I noticed that a souvenir shop near me sells a lot of Hanayama's Cast puzzles (except level 6 difficulcy). As it is Christmas, I thought I'd 'subtly' hint them to be wrapped and put under the tree

Then comes the time to decide. Which would you recommend? I've read about most of them off of Gabriel's blog, and I'm most tempted by Cast Duet, but I can't choose
The difficulty I'd like would probably be around 4-5, I want to get as much out of it as possible

Baroque or quartet. Those two get my vote.

I think any Cast Puzzle is a good choice, but as you pointed out, you want to get the most out of it. The fact that the Cast Duet has multiple challenges, is probably not a bad choice for you.

Gabriel

I have a few of those and I can solve level 6's but there's one i have since 1.5 years and that's the cast equa, a level 5 hanayama. There always seems to be some place where it gets stuck and it's really hard to solve

This! Baroq is an amazing design (although mine is very tight - some are and some aren't), and Quartet is a real doozy (haven't solved it yet!).

Others I have but can't solve, and still recommend, are Coaster and Chain. (Chain is a 3-in-1 challenge because you can assemble it with any piece in the middle.)

If you want an easier one, Violon or S&S are good choices.

I'd recommend others but I don't have the whole set yet.

I have all of them. The four I keep out on my desk are: Flag, Radix, H&H, and Marble.
The hardest are: Enigma, Chain, Vortex, Elk, Rattle, and Equa.

All are elegant.

I surprisingly got the Cast Duet, and after 15 minutes of fiddling, the ring was out
I think I'll buy a few more, and see if I can find them! Thanks!

I suggest that you buy all cast puzzles from this page.

They are temptingly cheap there, but it's also tempting to be able to walk 5 minutes to the shop and receive it immediately, instead of waiting it to appear in the mail

The Duet is a brilliant design (as pretty much all of your puzzles ). I'm completely lost in finding the little dent that is the passage back to the start

I just got the cast quartet and I'm confused...
What am I looking for when solving this? (no solutions please) Am I just supposed to fiddle till I get it or is there a strategy to keep in mind?

Two unique solutions. One locked set of boxes made of 2 pieces each, one locked set of all 4 in a square.

I have both Enigma and Elk. Both are very hard, but the elk is very easy to remember how to solve after you get it once. I got my enigma apart ONCE, got it back together, and can't do it again.

My favourite Cast puzzle to date still has to be the Marble. I still find myself picking it up to solve it again even now. Plus it looks incredible!

You can read more of my thoughts on the Marble here: Cast Marble - Oli's Mechanical Puzzle Blog

I have yet to get my hands on Cast Marble. I agree it looks amazing.. I plan to get it very soon

Cast Equa, definitely.
I have it since about tqwo years and I've never managed to solve it

Another clever (and nice looking) one from the Cast range is the newest Cast Donuts.

Not too difficult but good fun to play with. Very shiny too!

Hi Greg,

I have a few of them and the Cast Equa is one of mine too.. I haven't solved it yet either.

Cheers,
Burgo.