16 strand Braid

[EdBerg]

Has anyone here tried the new 16 strand braid line that is now being sold. Wondering if it has any advantages or disadvantages over the usual 8 strand braid apart from being rounder and smoother?

Cheers

[tunaticer]

They will be braiding individual fibres before long if they keep this up.
To be honest there is nothing at all wrong with 8 carrier braid.
Most likely done purely for higher prices and no real advantage.

[Volvo]

Isnt WTF braid made of shyteload of individual strands??..
Whilst it might not be everybodies favourite i like the stuff, especially the lighter stuff.

[Volvo]

Find most Name brand braids overpriced for starters.
With the old addage of you get what you pay not so with these braids.

[EdBerg]

Just an update, I ended up buying a spool of 130lb 16 strand and 50lb 8 strand off Alibaba and said to the seller that the lines will need to pick up a minimum of 110lb and 40lb weight respectively, they said no problem, got the line today and tested it and no prizes for guessing what the out come was, 130 broke at 60-70 and the 50 broke at 30lb, they even included a sample of 150lb and that actually was weaker than the 130 plus a couple of 130lb samples in different colours, no breaks were at the knots.

I am sure they have a wonderful wizz bang machine to test their lines however to my way of thinking, that if a 130lb spec'ed line can't support a 70lb weight then it is not a 130lb line, or am I asking too much? I am wondering if all the industry is like that as I have tested a number of lines recently and they pretty much all fail the same way. The only lines I have found to be more accurate strength wise are mono lines, which break close to what they say (although not all of them).

This seller was one of the bigger manufacturers in China and provides line for OEMs to be rebranded to their labels. So unless my 60lb weight is different than in other parts of the world then I guess the line weight on spools is meaningless! I also tested a reel that I had put on 18Kg WFT Gliss line as a backing line, that test was woeful, broke like cotton thread, would not even pick up a 4kg weight. Very disappointed in the braided lines, but goes to show that unless you use a measured weight to test your line's strength, all the numbers put out by these wonderful testing machines in manufacturing are pretty much irrelevant in the real world.

I put in a claim for a partial refund as I may be able to use this line on some of my smaller reels now that I know exactly what the breaking strain is on them, so will wait and see what happens now.

[Ronje1]

16 strand braid is good for attaching leader to line with no knots.

30lb 16 strand seems to be a bit bulkier than 30 lb 8 strand. Still very thin compared to mono.

16 strand means that its easy to open up the centre of the braid revealing a "tunnel" inside.

Push leader "up the tunnel" about 4-5 inches and tie a fastener where the leader comes out from inside the braid. Similar to finishing windings on rod guide bindings.

What you have then is a leader connection exactly the same as the "old chinese finger trap".

Rough up the leader intended to go up the centre of the braid with a few strokes of very fine steel wool.

I couldn't get 60 lb leader up the tunnel but 40lb went ok. 40lb no good for me though.

40 and under ok though.

[chris69]

Just an update, I ended up buying a spool of 130lb 16 strand and 50lb 8 strand off Alibaba and said to the seller that the lines will need to pick up a minimum of 110lb and 40lb weight respectively, they said no problem, got the line today and tested it and no prizes for guessing what the out come was, 130 broke at 60-70 and the 50 broke at 30lb, they even included a sample of 150lb and that actually was weaker than the 130 plus a couple of 130lb samples in different colours, no breaks were at the knots.

I am sure they have a wonderful wizz bang machine to test their lines however to my way of thinking, that if a 130lb spec'ed line can't support a 70lb weight then it is not a 130lb line, or am I asking too much? I am wondering if all the industry is like that as I have tested a number of lines recently and they pretty much all fail the same way. The only lines I have found to be more accurate strength wise are mono lines, which break close to what they say (although not all of them).

This seller was one of the bigger manufacturers in China and provides line for OEMs to be rebranded to their labels. So unless my 60lb weight is different than in other parts of the world then I guess the line weight on spools is meaningless! I also tested a reel that I had put on 18Kg WFT Gliss line as a backing line, that test was woeful, broke like cotton thread, would not even pick up a 4kg weight. Very disappointed in the braided lines, but goes to show that unless you use a measured weight to test your line's strength, all the numbers put out by these wonderful testing machines in manufacturing are pretty much irrelevant in the real world.

I put in a claim for a partial refund as I may be able to use this line on some of my smaller reels now that I know exactly what the breaking strain is on them, so will wait and see what happens now.

I've been using powerpro long before Shimano started selling it and I've never had a problem with it super strong for the breaking chain rating I've never had a fail the Chinese stuff is crap as you have found out just spend the money on a good brand and you will not have a problem all my reels have it on and even use it as my fly line backing,there's nothing wrong with braid if it's good stuff Edberg .

[NAGG]

I've used a countless amount of braids from the well known manufactures to obscure brands ...... the fact remains that it's all based on Spectra or Dyneema ….. both High molecular weight polyethylene made under different licences . The real art is how those individual fibres are braided / constructed.
The Japanese are without doubt the leaders …. they produce the roundest & smoothest braids based on Dyneema ( Toray ??) .
The US produce the next best
Stick with these and you will get what you pay for …… usually.

what advantages you get from 16 carrier braid that you wont get from the best 8 carrier braids …… smoother & greater abrasion resistance in theory..... but it still boils down to how well it is actually constructed / woven = that is the key.

I'm yet to use a 16 carrier braid ….. but I'm not rushing out to buy it either - its like going from 4K TV to 8K …… most people wouldn't notice the difference .

Chris