Any experiences with these? some of the older reviews report weld failures. Not sure if this is still a current issue. Anyone touring with one of these?

I have one. It's fine for what it is. I don't have any complaints. The best use for a beam rack is if you only need to carry stuff on your bike occasionally and want to be able to install and remove the rack easily or you don't have rack bosses on your frame and don't want to put clamps on your seat-stays. They are only rated for 20 pounds, so I guess you could use it for credit card touring on a bike that can't be easily fitted with a regular rack. I expect the weld failures are from people who overloaded the rack.

Any beam rack is going to be several times heavier than a conventional rack of the same rated capacity because it is a cantilever versus straight compression.

I have tried a a beam rack, an Ibera; it worked fine. But it is nearly 10X the weight of a cheap Avenir rack rated for more load.

I have one. I haven't used it extensively, and not at all for touring, but so far it's been fine. Currently it's on my folding bike, as a way to move my MTX bag between bikes more easily, because on my full-size bike I have a "normal" MTX rack. Haven't had a problem with it, but it's my back-up bike and, again, no touring. But the main reason I got it was for touring. I have an S&S coupled bike, and I'm worried that I won't be able to pack my normal rack for airtravel. I also have more of a bikepacking set-up with tent stuff in a handlebar roll and anything cages, and cooking gear and water in a frame bag, so the only thing my rack needs to carry is some clothes and food. I feel like the rack can handle that. But it's untried. Personally, for commuting, I love the Topeak system. I probably wouldn't use it for touring: I don't take the Topeak bag touring because it's heavy, not waterproof, and has unreliable zippers. And the rack itself it built for that bag and would otherwise probably be a little lighter and wouldn't have those ridges on the platform, which I worry will damage anything I put on the platform day after day. But I don't want a whole, 2nd set of racks just for touring.

I feel like a rack is easier to pack with my gear set-up, otherwise I'd probably be looking at a seatpost bag instead, and still may at some point.