QTC are quality & made in Margate.

I use them myself.

Cannot comment on the other make.

 

I have both AKS and QTC Cages on my reels, and in my honest opinion the AKS is a much better Cage. The machining is better and it is a genuine one piece cage, where as the QTC has a stainless reel foot screwed on to the bottom of the cage and then the screws ground off flush with the foot. Doesn,t look very nice but in no way affects the performence, it is not visible when it,s on the rod anyway. Also where the left side plate screws on there is a semi-circular gap at the bottom because the cage is flat underneath and the outer edge of the side plate comes below the flat part. Again not ideal but it does not hinder performance.
The AKS has none of these problems and is a lovely piece of engineering, as I said before it is a genuine one piece cage with the reel foot machined as part of the cage itself. In fact I have a 6500 size on order at the mo to replace the crappy cage in my TgF1 Reel, should be here tomorro.
One word of warning about the AKS 5500 size cage, where it is a low rider and scalloped out underneath, it only JUST fits the reel seat on my Profile Gt,s, any bigger reel seat and it defo will not fit.
Is the AKS worth the premium over the QTC ? from the performance factor no, but for sheer bling and engineering perfection a most definate yes !
If you want one and phone PMR direct you will get the cage 10% cheaper.
Hope this helps Aal

 

Or I have one (AKS) for sale in classifieds to fit a abu 5500 size reel mint condition, £70 posted to you, cage is in black.

 

Qtc all the time for me ive had both much better tolerances on the qtc i had problems with a mm3 i had and got rid of it as for the bit about qtc not being entirely one piece ie reel foot there is a good reason for that if you ever drop the reel and break the reel foot it can be repaired on the qtc and thats from keith at qtc if it was entirely one piece that would not be the case

 

Qtc all the time for me ive had both much better tolerances on the qtc i had problems with a mm3 i had and got rid of it as for the bit about qtc not being entirely one piece ie reel foot there is a good reason for that if you ever drop the reel and break the reel foot it can be repaired on the qtc and thats from keith at qtc if it was entirely one piece that would not be the case

ok guys thanks for all the info, do any of you want to comment on the remarks re bad tolerances etc ?

 

The akios had a problem with the bearings being to loose in the so much that the spool vibrated badly and rub the paint off both end of the spool even with a change of spool the tolerances were terrible ever cast line would get trapped

 

a aks is just a akios shuttle cage ,iv got one in front of me right now and for £40 cheaper iv allso got a rocket cage as well , driffance , no contest the rocket looks the part

 

I wouldn,t buy a Rocket Reel cage ever even if it was a tenner !! or any of their other products for that matter !! Click the following link, makes interesting reading - http://www.worldseafishing.com/foru...ums/threads/tg-f1-rocket-is-it-me-or-is-this-unacceptable.2476291/#post-6677096

 

I wouldn't pay 130 for wat is effectively a shuttle cage, the Tolerance's on them aren't great spool and cage gap far to much for .35 mono line. I cured mine with an older Abu spool. Shouldn't have to do that on them.
Qtc, oh yes. Casters choice, copied but rarely beaten. Except maybe the zzeta cages if you can find one.

 

I have 2 5500 size reels both with AKS Cages and both loaded with 0.31mm line, never had a problem A

 

Qtc all the time for me ive had both much better tolerances on the qtc i had problems with a mm3 i had and got rid of it as for the bit about qtc not being entirely one piece ie reel foot there is a good reason for that if you ever drop the reel and break the reel foot it can be repaired on the qtc and thats from keith at qtc if it was entirely one piece that would not be the case

Keith told me the reason that the cage is flat underneath is so that they can mount it on their jig using the reel foot screw holes A

 

I can see why yr miffed with them but that's another thread.
The Qtc cage isn't a bling object its functional piece of kit which was born out of necessity because of the early chrome on brass cages warping under load. The aks or shuttle cage is there to catch the angler, all be it they look nice and are well finished. I don't see many on the casting court, which must speak volumes for the qtc, even if they are a little rough round the edge.

 

I can see why yr miffed with them but that's another thread.
The Qtc cage isn't a bling object its functional piece of kit which was born out of necessity because of the early chrome on brass cages warping under load. The aks or shuttle cage is there to catch the angler, all be it they look nice and are well finished. I don't see many on the casting court, which must speak volumes for the qtc, even if they are a little rough round the edge.

Not Knocking the QTC mate, I have severel reels with them fitted, just prefer the AKS that,s all A

 

Nor me, every one has there preferences other wise it would be a boring world.

 

The akios and the aks frames look like copies of the famous p - tech from pete Coogan. ..as a caster it's qtc and if can get one zzeta. ..

 

The bearings are mounted inside of the spool so if that,s the case then there is a problem with spool - bearing tolerances, no tolerance issues with Abu reels, so the spool will not contact an AKS cage if fitted A

Even when i changed the rubbish spool and replaced it the gap between the spool and the cage was far to big every cast i had line going between the spool and thr cage i no four other people from the casting club i go too who have had similar problems and have got rid of there akios so its not even a one off problem there quality control is not good i suspect there made in the far east

 

Solid cages are just bling, absolutely nil increase in distance or fish-ability over Ordinary CT cages....

 

Are they?? Don't they sit lower on the rod to attain more grip...things with finer tolerances work better..as a caster of our club found out when he got a new cage/spindle/end plate. .made his reel purr instead of rattle and grind..I agree the normal abu cage has a good tolerance on the spool but you can get better with qtc/ zzeta..also had the foot become detached and the flat bar also detach on a couple of abu frames...

 

In the days of inch butt qtc/zzeta/p-tech wasn't really around...but that's why Terry made reducers to reduce the thickness of the butt..not extensions as many use them for..put an abu on a rod and feel,then put a row rider type on the same rod and you feel a noticeable difference in grip...unless you got hands like shovels them it will make no difference...saying that thou most of the shovel hands brigade on the field still these type of frames...is it because they are much better????