Oh nice, 15 really does the trick then! So at 270 for 15, is the white part still a little soft in the middle or is it pretty much solid by then? I tried 12 once and the whites were straight up runny, total mess. @sethc12 do you start them in cold water or drop them in once it's already going? That part always messes with my timing. And does 17 make them chalky at all or do they stay creamy?

Pre-bent kits being longer lasting is one of those things people just repeat without checking. The bends themselves are not what makes a line fail, it is the metal quality and how the ends are made. I have seen plenty of pre-bent kits that are just cheap tubing shaped in a factory, and they rust out in the same three or four years as anything you bend yourself. A line you bend by hand from good stock with solid fittings will outlast a bad pre-bent kit every time. What really matters is the material and the flare, not who did the bending. So the kits are not magic, they just save you time, and that is the real trade off.