Has anyone ever used on of those recoil reducers that replac the guide rod? If so, how was reliability and felt recoil? Is it much faster getting back on target?

Unless you are shooting some sort of competition where the difference between first place and tenth is measured in hunderdths of a second, or you weigh about 78 pounds soaking wet, you should not "need" something like this on a 9mm, .40 or .45. They really make very little measurable difference in "stopwatch" times, (try it for yourself) but some seem to think they can feel a difference. My take on them is that they are an unnecessary complication of a design that works well just as it is and are not worth the money...not to mention all the screwed up designs out there that negatively effect reliability.

Pass on these things and buy yourself some ammo.

I don't know about them wasting money. I have a Harrts rod in my 1911 & I can tell the difference in muzzle flip, it's noticeable, IMO.

But a 9mm in a 92FS or a P-226, it just wouldn't need to seem to need one, maybe? None of my 9mm's have one.