Home-tied VS store-bought tapered leaders

Okay guys, not looking to start a fight here (actually maybe a little comic relief)...

I just spent the better half of my evening tying leaders. I bought a bunch of Maxima leader material (from fishusa, thanks!) of a varying scale of diameters.

I thought, this will be cool, save me money, and I'll feel a huge accomplishment. Well, after futzing tonight tying bits of line together with hundreds of knots, I have to say - anyone who ties their own leaders should be revered as "Captain Patience". I was ready to set myself on fire just to get my blood flowing afterword. I can't help it - I will continue spending the $3-$4 on tapered leaders going forward as I simply cannot do it anymore.

That being said...

To others like me who would rather take the insane cost hit on the tapered leaders: Which brands do you prefer? I've been using (wh)Orivs tapered leaders and I can't help thinking that there might be better ones out there. I'm not about to spend $10 on a leader, but maybe $1 or more extra wouldn't sink me. I do preserve my leaders and tie tapers into it when it gets to cutting it short. A 4X tapered leader might last me four or five times out.

So... any thoughts to the preferred brands? Any input that might make me see the tie-your-own leaders in a new light?

Many thanks...

orvis mirage

Harry,
      I just like to tie on a very small swivel, at the break point of the leader, and then add tippett and droppers to the swivel.  Works great for anything but the smallest of dry flies.

ORIGINAL: indsguiz

Harry,
     I just like to tie on a very small swivel, at the break point of the leader, and then add tippett and droppers to the swivel.  Works great for anything but the smallest of dry flies.

If we could find a way to manufacturer a "floating" barrel swivel, I think we could make ourselves some serious dough. I may try the swivel when using droppers though. Good idea.

Jack...those swivels stay afloat with a #12-18 dry? How small does a fly have to be to get yanked under? I have some of those tiny blackbird swivels that might be just the thing to use.

ORIGINAL: fishmonger

Cold,

How are you making out with the furled leaders? my buddy Mike and I are going to whip some up for steelheading on the next rainy day. The light weight ones that we made up earlier this season worked splendidly for fishing dries. Mike is a good carpenter, and he made us a jig that allows us to pump out a furled leader in about 10 minutes.

Actually, through some stupidity on my part, I managed to lose mine that I'd been using for months about a week ago. Tried to use a tapered mono leader for a while but it's just not the same. Ended up limiting myself to dries (with a polyleader) until I could get out and buy a few more furled ones. I think I might try making a uni-thread one on my own soon.

I love the furled leaders, and the ones I got were, once again the BlueSky mono furled leaders. I'm going to try dressing one with Mucilin and see how it does long-term for dries. My old one was perfect early on, but it eventually got worn a bit and didnt float as well, even when dressed with floatant. I was using it for nymphs and dries though. I'm thinking if I only use one specific leader for my dries it'll last longer.