Notch Kraken 3/4" bull rope

[Chris Hatley]

Any of you guys use this stuff? I just got 150' of it and can't find any reviews on it. It's too dang cold to try it out and I was curious.

 

[Chris Hatley]

no one?

 

[greengreer]

It is All Gear (aka atlantic braid?) Husky rope, just rebranded to Notch.
I have owned a hank of husky in 9/16" for a while and have no complaints. Seems like it's not much different than any other poly over nylon double braids.
Keep us posted how you like it.

 

[Chris Hatley]

Will do, thanks.

 

[Ryan'smilling]

I just got a 150' hank of 5/8 from treestuff. Gonna put it to use pulling some trees over this week. I'll check back in after I use it a little.

 

[beastmaster]

If its husky, rebranded i am very happy with. I have some 5/8 and use it for negitive rigging. Its always did the job.

 

[JeffGu]

I have a 200' hank of the Husky 5/8" and some Dynasorb/Polydyne. In actual use, I can't tell them apart. Great rope for the big stuff.

 

[Groundman One]

What's the deal with "Notch" anyway?

Everything at the Vermeer store is Notch brand now. Makes me think it's like one-size-fits-all Walmart junk.

I don't like it.

 

[eye.heart.trees]

Any of you guys use this stuff? I just got 150' of it and can't find any reviews on it. It's too dang cold to try it out and I was curious.

Updates on the Kraken?

Am looking at Polydyne but jeebus does Kraken have crazy #'s, honestly it's almost "too good to be true" feeling for me because their stated ABS is among the highest in the industry (which bothers me when they're not even making these lines themselves, IE is Notch testing this ABS or taking another manufacturer at their word? If the latter, which I've gotta expect, it makes me wonder "if this rope company is out-doing Yale & Samson, why on earth wouldn't they want to just position themselves as the best manufacturer, why sell/hide your name behind 'Notch'?

At any rate the stuff is 1-something-% elasticity, wouldn't consider it myself as I've gotta be able to handle shock-loads (would think this would be a prime concern for all!) and these sub-2% lines are way too static IMO, don't get me wrong I know they work it's just that if you could have a rope that'd take 10X the dynamic-force of a 'shock load' then you'd choose that line (it's not like static & dynamic capacities are mutually-exclusive, the kraken, atlas and polydyne lines are the strongest-per-diameter, with relative elasticities of 1.3%, 3% and 4.5%!)


(to be clear on the point / contention I've got, the reason I'll never use yalex/tenex for any more slings (instead will just use polydyne), is made clear SO damn beautifully by Yale's simple video---a simple A/B test of two ropes, a 20k ABS versus a 6k ABS, each taking a 1,400lbs peak-dynamic-force (generated by dropping a 220lbs load 6'), the 20k ABS line snaps quickly while the 6k ABS line handles the load repeatedly.....the reason? The 20k line is their Ultrex (basically "single-carrier tenex"), which is <1% elasticity, while the 6k line is their XTC climb line with nearly 2% stretch, still not a ton but if this doesn't demonstrate the relevance of elasticity I don't know what does:
http://www.yalecordage.com/featured-industries/arborculture/dynamic-energy-arborist-rope
(video is at end of the article)

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Seems like it's not much different than any other poly over nylon double braids.

I dunno, it's rated as an industry-leader in strength-per-diameter if the stated #'s are accurate (well, tied with Atlas and Poly, am looking at the 1/2" specs on all of them right now and they're all 11k), yet at the same time it's a confusing product:
1 - it's a re-brand and, at least with the "Notch Dynsorb" line, it is NOT always the same line (IE a rep recently said to me on a forum thread that "our dynasorb *used to be* polydyne"), I've no idea how this works out in practice but it blew my mind to know that an ignorant/unquestioning consumer could think "this line was great, I'll get another" and think they're getting an identical product when they're not (despite it being called the same thing...), however - directly related to your comment -
2 - is it really a nylon core? Nylon cores are great, tthey seem requisite for any decent elasticity (AKA "shock absorption"!!), however with this Kraken line it's referred to in the Sherrill *magazine* as a nylon core, yet if you go to the sherrill site, or the treestuff site (which is owned by Sherrill/notch/rope-logic group), they say it's a poly core....I'm betting it's poly, as the line's got 1.4% stretch which is far more in-line with a poly core than a nylon core, sadly that type of mis-labelling is enough for me to dismiss a product out-of-hand, I'm not usually so anal but these ropes' performance can be incredibly critical so I don't mess around in fact I like the Atlas specs better than Polydyne but unsure I'll get it as the Yale branding is of value to me, I've yet to look into Sterling's operation, if it's as upstanding as Yale I may get a 1/2" as a light-duty

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What's the deal with "Notch" anyway?

Everything at the Vermeer store is Notch brand now. Makes me think it's like one-size-fits-all Walmart junk.

I don't like it.

WOW...that's hardcore aggressive marketing! I'm new enough that I've only recently learned, and felt incredibly conned, to find that the ownership interest for Notch, Sherrill, Treestuff and Rope logic are 1 group(person?), I've got a thread on the subject now at Tree Buzz, kinda long but has company reps in it so a decent read IMO!
http://www.************/forum/threa...brands-are-worth-not-worth-buying-from.41317/

Honestly I wouldn't buy *anything* from Notch/sherrill/etc group except the Safebloc (if none were on ebay, got my 1st there, older one w/o the Notch stamping lol), their reps had tons of reasoning for why their approach to branding/retailing is fine but IMO any deception in sales / presentation makes me want to avoid said presenter....finding that the seemingly-spunky/small-scale Tree Stuff site, and the polished SherrillTree magazine, weren't actually choices between companies but rather 'storefronts' for the same commercial interest, was very frustrating!!! When I looked into it I found even more nonsense that makes me want to shy-away further, your comparison to walmart is a good one -- I dislike that so many people "give them a pass" because some of the owners/principals of the group come onto the forums and essentially say "it's all good" (w/o ever providing a valid reason for obscuring that 1 group owns 2 'separate retail ops', or - more deceptively - that Notch isn't an independent company, but rather just a bunch of products that Sherrill gets licensed, but then in their catalog they position Notch alongside DMM/Petzl/etc **as-if** Notch were its own brand/company....this is obviously going to make Notch-branded gear seem more legitimate than if it were called "SherrillTree exclusive", and the ****** part is that the idea of them sourcing random stuff and being honest - just calling it "SherrillGear" instead of Notch - could actually be a really useful retailing-approach, but to masquerade Notch as-if it weren't owned by Sherrill is BS in my book!!

 

[eye.heart.trees]

Wait I may have to "take-back" statements about Kraken --- the conflicting info is *even worse*, I just looked at my Sherrill rigging-ropes-chart (I've got all the companies' ropes-spec charts on my wall ROFL) and verified that it's claiming 5/8" Kraken as a 18.5k tensile, while on TreeStuff (again, same group/ownership as Sherrill/Notch!), they're listing the 5/8" as 16k (and they're saying ABS, so no chance of "magazine meant ABS, the 16k on TreeStuff is MinimumBreakStrength)

Wow, I'm now starting to think all this contradicting-information may be due to them "swapping suppliers" of Kraken like they did with their Dynasorb (or said they did anyways, obviously don't take a forum post as gospel even if it's from a staffer!)

 

[greengreer]

Dynasorb was the Sherrill exclusive brand name for yales poly dyne. I think the colors were different too. Otherwise the same thing. Dynasorb ii is a Samson product, probably just a new color combo of nystrong.

Some manufacturers test and advertise break strength and elasticity differently. Abs vs mbs, stretch at 10% abs vs stretch at 300lbs or whatnot. You get the idea.
In the end it's much simpler than the numbers imply. What's the braid construction? Is it nylon or poly core? Is it sized for the task at hand? Is it prone to hockle? These are the things I ask myself anymore. It's a bull rope, you'll be demoting it in no time and trying something else.