Quite frankly I find it hard to justify purchasing Rio spey lines over Airflo. Example; I bought a Rio Powerflex .30 running line in chartruese 1 year ago, the material and coating has already gone to ****, it sticks in the guides and the material has small hairline fractures all throughout it, no good, after only 1 year.
I have an airflo running line from 7 years ago that still has no cracks, the coating still shoots through the guides perfectly. These lines are simply made better and last, in the long run it saves you money to go airflo. The polyurethane material used to make airflo lines doesn't change shape, it remains the same, it doesn't crack, and it's UV, deet and oil resistant, friggin' amazing. I often wonder why every other company hasn\t moved to Polyurethane instead of PVC (glorified plastic), then I realize, most likely they can't figure out how to do it. Apparently airflo's formula and recipe for thier lines is extremely confidential, a rep for airflo told me you sign all kinds of gag orders before working for the company to keep that glorious line recipe a secret.
Anyway, do yourself a favor, if your going to get a skagit, go airflo all day, in fact any spey lines at that matter. Another good choice is the airflo Rage Compact, this is my go-to spey line. It has a scandi-like design with a more agressive front taper to handle sink tips. Its fun like casting a scandi, but handles much more weight. If the heaviest sink tip you are using is a type-8, then I would suggest the Rage, because the skagit may be overkill and the rage is a joy to cast. Basic rule of thumb with rage is to go 30 grains lighter than your skagit or 30 grains above your scandi. I liked the rage so much I got it in 360, 420, 450, 480 and 510 grains so I can go lighter when using poly leaders or go heavier for t-8 and t-11 material. Not to mention I'm using these heads on three different spey rods.
