So…sorry to bring up an old thread, but it sounds like both Ramm and Centaur are good options and there is no definitive choice?
I have both. The Flex-rail was put up as a top sight rail over V-mesh wire fence 15 years ago. It is not as nice as the Centaur I had put up as a 3 rail fence a year ago. But it is hard to compare the two. The fence installers for the Centaur did a better job and the tensioners for the old Flex-rail are a lot better these days than when I put mine up. Plus the Flex-rail has two wires in it and the Centaur has three so comparing apples to oranges.
Last year before I put the new interior fence up I looked at both options. The selling point for me was the shipping. I ordered the Centaur from Home Depot and did not have to pay any shipping which saved me hundreds of dollars over Ramm. Also any parts I didn’t use I was able to return to Home Depot and get my money back on them as long as they were in their original packaging.
You can get it at Home Depot? Dude… THAT is why COTH is awesome. Good to know :yes:
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I ordered it online from HD ( it is the Cenflex and comes in white, brown and black) and picked it up at the HD store closest to me. I did have to order a few more parts and they were delivered to my house free. I don’t believe HD carries it in stock but it arrived pretty fast.
FWIW, I went with 3 strand Centaur HTP and two strands of white lightning (top and halfway between top and middle rail). Love it.
I mostly did because my bids were similar and my dad has Centaur and it looks good after over 15 years, little maintenance. I thought he had Ramm but when I looked at it the fence was Centaur.
I did order some extra termination brackets from Home Depot. I used a more local supplier to plot out the fence and purchase the bulk of my supplies. My farm helpers installed it, and I am glad because I was very actively involved in supervising so I got to pick things like which side of the posts I wanted it on where. Lots of little decisions to make. I did some work but they are a lot faster so I hesitate to indicate I was actually installing it myself!
We need pics!
We need pics!
[QUOTE=TheJenners;8792561]
We need pics![/QUOTE]
Agreed! 
I also ordered Centaur from HD because of the free shipping. We installed it in a small fruit pasture this summer. I really like the way it looks, but we had a horse go through the top and middle rails (hot wire wasnt working) and the fence did not bounce back as advertised. It’s creased, wrinkled, and discolored. I was a little disapointed. But it was easy and fast to put up.
Did you contact Centaur about it? What did they say?
Sorry for the delay on pictures, I’ve been out of town. here is the fence. You can scroll through to see multiple locations. I still need to paint the posts and boards where I used them. I also plan to line anywhere I left the wire bracing in place with boards. It takes SO long to do all the detail work! There was a lot of growth in the old fence and I swear we spent more time cleaning out the fencelines than actually fencing but the time to do it is when everything is out, so we went ahead and did all that work with the fence down.
I used boards as an unorthodox but effective brace in my small paddock, because I didn’t want the sideways bracing in something so small where horses can be frisky. Though as the pony in one pic will reveal, the White Lightning is HOT and no one gets too close as it is.
https://fordtraktor.shutterfly.com/pictures/183
FWIW, I had a horse REALLY get into my dad’s Centaur about 10 years ago. It jumped the fence when I was riding it and missed clearing it – ripped 2 posts completely out of the ground in the aftermath. It did stretch the fence a little but we just tightened it when we got it all back up and it looks pretty good. honestly, that is SO much better than the alternative could have been. It’s one of the incidents that sold me on Centaur-type fence – that horse walked away without a scratch. I was catapulted 30 feet headfirst into a fencepost if that gives you a sense of how fast we were going. We were jumping and I asked the horse (green) to turn, but the horse locked on the fence and went straight. Yikes!
If you want it perfect again you can splice the pieces that don’t look good now. You have to decide whether the splices will be prettier than the waves. Not sure the fence is meant to be pushed THAT much. It bounces back easily from a minor incident, IME, but a major incident…well, that’s asking a lot of a fence that typically you don’t want stretchy.
However, if you think it should have bounced back given your horse’s encounter with it, contact Centaur and see what they say. They have a guarantee and might send you the stuff to repair that section.
There is a reason the fence from HD is cheaper. Keep in mind nothing is really free…including shipping. It just means it is built into the price, and the product is really much a much cheaper/lower quality. The HD fence has much thinner polymer than any other options from any other companies. Like anything, there is value to a higher quality product…it’s about more than the initial price.
I believe they are buying Centaur from HD, not HD brand fence…?? I could be wrong.
[QUOTE=TheJenners;8808869]
I believe they are buying Centaur from HD, not HD brand fence…?? I could be wrong.[/QUOTE]
Correct. The Centaur sold at HD is far inferior to their flagship fence and bottom of the barrel in the flexible fence category.
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I put in the Centaur which was purchased from Ramm. Their office is located about 15 minutes from where I live. Installed at least 16 years ago and has only had to be tightened once. Still looks fabulous.
I know this subject is a few years old but I wanted to add my two cents… I had Centaur HTP at my last place and had no trouble whatsoever with it. I moved recently and decided to try the Ramm 5.25 flex fence instead of the Centaur. It has been up now for 2 weeks and one of the bottom rails has already torn (including the embedded wire) from the wheel of my brush hog catching it. I probably caught that wheel under my old Centaur fence 20 times over the years and it never once tore - it just stretched with no damage. So, for me anyway, I believe Centaur is far superior to the Ramm fence. The Ramm barely stretched - it just broke. I purchased both products from the manufacturer, not a second party seller like Home Depot. When I fence another pasture next year I will be getting the Centaur again. No more Ramm for me.
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