This winter I became interested in this topic and decided to do a little research. I read many opinions on the net, in old magazines and even a few books. It is surprising how little original thought there is out there, at least little I found.

So I went out and bought about a dozen different leaders, knotless and hand tied in 4x. I and measured each one with a micrometer and was really surpised at the variability in tapers among the brand names. I couldn't measure the variability in flexibility but the differences were obvious. There is no standard.

Using leadercalc and other sources I decided to tie my own, different ones for dries, streamers, deep nymphing and others. It was a of fun and a good break from tying flies. I tried several of them on the water two weeks back and while I am making some modifications to a nymphing leader I was thrilled with the performance of the dry fly leader and probably won't go back until the weeds or ice become an issue. I also understand better why the leader does what it does and how you can get it to work for you instead of against you.

As many others have mentioned, it comes down to personal preference, makes only a modest difference in performance, and only saves money after awhile. Good Luck.