Unsafe Chinese Climbing Ropes Dominating Amazon!

[@allenabuggarhaus6841]

While I appreciate your concern for safety, you fall short in offering solid information... I'll explain...
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You bring up the issue of the rope diameter stated on the seller's page and what you measure at home with your calipers.
First... no matter which rope from which company you test at home, you are testing at home with calipers that are likely not what the manufacturer uses to measure the rope when they set up and make it. So... when you measure this rope and say, "...I measured in several places and it was not consistent..." it basically means nothing... really. Accuracy comes from measuring in a controlled environment with repeatable results. We can all use less-than-accurate off the shelf hardware store calipers to measure rope at home and not be as accurate as the manufacturer.
Also... do you even know how the measuring process takes place and the allowance for accuracy in measuring diameter of rope per the UIAA or any other certifying body?
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Back to certification by the UIAA...
You bring up CHN 1747. You make the accusation that you just don't know if the company copied and pasted that certification... basically fraud, right?
Did you go to the UIAA website and look up that company and it's certification? You did!
Here's the example from the UIAA... safety.theuiaa.org/front/product_detail_page_certified_labels.php?id=5205&x=
Around 12.5 minutes in, you compare 2 ropes from different sellers, and those ropes are stated to be different diameters.
You then proceed to claim they both reference the same, "10mm rope certification".
The certification is for the rope tested, there is not "10mm rope certification". All ropes go through the same testing for being either dynamic or low-stretch.
As you can see in the link for an actual certificate I share above... referencing 10.5mm or 11mm on a certificate is only for the NAME of the product. There is no indication whether the ropes certified are actually the same or different diameters.
Dynamic ropes are tested to UIAA standard 101
Low-Stretch ropes are tested to UIAA standard 107
The product name is not regulated by the UIAA... as far as I am aware. So... potentially... the same rope can be sold as either 10.5mm (the NAME of the product on the UIAA certificate), or 11mm (the name on the UIAA certificate).
Is that misleading if it is happening? Yes.
Does it call in to question the trustworthiness of the seller? In my opinion, yes.
Does it make the ropes unsafe? No.
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Here's a second example of a certificate issued by the UIAA... safety.theuiaa.org/front/product_detail_page_certified_labels.php?id=6266&x=
You seem to not be aware of what the letters and numbers mean on these certificates.
CHN is China.... USA is the United States of America
In this next example... CZN is.... the Czech Republic safety.theuiaa.org/front/product_detail_page_certified_labels.php?id=2591&x=
Tendon ropes are owned by a company called Lanex... in the Czech Republic.
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If TAIZHOU ZOUTIANYA ROPE INDUSTRY CO.,LTD makes a 10mm rope... then distributes it through a number of sellers on Amazon... the certification they originally received from the UIAA is valid no matter who sells the rope, and no matter what name the seller gives the rope, as long as they did not make any changes to the rope as it was originally certified.
You state, "...that's just not how the certification works...", continuing on to claim that the "quality control" is the responsibility of the certificate holder and not companies that sell that product.
From what I've seen on Amazon, the various sellers of what is likely the same rope, are not claiming they had it tested nor that they have done quality control on the rope, but that it has UIAA certification... which it does, if the claim is used for the exact rope stated on the certificate.
Here's an example from X XBEN 10.5mm UIAA Dynamic Climbing Rope... "UIAA Certified(CHN 19-5205): All of our climbing ropes passed UIAA safety standards. A certified piece of climbing equipment carries a UIAA Safety Label, which indicates the equipment’s compliance with UIAA standards. "
So even if they have purchased this specific rope from say... Taizhou Zoutianya Rope Industry... then rebranded the rope... as long as they did not make any changes to the rope as it was tested/certified for Taizhou Zoutianya, then that claim is still valid.
If they made claims inconsistent with the original certification, or actually changed it in any way from original manufacturing, then that would be a problem. Which leads me to another little issue with your video...
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You continually put forward your claims of how unsafe, misleading, fraudulent, these various rope seller's products are, then immediately state (as in the case of the mislabeled list from the UIAA you show), "... a mislabeled rope, that's not too big of a deal...".
So... which is it? Is it a big deal or not? If it's not a big deal why are you even looking over the UIAA's mislabeled list?
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Again, and in closing... I appreciate efforts to educate people about fraud, unsafe items/practices, found on the internet.
The issue I have is when someone does such a sloppy job of it and undermines the legitimacy of their argument.
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I am not associated with any rope manufacturer, nor am I stating your claims of potential safety issues with these ropes is unwarranted.
I'd just like to see you do a better job of making your argument.
But then... this isn't my TH-cam channel.. I'm just a passerby. :)

[@jackyeh7512]

Thanks for the explanation.

[@Bzz637]

You are China.

[@croissantman8809]

if you put your life on it, don't buy it on amazon, even if it's a known brand like petzl/ct/camp/beal ... amazon is full of counterfeit, even if they are CE or iUAA certified or whatever, don't buy anything your life depends of on amazon !
also when testing the actual breaking strength or at least to get an idea of how unsafe the amazon ones are it's a bit more interesting to attach weights to the rope and let it fall by a factor of 0.5, 1 and 2 if it hasn't broken before, if the outer layer of the rope where to break/be cut when ascending the rope with jumars or having your weight secured with a handle your chances of surviving are slim anyway .
also static ropes must NEVER be in friction with any vaguely abrasive surface (exept in canyoning) because unlike a dynamic rope the wear will happen in only one spot and it can cut the rope VERY quickly especially with the 8mm ones who needs a bit more experience to be used correctly (mostly apply for alpine caving but it isnt the only place where ropes can wear out)

[@ananda_miaoyin]

Thank you for doing this video, I will try to bump it. Amazon is SCARY for any life safety devices and equipment.
Just for that, I buy all of my gear from Backcountry or US Rigging. Sometimes will hit REI.
Never try to save a buck on your life - you have the rest of your life to not screw this up, literally.
I just picked up a Mammut Classic 9.7MM dynamic 80 meter (yes, 80 of them!) for 174 bucks delivered from BCG. No reason to mess with Chinese brands.
80 meters...the Big Bastard....I had fun coiling that puppy last night!

[@davidwarner63]

Ok...I don't see why you say it's so dangerous. First you complain that it was only 8mm. It was probably sold as a smaller 8mm rope. Then you cut the rope and it held you with only two strands, provings its strength. I watched this because I was a bit concerned over the Chinese rope I bought on Amazon. Your video actually gave me some reassurance. Your chief compliant is that its not certified...Fair enough. I use mine to climb a sailboat mast so that I put less damage on my halyards. I use the halyards as a backup line for safety. Sure, if I was a regular climber, I would invest in a name brand rope. For now the rope I bought serves me well. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the video and give you a thumbs up for conducting this test. Even though you call me stupid for buying it. Thank you

[@therflash]

It's because nobody cares what's the static weight that the rope can hold. Those ropes with double loops on the ends tend to be certified for 15kN, and a 100kg person hanging on it will generate 1kN. So, the rope might be fine for a person or a bag to hang from, in tension, but it's not ok to jiggle up and down on it, let alone take a fall and expect to be caught by that rope.
For climbing, you need a rope that you can abuse, you need a rope that you can tie to a bolt and put your weight on it and then jiggle and jump up and down for an hour, four times a week, for the next 5 years. And you need to be sure that the rope won't degrade, that it still holds, even after repeated shock loads, even after it gets repeatedly wet, even when the sheath gets a bit scratched, etc.
For this reason, real climbing equipment is required to hold i believe about 22kN minimum. By this standard, those ropes fail and should be considered unsafe.
Besides, this is a static rope, nobody should shock load a static rope ever, but they advertise it as a climbing rope with pictures of people being tied to it. In those scenarios, the rope will be shock loaded if the climber fails and they will die. Or the sudden load from the static rope can break a harness or pull protection out of the rock.
It's also important to say that even though new ropes are required to hold that minimum, as ropes age, they degrade and hold less. And since this rope holds less to begin with, any shock loads are going to be closer to the breaking strength of the rope, therefore likely degrade it faster. So, just because new one of those can hold 15kN, doesn't mean that 5 year old one will hold even 5kN.
And now you're really in the territory where you're playing with death.
If you want to use it for some homemade tire swing, for some lightweight kids to play on it 1 meter above the ground, it might very well be fine.
For climbing, it is dangerous enough to be illegal in many places.

[@saneasthenextguy196]

Buying safety related equipment on Amazon is like buying drugs in a dark alley.

[@hadleymanmusic]

i need a 35 foot rope to climb and swing on in my backyard just dont wanna pay hundreds

[@user-yd8nm6ev1y]

if the rope capacity is 3400lb its, it is definitely going to hold 230 lbs easily, and a knife won't be cutting the rope. If you cut the rope by accident, not paying attention while cutting a tree, then just know an accident can cost you your life.
It's part of what you sign up for.

[@FT4Freedom]

I have the 12mm Kamiakan rope. I use it for arborist lanyard and it's sufficient with certain caveats. The rope is quite sub par. It milks 1 inch per foot and needs to be milked out before use. Once milked it's quite stiff in the hand and stiff with knots. The core is robust but the sheath is not abrasion resistant at all. I wouldn't use this rope for fall protection as it's quite static and it's sub par Chinese crap. But for my purposes for basic tree lanyard it will work for six month replacement cycle. I highly recommend people don't use the Kamiakan rope for regular climbing or safety. It will work in a pinch but it's crap.

[@carlcox7332]

A lot of the static kernmamtle rope does that milking your talking about. The teafelberger km111 max does the same thing and thats ordering it through a reputable seller or even directly from the manufacturer. Also the the teafelberger drenaline does it also. Once you break in the rope and cut off the extra sheath its perfectly fine. Ive been using the two for SRT climbing doing tree work for over 3 years now. And even tho the jacket is thin, its extremely wear resistant. I even use the km111 as a lanyard which sees a ton of abuse on rough barked trees. They also hold up extremely well to toothed cam ascenders. I pulled a tree stump out of the ground with it also before and it held up fine.

[@sloppyfloppy79]

I bought this rope and it's only intended for rappelling and ascension where any fall is a few inches and not feet.

[@foddermucker]

Thanks for sharing, I found the information on UIAA certification very useful. I'm new to climbing and made the mistake of buying these cheap Chinese ropes you mentioned here. I quickly realized I cannot use them when my life depends on it, so, I'm now using them to practice climbing up and down a tree in my backyard only to a safe height, not over 5 ft, practice knot tying and other non-life critical roping stuff like tying down tree branches, tools, boxes etc.

[@shintongmanalu6219]

Bukankah lebih baik jika lakukan uji tarik terukur daripada lebih banyak menangis seperti anak kecil?

[@jamesmitchell1614]

The abrasion from friction tears these ropes up in no time... Especially tree friction. Thats cool though it held you two feet off the ground. Waste of money unless you are tying and hauling furniture or whatever.

[@alejandrohernandez2607]

That black climbing rope don't even look like a climbing rope it looks like an 1100 tensile strength Paracord

[@Whateva67]

I was browsing Amazon yesterday,November 26 2023,for carabiners and I came across these ropes,they’re still selling this crap. I didn’t even want to look at 3/4” rigging ropes,wouldn’t waste my money 😮

[@88woodbikes4]

I have the XBEN rope. I’m new to climbing ropes, and I bought it for sport rappelling. It’s very strong in my experience, but the loose sheath is definitely a problem. It bunches up fairly easy going through a fig. 8, and when prussiking. I use mine now as a backyard rope for practicing with equipment and techniques

[@FT4Freedom]

It's called milking. You can milk out the sheath using a dragged prusik hitch. Cut off extra sheath at the end and re whip. But even so the Chinese ropes are crap for safety use.

[@hideakyschan9288]

I am using China's static ropes for tree climbing, so far no issue about the quality.

[@dragan3290]

Only worth buying for practice in knots and very light work! Still better than some rope from hardware stores in Australia! Cheaper and stronger!

[@spaceman8839]

I would never buy a rope from amazon, always buy from a reputable caving, canyoning, climbing site

[@stevie9361]

Companies pay for certification yearly.

[@FuggYT-sl3gq]

Very important informations THX👍
This cheap Stuff is not UV resistant...........and dangerous to use

[@carlcox7332]

Also that pelican 24 strand is also a good budget rope for tree work. I use the 1/2 inch for light rigging and it can take some abuse

[@shintongmanalu6219]

Too much speak with no real test,is that fair for you???

[@AiDOS__]

You've got some real glitchy stuff going on at 4:20 with a second intro and what not..

[@Robmancan1987]

I wonder if my 1/4 synthetic winch line I carry as a backup on my utv could be used for an emergency rappel?

[@Xtreme_Airgun_Slugs]

It could, as a last ditch backup when there's nothing more suitable.

[@richardlocke3375]

Amsteel is very slick and would not be suitable for most fiction based rappel systems. They are strong enough. I bought mine from sailing supply and it’s rated to 16kn most climb falls are under 3kn and rappelling is even less. Use knots you would use for webbing because of slickness.

[@chasingwaves11]

DAM ! as a kid we used to make zip lines with any rope we could find in your dads work shop lol ,, My friends dad was a lobster man and he always had rope kicking around lol .. we made zip lines in trees from 15 to 20 feet in the air and would just find any thick branch that had some type of Vee in it and we would play on that for hours lol as the branch received bad rope burn we would just find another one lol.. not thinking is the rope strong enough lol wow its nuts to think how that rope never failed us lol ....

[@cutyan]

this video is that I looking for, thank you bro

[@Alejandr0varsay]

BASICALLY: Amazon ropes are a "paracord on steroids"

[@nathanrobins5786]

People need to be aware of this. It’s not worth betting your life on.

[@TheManstart]

you skipped pelican and blue ox before the black diamond lol

[@johnjriggsarchery2457]

OMG, why would anyone buy off brand climb lines? I guess your lives aren't worth $100 to $150 for a 120 foot hank of real rope.

[@MrAlexyvane07]

Thank you for your video

[@brianscustomcanvas1911]

Just go to a reputable climbing company and pay 1.49 ish a foot for your life.. it's worth your safety and life. Never cheap out. If you can't afford it, your not ready to climb, never rush to the cheap just to go vertical.

[@boiledelephant]

radical climbing lingo dude

[@DB_smith]

Thank you I was wondering what is fake

[@hugogarcia3193]

Yeap ..i buy one from Amazon ...and i regret it .as soon i get it don't buy rope from Amazon

[@gamingforlive2150]

well honestly imma buy the 1.st rope to do some stuff like pulling my brothers pedaling tractor over the gras haha :)

[@edmunek]

man. you really need to learn how to cut the video

[@sandycharlton8669]

If you buy your life support off Amazon you are a FOOL. I buy 95% of my tree gear from Wesspur tree. I will never use cheap or Chinese life support. Most of my gear is made in the USA sterling & samson make good rope rock exoctica makes good hardware.

[@Xtreme_Airgun_Slugs]

What about the OPG ATTAR rapprling rope that I saw while you were scrolling through, is that NFPA cert?

[@lpurdy01]

Well, I can't say for sure, but OPG looks legit and they claim it to have an NFPA certification, and that certification does require third party testing. I couldn't track down a reference code for OPG's cert, but it looks like they have enough technical data about the rope to hopefully be actually testing. Probably a great rappelling rope.
I think I probably didn't mention it for either dramatic effect, just missing the listing, or not considering it because I was looking for stuff that would ship prime.

[@Xtreme_Airgun_Slugs]

@@lpurdy01 Ok thanks. I ended up getting one and it came with a certification/spec card. Lists "Life Safety Rope NFPA 1983-17, Meets Requirements of NFPA 1983 for life safety equipment" Gives manufacturing date of about 6 months ago, UL Class rating: Life Safety Rope, along with diameter, materials the rope is made from, breaking strength and elongation at 3 different weight loads (300, 600, and 1000 lbf) I'd say this rope is legit. I did do a weight support test and a rappel test it held my weight (205lbs) just fine. Lists breaking load at 34kn

[@vijayjansi03]

Good explanation from India

[@brerrabbit4265]

I will buy chinese rope for rigging but for life support spend the money.

[@PowerrPundit]

Thanks for the info. Scary stuff, hope people know better than to put their life on the line with these ropes.