# Tree stand Safety rope, Sources?



## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

OK, I've been looking at buying a rated climbing rope that is equivalent to the "Hunter Safety System Rope" that every one is selling but I want to buy it in bulk so I can cut it to my preferred lengths and get a better per tree price. They come in either 8 ft lengths which are way too short and 30 foot lengths which is again too long. I would be perfectly satisfied with a 20' length so my thought was to buy 100 or 150 foot spool and cut to my preferred length and have enough to cover all my stands. My problem is finding it and ensuring that it has the proper testing to ensure safety. Most of the info I've found is specific to rock climbing or Arbor pros and although the info is helpful they tend to have a different focus. Basically tree stand ropes are most likely going to be very short rope lengths to stop the fall and the rope really needs to be camo colored. So it's been challenging to find precisely what I want. Have any of you gone through this exercise? If so can you provide me a link to your source?

This is what I'm talking about 
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/3-pk-hunter-safety-system-lifeline?a=1721411

*Let me reiterate I want UIAA tested rope, I want to know exactly what the rating is and know for certain that it is safety arrest rated.* My family deserves that from me.


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## WPAtrapper (Nov 17, 2009)

I was going to make my own this season but after pricing rope I wasn't really going to be saving much versus buying pre made. If your stands are 20' you are going to want 30' safety lines. I went with these:
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/muddy-outdoors-30-safeline?a=1333077


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## GOBLE4ME (Jan 20, 2006)

check out knotandrope.com

or 

just google safety rope


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## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

This is precisely what I'm finding too. the cost savings are pretty negligible. So far this is the best price I've found and it is conspicuously missing the certification specs. 
http://www.atwoodrope.net/shop/item.aspx/7-16-x-150ft-repelling-black-or-camo/472/

Even after that I would still only be saving a couple of bucks over the pre-made ones. 
My average tree stand height is 12 to 15 feet of the ground I've bought the 30foot ones in the past and I usually have 6 or 8 feet puddled on the ground or wrapped around the base of the tree. I'm perfectly fine with hooking up after I've stepped up on that first step so a 21 foot cord would be fine. Just can't seem to find a reasonable deal.

I really wish I could figure out what manufacturer "Hunter Safety System"is using.


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## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

here is another option which is a close second
http://www.sterlingrope.com/product/481439/o-mp/_/Marathon_Pro


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## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

GOBLE4ME said:


> just google safety rope


That right there is funny :icon_1_lol:
Dude you are killing me I've been Googling off and on for the last 3 hours still cannot find a cost saving option. this is why I posted here hoping someone had already gotten lucky and found it.


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## k&j8 (Mar 16, 2012)

I have been researching this very thing for at least the last week and itis enough to make your head explode! Just last night I made my order to www.treestuff.com . I orderd 200 feet of Yale Bandit rope ($150) and 75 feet of Tenex-Tec ($33.75) for my prusik knots. I found lots of good info at www.sherilltree.com (they have a climbing rope spec chart that is good for comparing rope). Some others I considered were Fly, Blaze, Safety Blue, and Arbor Plex. I went with Bandit (same rope as Blaze, only camo) because it met all the criteria I wanted and was camo colored. Houser52 (a member on here) was very helpful and answered a bunch of questions I had through pm. He has used bandit, Fly, and the Tenex-tec and as I said was very helpful.

I considered just buying the HSS lifelines but I have stands ranging from 12' to 20' and found it to be a little cheaper to just buy a 200' spool and custom build my own. Hope this helps.


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## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

That is in fact very helpful I've looked at so much of this that maybe my head already exploded.

I agree that seems to be the best deal I went with 100 feet of Bandit 11mm .79 per foot and 15 feet of Beeline at 1.75/foot
That gives me a total order of $105 I plan on making each rope 20' so that will make 5 stands for the same price I would have gotten for the pre-made hunter safety systems. Not exactly a slam dunk from an economic standpoint only slightly better.


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## k&j8 (Mar 16, 2012)

b0w_bender said:


> That is in fact very helpful I've looked at so much of this that maybe my head already exploded.
> 
> I agree that seems to be the best deal I went with 100 feet of Bandit 11mm .79 per foot and 15 feet of Beeline at 1.75/foot
> That gives me a total order of $105 I plan on making each rope 20' so that will make 5 stands for the same price I would have gotten for the pre-made hunter safety systems. Not exactly a slam dunk from an economic standpoint only slightly better.


The best price I could find the HSS 30ft 3 pack lifelines for was $99 and the 30ft single was right at $40, so for 200 feet (seven of the HSS would 210 feet) it would cost $240. I bought a 200ft spool of Bandit plus another 20ft piece of Bandit, and the 75ft tenex-tec for prusiks for $199.50. This way I won't have any wasted rope because I will be custom building for all my stands. If I had went the hss route, I would of had a lot of wasted rope (as you stated earlier 6-8 feet on the ground for a 15ft stand) and probably would need more like 8 or 9 of the hss ropes (3 of the 3 pack would be $300) to cover the same number of stands as 220ft of custom made lifelines with Bandit, so saving at least $40 and probably closer to $100.


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## OhWell (Aug 21, 2013)

Jump on E-bay and look for static line. There is a vendor on there called Just rescue who has great pricing on the real deal made by Blue Water. They have both the main line and the stuff we use for the Prusik knot, or Blakes Hitch.


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## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

Well I spent a lot of time on ebay looking for rope, as a point of fact I buy nearly everything I own from ebay. Unfortunately all I saw was end cuts where you had to buy an odd length in order to get a decent price and it wasn't much better than Treestuff.com sale price. So Ebay doesn't seem to be the answer at least it not a consistent one.

In order to make this a comparable price per foot you need to be under .90 cents. I saw very little rope that met that criteria. So this begs the question *Hunter Safety System* Must be buying this rope at a huge quantity to get a discount or they are a rope manufacturer. It's also possible that the rope is of questionable specification since they say don't use it if it's over 2 years old and if you fall replace the rope. I'm sure they are safe but it's likely not the high end rope we are looking at. At any rate in order to sell it for what they are they have to be buying it at least at .50 per foot.


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## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

k&j8 said:


> The best price I could find the HSS 30ft 3 pack lifelines for was $99 and the 30ft single was right at $40, so for 200 feet (seven of the HSS would 210 feet) it would cost $240. I bought a 200ft spool of Bandit plus another 20ft piece of Bandit, and the 75ft tenex-tec for prusiks for $199.50. This way I won't have any wasted rope because I will be custom building for all my stands. If I had went the hss route, I would of had a lot of wasted rope (as you stated earlier 6-8 feet on the ground for a 15ft stand) and probably would need more like 8 or 9 of the hss ropes (3 of the 3 pack would be $300) to cover the same number of stands as 220ft of custom made lifelines with Bandit, so saving at least $40 and probably closer to $100.



I agree we do save money but only because we are able to use a shorter customized rope and not because the rope is cheaper.

I'm going to get 5 ropes, at 21 foot for $100.00 that I know are top quality compared to 3 - 30' Hunter Safety System ropes. If I wanted to duplicate the 30 foot rope scenario the Bandit would end up costing us more.


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## OhWell (Aug 21, 2013)

b0w_bender said:


> Well I spent a lot of time on ebay looking for rope, as a point of fact I buy nearly everything I own from ebay. Unfortunately all I saw was end cuts where you had to buy an odd length in order to get a decent price and it wasn't much better than Treestuff.com sale price. So Ebay doesn't seem to be the answer at least it not a consistent one.
> 
> In order to make this a comparable price per foot you need to be under .90 cents. I saw very little rope that met that criteria. So this begs the question *Hunter Safety System* Must be buying this rope at a huge quantity to get a discount or they are a rope manufacturer. It's also possible that the rope is of questionable specification since they say don't use it if it's over 2 years old and if you fall replace the rope. I'm sure they are safe but it's likely not the high end rope we are looking at. At any rate in order to sell it for what they are they have to be buying it at least at .50 per foot.


REI has some for .86 per foot. It is 11mm climbing rope


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## k&j8 (Mar 16, 2012)

k&j8 said:


> I have been researching this very thing for at least the last week and itis enough to make your head explode! Just last night I made my order to www.treestuff.com . I orderd 200 feet of Yale Bandit rope ($150) and 75 feet of Tenex-Tec ($33.75) for my prusik knots. I found lots of good info at www.sherilltree.com (they have a climbing rope spec chart that is good for comparing rope). Some others I considered were Fly, Blaze, Safety Blue, and Arbor Plex. I went with Bandit (same rope as Blaze, only camo) because it met all the criteria I wanted and was camo colored. Houser52 (a member on here) was very helpful and answered a bunch of questions I had through pm. He has used bandit, Fly, and the Tenex-tec and as I said was very helpful.
> 
> I considered just buying the HSS lifelines but I have stands ranging from 12' to 20' and found it to be a little cheaper to just buy a 200' spool and custom build my own. Hope this helps.


If you are looking for climbing rope, carabiners, or other gear to make lifelines, etc. I highly recommend Tree Stuff and Gear Express. I ordered the rope in my post above (Bandit pic below) late Tuesday night, which qualified for free FedEx ground shipping, and it arrived today!! The same night I ordered 4 of these carabiners (Omega Pacific Five-0) from Gear Express and they arrived today as well via USPS flat rate economy shipping! I didn't expect to see any of this stuff until at least late next week the way things ship these days, so to be here in 3 days with no special shipping is a very pleasant suprise.

The products appear to be of very high quality and I hope to get my lifle lines up in the next week or two.


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## grimmsterdad (Jul 28, 2014)

Just a thought, but these folks sell stuff to guys who climb trees for a living...

http://www.baileysonline.com/Arborist-Tree-Care/Tree-Climbing-Rope/


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## Pasinthrough (Jan 5, 2011)

http://www.southeasttradingcompany.com/

also Knot and rope supply.com


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## 70oldsracer (Oct 25, 2010)

I'm working in downtown Manhattan and I'm right across the street from a place called Tent & Trails www.tenttrails.com. They carry all climbing gear and I've purchased a few carabiners from them. I'll stop in tomorrow to get some prices. I'll bring my Muddy life line with me to show them what I'm looking for. Considering it's Manhattan, the prices may not be that great, but it's worth a shot.


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## Rhody Hunter (Jul 14, 2008)

Check out this guy he has lines and lineman ropes at a good price

http://safetreehunt.com


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## oldschoolcj5 (Jun 8, 2009)

this is a good informative thread - thanks guys. I might make the change to rope and prusik setups, so this is very useful


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