Top products from r/Slackline

super late to this party but oh well:

If you are looking for something fun and packable I would suggest getting about 120' of balance communities regular feather webbing(the green kind not the pro), you won't be able to use it on highlines but it is super packable and a lot easier to rig than tubular and would be a great lightweight setup to have for traveling. plus you can also rig it primitive style pretty easily.

Once you do want to get a longline kit, it is hard to avoid the pully system. You can go on the cheaper side and get;

2* double pulleys (https://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Climb-Secura-Double-Aluminum/dp/B00P8D6H8I),

a rope grab (Petzl tiblock)https://www.amazon.com/Petzl-Tibloc-Ascender-One-Size/dp/B000AXTO8Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1499726769&sr=1-1&keywords=tibloc,
a carabiner,

single pulley https://www.amazon.com/Lixada-Mobile-Single-Climbing-Rigging/dp/B01I10MMEM/ref=sr_1_5?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1499726811&sr=1-5&keywords=single+pulley,

small rigging plate (https://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Climb-Aluminum-Little-Rigging/dp/B008KEDV36/ref=pd_sim_468_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B008KEDV36&pd_rd_r=9GSDV5MPNYH1V1ND0S8N&pd_rd_w=FUuA4&pd_rd_wg=eWUeb&psc=1&refRID=9GSDV5MPNYH1V1ND0S8N)

and about 50-60' of static rope (https://www.amazon.com/GM-CLIMBING-Double-Accessory-Fluorescent/dp/B01H5CY7SQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1499726145&sr=1-3&keywords=static%2Brope&th=1&psc=1) this should work fine for you and is rated to 19kn.

The most expensive part of this pulley system is going to be the brake. I would recommend a gri gri just as the simplest option and with longlining stuff like this you should be okay getting a used one off of ebay, just inspect it well before use to make sure there aren't any defects or anything. You could go ahead and use an ATC and tie the tail off but I suspect you would lose a lot of efficiency in this already pretty inefficient but cheaper set up. You can also go ahead and get the slackbro's pulleys, they aren't the best, but they are so bomber and are still nice to have around after you are trying to upgrade and may be easier than trying to piece everything together.

When it comes to webbing, that option is kinda up to you, try and make some friends with local slackline groups and walk various types of webbing and you will find what you like best, I would recommend getting 100 meters for your first length though, it's not too much to haul around and when you start rigging highlines longer than 50meters, there should be plenty of people who also have 100 meter lengths that you can partner up with.

Also keep an eye out on slackchat used gear group on facebook, you can usually find some pretty decent stuff on there.

Good luck and happy slacking!

The first question to ask is what is your price range. If you are looking to save money and do not really care about having a super nice slackline then I wouldn't read the rest of my comment. If you are willing to spend more money then I would get a name brand that will be easier and better for slack lining.
Some things to know at the start is that yes you should get tree wraps. This is because if you are in your own property you will want to protect your trees, and if you are at a public park, you do not want to get slack lining banned because you killed their trees. They are cheap, but if you want to save money use beach towels. The next thing to know is what true length means. Slack lines will advertise a length of " X " amount of feet but that does not mean you can walk the whole distance of " X ". They will include the length of the ratchet which will make it seem longer, but you do not walk on that part of the line.
Another good thing to know is what you want to do with slacklining. If you only want to walk and do some basic tricks then you would be fine with something like the Gibbon classic line, but if you want to get into tricklining then you would appreciate the Gibbon Jibline. There is also long lining, which is more like the Gibbon Surfline.
My first line was the Gibbon Jibline. It is 49 feet long (true length 41 feet) and I found it on Amazon for $63 dollars new. But that was a sale price, now it is more expensive than that. I really like the brand Gibbon. I wanted to get into tricklining so I skipped the classic line went straight for the trick line to learn on. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009AARZ3G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_9xu3DbDCBPCF0
I also have a longer Slackline Industries long line. It is also a trickline and because it is longer, better for bouncing and getting more height. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C7SVXT4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Fvu3DbFDFJ15Y
I know the Amazon review is bad but trust me I like this line a lot.
Even starting out with this line would be nice because you would not have to use the full 85 feet true length.
Someone said something about going to a store. A good store near me is called Sierra Trading Post. They have cheap prices on new lines. But for Amazon, I would check those lines out. The two I mentions are my top picks. I have used other brands but didnt have the same feel. Gibbon and Slackline Industries are worth the extra few bucks trust me.
Let me know if you need anything else! Glad to see more people wanted to start slack lining.

>over $600 to start

If you want a cheaper version of the above, without having to buy all the Slacktivity equipment (I live in the USA, so importing all that comes out as quite pricey), you can do the following:

• Buy 2 cheap stainless shackles and approximately 20-30 feet of 1 inch tubular webbing (any type will do). Tie a frost knot (or an overhand on a bite with extra slack will do, as there is essentially 0 force on this ever) in one end of the webbing, and make your own soft release.
  
• 3 - 5 of these 1 inch pulleys off of amazon. Use a grinder/hacksaw/drill to grind off the metal nub on the end, and go to the hardware store to buy some locking nuts, washers, and a 1.75" bolt.
  
• Some skate bearings off of amazon (4 bearings per homemade webbing pulley). These go over the bolts, with washers in between, of the pulleys that you took apart to make a homemade set of these. Buy some cheap pear carabiners to go with them. You have now made your own highslides/cheap hangovers for 1/3 - 1/2 the price depending on how many you wanted.
  
• Find a 3d printing service near you and 3D print your own linegrips. Buy some very thin rubber (most people recommend the 1 mm vibram sheets, but I used this cheaper one and it works fine) and super glue, thread it with ~6mm cordelette and you have your own linegrip. Do this as many times as you want.
  
• Tie some cordelette into bunny-ears knots with differing lengths on each one, and clip your homemade webbing pulleys to each loop. The loop lengths should be long enough that your webbing pulleys don't hit each other. Clip one of the sets of webbing pulleys to your home-printed linegrip, and the other set to anywhere on your anchor. These are your homemade soft RPs.
  
• You need 1 weblock. For price, instead of buying 2 stainless shackles, just get 1 and buy the cat-on-slack soft release to hook in directly to your soft release. Or get the normal weblock they sell and hook it onto your stainless shackle. For weight, get a weblock that does not have sharp edges at the connection point and use a soft shackle (discussed below) to connect it to your soft release (like the alpine weblock or use a purelock to go straight into your soft release, both of which are pricey).
  
• Don't buy pre-constructed soft shackles, as they gouge you for the price. Buy your own 1/4" amsteel and make your own soft shackles (1 or 2 is fine for long-lining, make 4 or 5 for highlining as you will swap these out for the steel ones on your soft release).
  
• For anchors themselves, buy static rope. There are plenty of options out there, and what thickness/weight/breaking strength you want depends on your personal priorities in anchor construction, so I won't make a specific recommendation to you. Canyoneering static rope tends to be better in terms of weight/breaking strength, but is pricier. Depends on what you want.
  
  This allows you to use the above posted method, even up to a 27:1 mechanical advantage (if you 3d printed 3 linegrips, with 5 pulleys so you could put 2 extra 3:1 multipliers on a 3:1 system) without losing efficiency. Rigging 100m in the park is impossible just using normal carabiners; you really need the webbing pulleys/hangovers. Best of all, you've accomplished this at a fraction of the price of buying pre-made gear, and none of your janky homemade pulleys or linegrips are life-dependent pieces of gear if you went highlining.

Slackline is not Tightrope, and as such the line is free to bounce and vibrate. A static line would have little to no bounce or stretch. It is hard to explain why you want stretch, but you do. If you longline you want just a wee bit of it, 2-7%, if you do tricklines you want a bunch. (if you do longline, 1inch is your line for you, if you prefer tricks, 2inches is usually the only way to go) Slackline is really what you make of it, I like to longline with tons of bounce and sway, others prefer super tight lines, others nearly no tension at all (see: rodeo line) It is really up to you to figure out what you like and to design a line around that. Here is a list of 1inch lines around the world http://slacklink.org/images/WebbingStats.png (see rageline) I would personally recommend a gibbon classic, 82ft of 2inch flat webbing with a ratchet handle. It is a fantastic learning line and super fast to set up. It is also on sale on amazon for $66 and free shipping. If I didnt already have 2, i would snag it. (http://www.amazon.com/Gibbon-GISL211-P-Classic-Slacklines/dp/B008AT9HGQ) any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Congratulations on the new rig! I strongly recommend, though, that you consider getting oval non-locking carabiners instead. Those Black Diamond screw-lock HMS carabiners will work, but you will be cross loading them. HMS carabiners are meant to be loaded at the spine and nowhere else, whereas oval carabiners are intended to be loaded at the basket. A slackline will always spread the load out away from the spine.

Also, there's no style of carabiner more convenient to use for a slackline than an oval. When putting tension on the primitive, the ovals naturally center the lines to overlap each other. When I used to rig with HMS's, I found that the lines could slide out from under each other if when I was less attentive to pull direction, which often prevented locking of the tension and multiple grumbling resets.

So far, my favorite biner for primitive is the "Rollerbiner". While most Americans I've talked to don't think they work, Rollerbiners seem to have had great success for Europeans.

Otherwise, Camp Oval carabiners are the next best bet. Camp's biners are just as strong as the next brand, but their oval carabiners don't have that pesky hook nose for the gate. Instead, their ovals have a keygate, which is a significant improvement, aside from convenience, in the safety and longevity of a slackline. Hook-nose carabiners have the tendency to grab, and, in some cases, cut your line, whereas keygate carabiners never have these issues.

*edit: grammar

First, you're going to have an impossibly hard time trying to rig a primitive past 100'. The max I've ever rigged one is 120', and that was over a fairly forgiving valley and 6' off the ground at each end. Even then it was 1' off the ground by the time I was in the middle, and that was with a multiplier and two guys hauling on it. If you want to start getting into longer lines you really need to invest in a pulley system. There are a ton of write-ups on this already and I'd suggest checking out NW Slackline for some solid info.

Personally I use the following for my longline setup:

• 2x SMC Double pulleys
  
  
• 2x 10' Green round sling
  
  
• 250' threaded, tubular webbing, made from standard 1" webbing with 5/8" threaded inside. After using different, more expensive solutions in my friend's kits, I found this both cheaper, and more comfortable to walk on. Plus I had the 1" webbing laying around anyway.
  
  
• 1x 60m static rope. Nothing fancy, the cheapy $100 stuff on amazon works.
  
  
• 1x GriGri 2 - you can find these cheaper used.
  
  
• Another 10-12' sling to anchor the GriGri. This can be standard webbing as it's only taking ~1/4 of the force on the line at any given time.
  
  
  
• 1x SMC Single for the multiplier
  
  
• 1x Rope grab again for the multiplier
  
  
• 3x 1 ton bow safety shackles - no link, had these around the house. Get ones that fit inside the pulley beckets for a more minimal setup.
  
  
• Some number of STEEL, SCREWGATE carabiners. I'd have to open my kit up to count them. Connects all the bits together. Not hard to find at any outdoors store.
  
  
• 4x Steel rap rings. Again you can find these at most outdoors stores.
  
  
• Some extra bits of greater than 1" webbing to protect your line at the anchor points.
  
  
• Beefy tree protection. My girlfriend made me some amazing double walled, super thick felt ones with straps and tie-offs, but it's not hard to make yourself with a sewing machine and some patience.
  
  
  There's probably a few things I'm forgetting as it's winter and I haven't set my line up in a while. However this should be a good place to start, and get you an idea of budget. Longlines are expensive, but it's really a one time investment on gear that taken care of properly will last 10-15 years, excepting the line which is 5 years max.
  
  I have some pictures kicking around if you'd like to see how it goes together. Feel free to shoot me any questions you might have.

I got this one.

slackers 50-Feet Slackline Classic Set with Bonus Teaching Line https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007S3MHMG/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_l43uybEJMK2GS

It includes a leader line for you to hold onto. I don't recommend him using it as I think it's a crutch when first starting but it's nice when I bring friend who want to try it as it let's slacking be fun Immediately.

Hey! Thanks for all your answers!
The time difference really kicked in though :D. For me all the messages arrived during the night.
Because of that I have already bought a line which another friend recommended to me.

It is a 25m Line with a little elasticity. I figured I would get something more advanced since I plan to keep the hobby and want to move up in the future anyways.
In the meantime I am still training with my buddy on his line.

The Line I got is this one:
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0056G5ZYO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I will update this post / make a new one to share if it was the right decision and how the line behaves.

My personal favorite, and widely recommended, is the Gibbon Andy Lewis Signature Trickline:

https://www.amazon.com/Gibbon-Andy-Lewis-Signature-Trickline/dp/B00E6FFJVA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540382640&sr=8-1&keywords=andy+lewis+trickline

Next best options would be the Boss Line or the AGGRO Line from SlacklineIndustries imo:

https://www.amazon.com/Slackline-Industries-Boss-Line-Competition/dp/B073R2XVZX

https://slacklineindustries.com/collections/2-inch/products/aggro-line-kit

It's really easy to put together.

Get 4 of these

About 70 feet of this

About 25 feet of this (for slings)


Two of these

Reference this video to learn how to set it up!

Towel tubes make great tree pro, directions here.

I got this guy (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004RKSAO2) second-hand from a neighbor who decided slacklining wasn't for them, so I got a great deal ($35). I love it, I learned on it...haven't used a Gibbon personally, so couldn't contrast them for you, but I like my ENO a lot

If you're looking to take your tricklining to the next level I'd go for a kit with two ratchets, shackles, and slings. Most of the big slack brands sell a kit like this and you really can't go wrong with any of them.

The Andy Lewis Trickling from Gibbon is a solid choice and it's currently $90 off on Amazon.

Use a 2 pulley multipier, video here...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gKMeeAk460

Pulleys like these...http://www.amazon.com/Fusion-FP-8151-ORG-Rescue-Pulley-Orange/dp/B008KECI8K/ref=sr_1_20?s=outdoor-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1407130520&sr=1-20

..are cheap to buy. You'll just need 3 or 4 more carabiners, 2 pulleys and bit of rope. The tension achieved is impressive, literally the power of 3 people.

You can use scrap 25mm or 50mm webbing. If you're using 50mm webbing buy a rectangular quicklink connect the quicklink to your round sling anchor. Remove the existing sewn loop webbing on the ratchet and replace it with scrap webbing tied to to the ratchet. Now create five wraps with the scrap webbing to the quicklink and tie it off and you have your system.

I can take photos of my system later.

​

Quicklink: https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Square-Quick-Marine/dp/B0768YBHR7/ref=pd_sbs_468_t_0/143-6132812-1472415?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0768YBHR7&pd_rd_r=cc798e6f-7e36-4920-83d6-fcd59013ab4b&pd_rd_w=TOWh1&pd_rd_wg=CR08M&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=ZCWXX3PKGQ1JJYYTF082&psc=1&refRID=ZCWXX3PKGQ1JJYYTF082

​

Round Sling: https://www.amazon.com/Liftall-EN60X8-Tuflex-Sling-Endless/dp/B004OTORO8/ref=lp_3094006011_1_9?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1574356732&sr=1-9

So what is the difference between buying stuff in a hardware store compared to buying something like this


http://www.sportsauthority.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=701971

or this
http://www.amazon.com/Gibbon-Slacklines-Classic-Slackline-15m/dp/B001C3073E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320424911&sr=8-1

Question for you. I outgrew my primitive and upgraded to a pulley system this spring. I got a pair of these a few years ago to try to extend the life of my primitive system, and I'm using them now in my pulley system. I'm having trouble pulling more than a 70' line or so with these and an extra 1:3 multiplier made from a croll and a micropulley.


Think it's my cheap purple pulleys? If so, I'll snatched up a pair of these. I was also thinking of replacing the micropulley with a larger one, but I don't know if the difference there will be huge.


Edit: fixed the link

As long as you get one similar to what you had before and with a high enough working load and breaking limit, you should be fine. There's also a video on NWSlackline.org about how to set up a 2" line without a ratchet.

Sources:
http://www.amazon.com/Smooth-Long-Handle-Ratchet-Webbing/dp/B004H3YFC0/ref=sr_1_138?s=hardware&ie=UTF8&qid=1418631553&sr=1-138&keywords=2+ratchet
http://www.nwslackline.org/534/rigging-a-2-line-without-a-ratchet

Here is the desktop version of your link

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ICHEILA/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473451263&sr=8-2&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=gibbon+ratchet&dpPl=1&dpID=41tgZvECfPL&ref=plSrch
This one?

This is what I am talking about, although mine is slightly different. I picked mine up at Tacoma Screw in Tacoma, WA.

No worries. You have a one ratchet setup. This is fine. You still have the long end. Without the ratchet. What you can do, invest towards a two teachers system. Half now, half later. Spanner, shackle, and ratchet should set you up for a good modular system moving forward.

http://www.absoluteslacklines.com/product/soft-detensioner/

That plus the jumbo ratchet is $60, then pick up one of their span sets for $20 and you have half of a trickline tensioning system.

There is also this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ICHEILA/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awd_x_s8OiybP6GCEGW

Still $40, and you'll be without a shackle and span set. Your $80 kit is as base as they come. So it'll be hard to match those prices.

I understand your concern, but at the same time people buy way too much into the myth of the successfully prosecuted spurious lawsuit in the US. This may have been the case in the 1970s, but it is much less so nowadays.

I was gonna let this go, but by day I am an emergency medicine educator, and stuff like the "hot coffee lawsuit" drives me nuts. The woman in question had full thickness ("3rd degree") burns to 6% of her body, including her genitals (which are about 1% of the total body surface area). Full thickness means there is no healthy skin left, that the burn extends to the muscle or bone. She had partial thickness ("2nd degree") or superficial ("1st degree") burns to a further 16% of her body (to picture this, imagine the area on the front of your body from the bottom of your ribs to the top of your knees). She had to undergo skin grafts and was disabled for 2 years as a result. The coffee she was served was 190°F.

She initially asked McDonald's simply to cover her medical bills. McDonald's had previously lost lawsuits filed by customers who had sustained 3rd degree burns from their coffee, and their quality assurance director had (in that prior lawsuit) testified that they were aware of the burn risk had no intention of lowering the temperature at which their coffee was served. In a ten year period preceding the main lawsuit we are talking about, McDonald's had been the recipient of 700 separate claims of burns due to the heat of their coffee. During the trial, McDonald's acknowledged in testimony that their coffee was intentionally served at a temperature that was "unfit for consumption" (that would scald the esophagus).

Had McDonald's reduced their coffee temperature to 180° instead of 190° it could still cause third degree burns, but now over a period of 15 seconds, instead of a period of 2 seconds. They willingly sold a product that they acknowledged was too hot for anyone to drink, and that they were aware (or should have been aware) would cause the sort of burns that require skin grafts in a matter of just 2 seconds if a customer were to drink or spill it in the first few minutes after purchase.

From examination of McDonald's quality assurance director during the trial:
>Isn’t it a fact that back in 1988, when I showed
you the pictures of the young lady that was burned in
that situation, that you were appalled and surprised
that coffee could cause that kind of burn?
A: Yes, I had never seen photographs like that
before.
Q: All right. In those six years, you still have
not attempted, yourself, or know of anyone within
the corporation that has attempted to find out the
rate of speed, the lack of margin of safety in serving
coffee at this temperature right . . . .
A: No, we have not.

The jury ultimately found the plaintiff (the burned woman) 20% at fault for her injuries, and awarded her $160,000 in compensation. The remainder of the award ($2+million) was punitive against McDonald's because they had been serving near-boiling-hot coffee for more than ten years, knew it had burned hundreds of people, admitted they considered this "statistically insignificant," and had made no effort to reduce the temperature of their coffee or warn customers of the danger it posed if immediately consumed or spilled. This amount was determined based on McDonald's daily coffee revenues, which were at the time more than $1million -- so, to put that in perspective, they fined McDonald's two days were of coffee income.

The scandal here is not that she sued McDonald's. The scandal is not that she won. The scandal is McDonald's reckless behavior, complete callousness toward modifying that behavior, their refusal to pay her medical bills, and that a judge later reduced the punitive amount and ordered the plaintiff (the burned woman) to engage in confidential negotiations with McDonald's to arrive at a much lower amount (which is, to this day, confidential). The scandal here is McDonald's behavior, and the legal scandal is the protectionist behavior of the court system wherein the deck is to hugely stacked against those with meritorious cases against corporations. That someone who was harmed would prevail and a judge would throw out the award and force her to negotiate secretly with the same corporation that had previously denied the harm done to her, offering her either nothing or finally $800 is truly scandalous.

To keep this on topic, let me quote this final judge, to illustrate how he might protect a corporation such as PTEN if someone were to pull their webbing to a dangerously high tension, be harmed, and then try to sue PTEN:

>let me say that with knowing the risk of harm,
the evidence and testimony would indicate that
McDonald’s consciously made no serious effort to
warn its consumers by placing just the most simple,
adequate warning on the lid of the cup in which the
coffee was served. . . . This is all evidence of culpable
corporate mental state

Basically, all you have to do is warn your customers what will be dangerous, and what will not, and you're good to go. Furthermore, the deck is stacked blatantly in your favor if you're a corporation. Selling your webbing with tension devices that cannot approach break strength (as it sounds like you do), publishing the break strength (for those advanced users who have other tension devices), and publishing guidelines for what constitutes "worn" webbing that needs to be retired should be more than enough. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice; it is common sense.

For those interested in how corporations have stacked the legal deck, checkout Ralph Nader's book, No Contest, subtitled "Corporate lawyers and the perversion of justice in America" and around page 270 it covers the McDonald's suit (which is where I took the testimony from).