When I "hear" the most experienced guys in the club call them junk and say that they will never buy another, then I will listen. Maybe they all got bad ones, but they all said that the glue joints were weak and always needed reinforcement. When the IMAAC champ says he doesn't trust H9 arfs, then maybe there is something to it.

My phoenix extra had lots of glue, perfect covering, and needed zero reinforcement in the gear area. I've bounced it and bent the gear a couple times without any cracks or problems with the wood. Maybe some peoples definition of quality are just different.