Saturday and my new 200' length of Bandit rope had been sitting in a duffel bag for a little over a week and was just crying out to be climbed. I already had a new 59' TIP tag lined in Ralph (big water oak in the back yard) so I decided to use that setting. As usual, I cinched the rope around the branch using a delta and ascended SRT YOYO using an Eddy ascender/belay device. The climb was mostly air except for a little limb walking to prune a few braches on the way up. Once I had reached my TIP I enjoyed just hanging around for a while, then started my descent. Whoa, this stuff is not what I'm used to. Although the ascent was a little bouncier than my PI, it was OK. The the Bandit runs just fine through the Eddy and CMI Ultra Ascender but the descent was not so smooth. Something about the texture of the weeve causes the Eddy to vibrate as if the rope is chattering over thousands of little bumps. Although this is probably not dangerous, it is a little dissappointing. Although I tried varying the pressure on the release handle, I just could not find that "sweet spot" where the rope was running smoothly through the Eddy. The only time the vibration eased up was when I was close to free fall through the device, using only the friction of the rope wrapped under my legs and my left hand to control the descent.
Has anyone tried Bandit using a Grigri? If so, how did it work on descent? Has anyone else experienced this chatter on Bandit or on any other ropes? Is this something that may improve with use? Feedback will be welcome. More testing to follow.
Wiley Coyote

Bandit? that's a new name...

Can you post a link to the manufacturer or even the vendor?

tom

It's a new color of Blaze/Chameleon. It's a new rope and they do funny things at first sometimes. Rons new Tachyon is doing the same thing and so do my Chameleons when they are new.

How bout that new color Wiley? Pretty sweet huh?

Glad to here you are out climbing.

Sunday and eager to test drive a few variations on the Bandit rope. I threw an easy 30' TIP with a trunk route in Norton (my other water oak) and set the Bandit up for DRT. I can report that Bandit performs well in traditional DRT with a B53 Blakes. It also works well with a 10mm Beeline one eye split tail in a Blakes. It took a little fidgetting with the knots, but I also got it to work well with an 8mm Beeline i2i split tail tied in an XT (I watched Moss's video about 12 times and I think I got it right). Bandit runs smoothly through a Petzel right foot pantin as well as the CMI left foot ascender. It also runs smoothly through a rappel rack. It does seem to flatten out a little into an oval shape under tension. This is both SRT & DRT.
Since Bandit is supposedly just a camo colored version of Blaze, I pulled the Bandit out of my TIP and replaced it with Blaze and ran all the same tests on the Blaze. Performance of the blaze was very similar to bandit. Finally, since I had never before used the Blaze for YoYo. I rigged the Blaze for SRT and YoYo'ed up about 28'. Ascent was quite smooth and the Blaze ascends through the Eddy just fine. However, on descent, it does have some of the before mentioned vibration going on. The vibration is not as pronounced as with Bandit, but it is still there. When I compare the two ropes side by side, the Bandit seems to be a little thinner than the Blaze, but not so much that I can measure it. They also feel different in your hand. I think the bandit is a little "harder" and stiffer to the touch than the Blaze is.
In comparison, I have used the Eddy on Poison Ivy, Fly and Safety Blue and have never experienced the chattering feeling that I did on the Bandit. If any Rouges out there in the Atlanta vicinity would like to try climbing on Bandit, send me a PM and we'll get together for a climb.
Wiley Coyote

Tom,
I first heard of Bandit at Bob Wray's spring climb in. I purchased mine from Wespur. Go on line and check it out. The image on their website is fairly true to the actual product. Although the colors are a little bright fresh from the bag, it has a great Black, Green and Grey camo pattern and certainly doesn't scream "look at me" the way Blaze does. I can appreciate that an arborist in the tree with a chain saw needs to know exactly where their rope is at all times, but some of us rec climbers like to "leave no trace" while we're still in the tree. Great to hear from you Tom. Thanks once again for introducing me to the Eddy. I love mine. I guess that's why I'm a little dissapointed that the Bandit does not yet descend smootly through it.
Wiley Coyote