Can anybody tell me what is the most visible throwline? I seem to need a little help when I'm doing any fancy manipulation in dimmer light conditions. (Of course, many would say that any time I'm around there is a dimmer-light condition!) It doesn't even have to throw or shoot well, as long as it has hi-vis characteristics. Any suggestions?

Dynaglide green works well for me:

http://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?item=175

Agreed, dynaglide green is the brightest I've seen. It fades over time but then again everything does.
-AJ

Thanks, maybe I'll have to try some. I always thought orange would be the most visible amongst foliage, green seems counterintuitive. Mind you, most hi-vis greens I've seen are colours seldom found in nature!

Moss, you're right about the fading. My long-time favourite, ZingIt, starts out pretty bright, but between fading and the coating wearing away, it gets a little dull.

Now that the ol' eyes are getting on, I sometimes wish someone made a throwline that glows!

Whille trying to isolate a setting for a night climb I have been known to use a lit-up maglite as a weight bag. Can't see the line worth a darn but it sure does help with the isolation!

For night climbs I usually rig the tree before dark. On this occasion the gremlins were working against me and it was almost totally dark before I finally got the setting isolated.

A maglite for a throw weight, eh? Maybe I'll have to try that. Someone on this forum tried a little LED light fastened to a throwbag......... maybe Moss?

I always pre-rig if I am going to climb at night; I just can't be comfortable trusting an unseen anchor, even if it does pass a bounce test! However, I'm talking here about having difficulty seeing my throwline amongst the branches in broad daylight! Granted, I'm talking about cloudy days, shady canopies at considerable heights, and faded throwlines, but STILL, I'm sure this wouldn't have been a problem when I was a young lad under forty.

Anyway, I've got some Dynaglide on the way from TreeStuff (thanks for the link, Bob!). Also, I've ordered a hank of Target throwline. I know it's stretchy, but it's very cheap, and it's just so darned bright-looking that I couldn't resist. I figure if it doesn't work well for my purposes I'll just use it for keeping settings overnight.

I bring along a pair of compact binoculars if I'm working a big tree. It usually helps.

Yeah, that's a good tip, Mark. I actually bought a cheap monocular specifically for that purpose, but the optics were so bad that it didn't help much. Since a nice pair of compact binoculars are something I already covet, maybe I should use this excuse to get some. This shouldn't be too hard to get past my good wife, after all, being able to properly see what's happening up in the branches when isolating a limb is a safety issue, right?

Works pretty well. After a few hard hits the LED got flaky.
-AJ

I wasn't using the Maglite for throwing...only for isolating after the throw had been made.

As for rigging while it is still daylight...yes! definitely. The only reason I was doing what I was doing is because I was having problems gettin the line up and it was geting dark. I had started throwing while there was still plenty of light. The line was in place, over a good limb, but I still needed to isolate. So...I used the Maglite!

I think we need to start a new thread here. One for night climbing tips. I will start one under climbing technique. No need to de-rail this one!

It's old school but SlickLine has a larger diameter than ZingIt so that helps make it more visible. When I do a video involving throwline I use SlickLine because it shows up better.

I have yet to see bright yellow fade much either.

Ron, I agree about the thickness helping the visibility. Like Slickline, the Target line I've ordered is 1/8" in diameter -- not quite twice as thick as ZingIt, but still a lot bigger. Also, I think most of the colour of ZingIt is in the coating, which wears off. I'm hoping that the polyethylene Target line has the colour impregnated throughout it, so might stay bright longer.

Joe, don't ever worry about derailing any thread I start. I believe that good threads are like any good conversation: they take on a life of their own and wander wherever they want to!

The poly will fade, but it takes long time exposure to the sun. I haven't see SlickLine fade with the casual use in climbing.

Also, this may be a bit too much, but that yellow 1/4" dia poly rope would really show up.

Plus, Joe now climbs on some kind of throwline - I saw it in one of his videos. Joe seems to be morphing into a movie producer BTW!

Got the Dynaglide and Target throwlines today. They both look brighter than what I've been using -- can't wait to try them out!

We can't wait either! You tried them yet?

I have about 150' of Target line and I found it to be far more stretchy than SlickLine. When trying to tease the throw through the canopy, I find the elasticity becomes problematic. I pull enough to get the throwbag to just pull over a limb and drop, but the stretch built up in the Target line 'over-pulls' the bag and I miss my goal.