I think furled leaders and braided leaders cast great.
But the furled leader construction is limiting in that the furled leader is a set length and cannot be changed. To this leader is added the tippet section. For example, let us imagine you want a 5X 9 ft leader for 9 ft rod. With a standard leader, you buy or construct the 9ft 5X leader which includes the tippet as part of the leader. With a furled leader, you buy the furled leader and then add the tippet. When buy a furled leader you are really buying the furled section and adding the tippet material on your own.
To compensate for this, most furled leader manufacturers offer multiple options for the base leader because the furling process allows the manufacture to do so. So furled leaders are more specialized AND more confusing to the newbie. There are dry fly furled leaders, nymphing furled leaders, and big fly furled leaders; all of which are matched to the line wt and and all of which come in various lengths. This results in dozens of possible choices and the manufacturer do help in guiding the customers.
If you want a furled leader you can't do much better than Cutthroat Furled Leaders.
Products Archive | Cutthroat Furled Leaders | Braided Leaders | Fly Fishing
Since furled leaders are more specialized they should perform better for their designed purpose. I believe in part, this is the reason they do get high marks from users.
I happen to prefer the simplicity of the standard leader. Standard leaders in my opinion do have some advantages of their own.
Furled leaders stretch and that hinders strike detection when straight line nymphing AND it delays the strike. You can't feel what the fly is doing with a furled leader as you can with a mono leader. Furled leaders also delay the reaction time a bit when strike indicator nymphing.
Also with a mono leader, I can put the sighters in any position in the leader. Not so with a furled leader. Any colored section is built into the leader when furled and cannot be changed.
That is why competitive fly fishers do not use furled leaders.
With a mono leader I can switch from nymphing to dries and use the same leader. I can modify a standard leader by adding more butt section and this effectively lengthens the leader. If I want to make a 9 ft leader with a 3 ft tippet into a 16 foot leader with a 5 ft tippet, I add 5 ft of butt and swap the 3 ft tippet for a 5 ft tippet. I can do that without having a 16 leader with me.
You can't remove 3 ft of tippet from a 6 ft furled leader and add 10 feet of tippet and expect it to cast the entire 10 ft tippet section. You need to have brought a longer base furled leader matched to the line wt. of the rod.
Furthermore a standard leader is the same leader whether you are using a 3 wt rod or a 5 wt rod or a 7 wt rod. Not so with furled leaders. You will likely need to buy separate leaders for the 3, 5, and 7 wt rods; furled in different lengths; and separate leaders optimized for dries, nymphs, and streamers. If you fish multiple line wts, and multiple leader lengths, and use different flies and techniques ---> you will need a lot of furled leaders and you will need a system to organize them. My personal decision was that it was not worth it for me.
I can use floatant on a mono leader and I can easily remove the floatant if I need to which is not easy to do with a multi-stranded furled leader.
If leaders we were perfect and leaders never got tangled, mono and furled leaders would be equal in this regard. Mono stretches and a mono furled leader can tangle on a bounce back from a snag or broken tippet. Thread furled leaders should not bounce back. Untangling a furled leader is a nightmare.
Furled leader catch and holds onto algae and grit more than mono when fishing in discolored streams. I don't even like knotted mono leaders in these waters because the knots hold onto stuff.
Furled leaders do have an advantage in shock absorption to protect weaker tippets.
I know that furled leaders last an entire season, but truthfully, I have used a mono leader for several seasons as well. All you need is the ability to either rebuild a leader or use a tippet ring. So if you can't or do not want to rebuild a leader, a base furled leader will last longer than a standard leader. But if you use a tippet ring on the end of the base section of a standard leader, regular leaders will also last an entire season since you are tying the new tippet onto the ring instead of repeatedly shortening the base leader as you tie on new tippets.
I think standard vs furled is one of those decisions in which the individual must decide whether the castability and tippet protection over rides the other issues. I have asked Gary Borger about whether he has tried furled leaders and he told me that he can do anything a furled leader can do and more with a regular leader. But few can cast on Gary's level. So try it and see if it is for you.
I personally don't use furled leaders but that is my preference. If they work for you, that is great, but they are not the panacea for all types of fly fishing.
If you want a simple formula for making your own leaders, here is a Hatch Magazine article about the Borger Uni-body leader.
Tip: Stop Wasting Money on Leaders | Hatch Magazine - Fly Fishing, etc.