tiagra reel but when it comes to rods they go cheap to average -- But whats the point of having and ultra good drag if all you are going to do is run the line over a poor performing blank and average set of guides ?

Not sure how cermets handle things, other than I have run them on every rod I own under 37kg for the last 7 yrs without drama, I just built Graphite USA's new 130# standup blank with a set of them - mainly because Im running the new IGFA rated 130# braid, but its been tested with both both braid and mono and the guides handled it faultlessly. As with any good custom rod the guides should be double under and triple over bound in a A thread

And if its money your worried about, skip one or two days on the water and put the extra into your tackle, no point going on an extra trip or two only to lose the fish to poor tackle and if your lucky enough to hook a decent one its odds on the cheap tackle will let you down---

Thiers a plague on the walls of a few tackle stores around that says it all "You can get away with cheaper tackle. But so will the Fish"

why not to use cheap blanks thats a whole new post

Yes Yes Yes its finished, -- i hope you dont mind im trying this new method of supa gluing the guides on with no thread , bandaids to hold the reel seat on and chisel with a sledge hammer to knock a gimbal shape into the end of the blank

Now Stu, ok I hit the g instead of the q so Its plaque anyway for those of you who cant help themselves and luv to crank away, just buy a pack of $2 rubber tip savers they will fit snuggly onto your swivel and save both your rollers and guides.
or you could use a felt tip line marker or nail polish so you know when you have say 10' left to wind ?
or do what 90% of fishos do and watch for the bloody swivel!!!!!

Fuji makes an AWESOME guide for that. it's a SiliconCarbide material. Harder than hell and disipates heat better than the space shuttle tiles.

Carbide is the next hardest material known to man. Diamond is first and Carbide is second

Fuji SiC tips!!!!

http://www.fujitackle.com.au/

One tip i picked up from someone off the forum, GT or GH someone anyway was to use a soft bead above the swivel. Great if the light is poor.

Flash yes but will it make a bloke a better fisherman?.